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Objective: This article explores the complex relationships between the energy boom, community economic and demographic conditions, and local philanthropy. This study aims to find direct effects of the energy boom and indirect effects of multiple mediators—community economic conditions, population change, racial diversity, and income inequality—on local philanthropy. Methods: Drawing upon data from U.S. counties, a series of mediation analyses are tested by following Baron and Kenney's (1986, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 51(6):1173) causal‐steps procedures. Results: The energy boom always has negative direct effects on local philanthropy. Although indirect effects of mediators are not always significant, total effects, as the sum of direct and indirect effects, reveal that income, population growth, and racial diversity positively mediate negative effects of the energy boom on local philanthropy. The energy boom increases levels of income inequality; however, increased income inequality paradoxically is positively associated with local philanthropy. Conclusion: The relationship among the energy boom, community economic and demographic conditions, and local philanthropy is complex. Although direct effects of the energy boom are negative, key findings of positive indirect effects suggest implications for policymakers, nonprofit practitioners, and community leaders when dealing with grand societal challenges caused by natural resource development at the community level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how natural gas production from U.S. shales is keeping oil prices low in the U.S. and internationally. Topics discussed include natural gas prices in Europe and Saudi Arabia, issues of supply and demand for the oil and gas industry in the U.S., and how European use of gas for power generation is impacting its demand for gas imports.

Mineral rich countries often suffer from heightened economic inequality, corruption, instability, and poor economic performance. This inverse correlation between a nation's mineral endowment and its economic, social, and political performance is called the oil curse. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending by large investor owned oil companies aims to mitigate the negative impacts of the oil curse. CSR investment takes many different forms such as implementing human rights policies, mitigating environmental harm, or programs that focus on social investment. CSR spending is now a systematic and routine part of oil company spending. This Article examines how oil and gas industry CSR investment in the United States varies from its overseas counterparts. Over the last decade, shale oil and gas production has brought profound socioeconomic changes to U.S. communities. Although fracking operations in the U.S. have yet to yield consensus conclusions regarding their impacts on human health, it is clear that fracking operations produce socioeconomic change, air emissions, and (in some places) the risk of increased seismic activity or water pollution. Consequently, companies that produce oil and gas in the U.S. also engage in CSR investment in an attempt to mitigate the negative impacts of fracking on local communities. Domestic CSR investments differ from their overseas counterparts in a number of ways. In particular, domestic CSR investments tend to be smaller in scale, less likely to address environmental issues, and include fewer examples of pure corporate philanthropy. One reason why U.S. CSR spending differs from the more robust CSR spending overseas is because of the large number of producers in American shale plays, creating a sense of diffused responsibility for the impacts of production. Each of the many small producers in a single shale play contributes only a fraction of the impacts to the local community, while mitigating those impacts requires a collective effort. By comparison, large conventional oil and gas projects in the developing world usually feature very few producers working together on a single project. Therefore, in American shale plays CSR spending is a more difficult collective action problem--a "tragedy of the commons," in that multiple producers face difficulties in cooperating to mitigate the impacts imposed on local communities. The cooperation problem is exacerbated by the fact that in the U.S. private landowners own the mineral estates, allowing producers to secure access through a series of private negotiations. Overseas, the single mineral owner--the government--has more leverage with producers, and so can extract more CSR commitments. All that said, the larger companies in American shale plays have developed domestic CSR programs in recent years, and some make significant investments in CSR, even if those investments differ from their overseas counterparts. Shale oil and gas production in the U.S. is only about a decade old. As communities develop more sophisticated bargaining positions with producers and producers continue to refine their voluntary spending programs, we can expect CSR investment in the U.S. to continue to develop, and it may eventually come to more closely resemble CSR spending on overseas oil and gas projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The U.S. shale boom has exerted downward pressure on natural gas prices nationally, widened oil-to-gas price spreads, and accelerated coal-to-gas fuel substitution. One concern is the impact of the rising production of shale gas on further development of a domestic solar photovoltaic ( PV) market. Specifically, will lower natural gas prices slow or even reverse the current rapid growth in the solar market? Using the Phillips-Sul convergence test, this paper investigates whether the levelized cost of energy ( LCOE) of solar PV and natural gas electricity generation in the United States have converged. Using weekly Henry Hub-linked natural gas spot prices and utility PV system prices from 2010 to 2015, empirical tests for convergence are applied to examine the extent of spot market integration and the speed with which market forces move the two energy prices toward equilibrium. The paper also assesses the link between the MAC Solar Energy Index ( SUNIDX) and the S&P GSCI natural gas index spot prices for evidence of market integration during 2007-2015. We conclude that PV and natural gas prices are not converging, and the two markets are not integrated nationally, but some level of integration could exist at regional and state levels that will need to be tested in future research. We also conclude that complementary use of the technologies is likely; while price convergence is not likely to occur soon, distinctive complementary benefits of each resource compared to each other (e.g., fast-start capabilities for gas and low price volatility for PV) will offer opportunities that expand market demand for both. WIREs Energy Environ 2017, 6:e238. doi: 10.1002/wene.238 For further resources related to this article, please visit the . