Next Big Thing: US energy firms eye Brazil shale gas

BRAZIL: United States (US) energy companies want to use their experience to tap into Brazil’s vast shale gas reserves, US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said on a visit to the Brazilian capital. Studies show that one-tenth of the world’s known shale gas reserves are in Brazil, and if it decides to exploit them the South American giant - currently a gas importer - could be the world’s second largest natural gas producer. Shale gas production could be viable only by 2023 assuming that investments begin now, a representative of the state-run National Petroleum Agency said in May. Shale gas is extracted by a controversial technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Fracking has unlocked an energy boom in the US, but has been banned in other countries over fears of environmental damage.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2013.

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