CIAO DATE: 05/2013
October 2012
Led by the “shale gale” in the United States and the oil rebound in both Canada and the United States, North America is undergoing a revival in oil and gas production not experienced for decades. Natural gas production in the United States has increased by over 20 percent in the last five years, with today’s wellhead price less than a quarter of its 2008 high. Unconventional oil production, largely from North Dakota’s Bakken and Texas’s Eagle Ford fields, has nearly doubled in two years, with U.S. oil imports declining to their lowest level in fifteen years. In the same period, increased production from Alberta’s oil sands has allowed Canada to increase its oil exports by about a third. North America is now the primary destination for energy capital in the world. This phenomenal increase in oil and gas production is changing global energy trade, with dramatic implications for the United States, North America, and the world.
Resource link: The North American Oil and Gas Renaissance and its Implications [PDF]