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacillus mucilaginosus (B. mucilaginosus) and Thiobacillus ferrooxidans (T. ferrooxidans) have been earlier shown to be conducive to the demineralization of oil shale and thus improve shale oil yield. In this study, the combined effect of the two bacteria was investigated and was found to be greater than the independent effect of either organism separately. Due to the porosity generated by bioleaching, the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of bioleached oil shale increased to 31.2 m2g-1. Aluminum retorting showed that the shale oil yield was increased to 13.18%, while approximately 15.38% extra shale oil was obtained, with a reduced loss of shale gas. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) results demonstrated that the additional shale oil was mainly low- and highmolecular- weight hydrocarbons, due to the ability of shale oil to pass rapidly through the micropores without cracking. The obtained results indicated that the combined action of B. mucilaginosus and T. ferrooxidans during the leaching of oil shale contributed to the increased production of shale oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a quantitative analysis of how the recent boom in US oil production-largely a result of shale oil production-has impacted the domestic petroleum refining industry. We quantify how domestic crude prices are related to refiners' financial performance. The estimates suggest that since 2011 independent refiners' profitability rose by 3 per cent for a domestic crude oil price decrease of 1 per cent, while they were not associated with domestic crude prices before 2011. The relation between refinery profitability and domestic oil prices is consistent with the results of pass-through of relative domestic crude prices to relative refined product prices in the United States before and since the dramatic rise in shale oil production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo discute la recuperación de la industria energética venezolana con un enfoque en la eliminación de los subsidios y las tendencias globales que afectan a Venezuela, como la demanda de energía, el auge del esquisto bituminoso en Estados Unidos. El artículo también analiza la transición de las energías renovables y la participación del sector privado en el sector energético en el desarrollo del negocio del gas natural en Venezuela.

There has been an increase in oil sands development in northern Alberta, Canada and an overall increase in economic activity in the province in recent years. An evaluation of the state of air quality was conducted in four Alberta locations – urban centers of Calgary and Edmonton, and smaller communities of Fort McKay and Fort McMurray in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR). Concentration trends, diurnal hourly and monthly average concentration profiles, and exceedances of provincial, national and international air quality guidelines were assessed for several criteria air pollutants over the period 1998 to 2014. Two methods were used to evaluate trends. Parametric analysis of annual median 1 h concentrations and non-parametric analysis of annual geometric mean 1 h concentrations showed consistent decreasing trends for NO 2 and SO 2 (< 1 ppb per year), CO (< 0.1 ppm per year) at all stations, decreasing for THC (< 0.1 ppm per year) and increasing for O 3 (≤ 0.52 ppb per year) at most stations and unchanged for PM 2.5 at all stations in Edmonton and Calgary over a 17-year period. Little consistency in trends was observed among the methods for the same air pollutants other than for THC (increasing in Fort McKay < 0.1 ppm per year and no trend in Fort McMurray), PM 2.5 in Fort McKay and Fort McMurray (no trend) and CO (decreasing < 0.1 ppm per year in Fort McMurray) over the same period. Levels of air quality indicators at the four locations were compared with other Canadian and international urban areas to judge the current state of air quality. Median and annual average concentrations for Alberta locations tended to be the smallest in Fort McKay and Fort McMurray. Other than for PM 2.5 , Calgary and Edmonton tended to have median and annual average concentrations comparable to and/or below that of larger populated Canadian and U.S. cities, depending upon the air pollutant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the economic experience of past energy booms and that of current unconventional shale gas and oil development. We focus on key economic characteristics of gas and oil production such as its employment potential, its geography, and its boom-bust nature. This background is used to discuss important economic policy issues arising with unconventional oil and gas development such as taxation, governmental use of those revenues, preemption, and equity in the distribution of costs and benefits. The paper concludes with economic policy recommendations for states and communities affected by such development including not viewing oil and gas development as an effective long-run economic development strategy, leveraging short-run financial gains from the development into permanent advantages, and strengthening the capacity for local governments to understand and manage this activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reclaiming peatland ecosystems is challenging our understanding of how to rebuild functioning landscapes. Assisted succession may provide a practical approach to guide the reestablishment of peatlands in denuded landscapes. In Alberta, the majority of peatlands began as fens during the paludification process. This research focuses on creating fen initiation conditions to establish fen moss species on mineral sediment as an approach for peatland reclamation in the oil sands region., In a field mesocosm experiment, we evaluated the establishment of five common fen mosses ( Drepanocladus aduncus, Ptychostomum (Bryum) pseudotriquetrum, Campylium stellatum, Tomentypnum nitens and Aulacomnium palustre) introduced in equal proportions to clay loam. To determine the optimal hydrologic conditions for the establishment of each species, we tested four water levels (0, −10, −20 and −30 cm). We created vegetation types similar to those identified at the peat-mineral interface in peat profiles to determine the effect of herbaceous plant, low shrub and wood-strand mulch cover treatments on moss establishment., Three seasons after introduction, total moss cover averaged 40% and was greatest under all cover treatments and at the 0 cm water level. Total moss biomass averaged 95·5 g m−2 in moss introduction mesocosms and was greatest under low shrubs and herbaceous plants and at the 0 and −30 cm water levels. Fen moss species distribution was significantly influenced by water-table depth. Drepanocladus aduncus and Ptychostomum pseudotriquetrum were most common at 0 cm and Aulacomnium palustre and Tomentypnum nitens at −30 cm., In this approach, we created vegetation types similar to those found on mineral sediments at the base of Alberta peat cores and successfully established distinct fen moss communities along a water-table gradient and under shade cover. Introducing a suite of fen moss species that inhabit a range of hydrologic niches under low shrubs or herbaceous plants improves moss establishment., Synthesis and applications. Our research shows that it is possible to create fen initiation conditions on clay loam sediment by introducing foundation moss and vascular plant species at optimal water levels. Restoring the community structure and biomass accumulation that occurs in the initial stages of fen development appears to be a suitable target for peatland reclamation. These methods introduce a practical strategy to reclaim peatlands in the heavily impacted oil sands region of Alberta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent column in this journal, I discussed how in the early to middle nineteenth century Napoleon and Bismarck contributed to Europe's lack of any shale gas development compared to the shale boom in North America.1 But that is rather recent business compared to those seventeenth-century fishermen off the coast of South America who noticed unusually warm waters that tended to occur every few years around Christmas-labelling the phenomenon El Niño. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unconventional shale oil and gas production plays a prominent role in boosting economic growth and stimulating wealth creation in many communities. However, because of potential social and environmental drawbacks, including a lack of affordable housing and groundwater contamination from drilling, unconventional shale development is highly contentious in many areas and has resulted in many community conflicts. Hydraulic fracturing, which is a specific technology utilized in unconventional shale development, has proved especially contentious because of concerns about its long-term environmental consequences. Given the fast pace of shale development, coupled with the controversy that surrounds it, we seek to understand what factors affect a local government official's stance on shale development and hydraulic fracturing. To do this we draw from value-belief-norms theory while additionally examining knowledge and community-level factors that can influence an official's position. In this study, we survey 308 local government officials across six shale plays in the United States to examine local officials' positions on shale development and hydraulic fracturing. We find that the more positively officials perceive the consequences of shale development, the less likely they are to support banning hydraulic fracturing. Additionally, we find that networks to other shale communities are positively associated with favoring a ban. Further, leaders with a bachelor's degree or higher are more likely to favor a ban than those with lower than a bachelor's degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using national data on county-level mortality, coal mining, and shale development, we examine the effects of resource booms and busts on mortality in the United States. We find evidence that decreases in operating coal mines increased total all-cause mortality, non-drug mortality, and opioid overdose mortality, especially for counties with greater than 10 operating coal mines in 2000. Our model results for drug overdose mortality and opioid overdose mortality are sensitive to the panel's start year. For shale development, the shale boom is associated with increases in non-drug suicides but otherwise had little impact on mortality. Our findings suggest a potential role for job-training programs and the cultivation of local healthcare resources in regions suffering coal busts and suicide prevention in areas with shale development. • We examine how resource development impacts mortality in the U.S. and Appalachia. • Coal mining is associated with decreased non-drug mortality. • Coal mining is associated with decreased opioid overdose mortality. • The shale boom is only associated with increased non-drug suicides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, we examine the perceptions of unconventional shale development held by city and county officials in the New Albany shale play in Southern Illinois and Northwest Kentucky. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 officials before development occurred. Twelve supported introducing shale development to their communities, four were opposed, and two were undecided. Many view it as a way to overcome an economic vulnerability of their areas, population decline, by boosting the local population. Several also believe shale development will strengthen their communities’ economic specialization and social identity related to resource extraction. Although leaders held high hopes for it, most of their communities’ economic vulnerabilities are structural and likely cannot be improved by introducing shale development. This gap between hope and reality suggests that many community officials will be disappointed with major development projects – many of which are portrayed as economic boons – as they often cannot fulfill officials’ high hopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While global oil prices are down in 2015 and U.S. production is off its recent highs, net increases in U.S. production over the last decade have impacted economies and oil markets around the world, including oil-rich countries in Africa. Algeria, Angola, and Nigeria, all members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), each send a share of their crude oil exports to the United States. This article describes the impact of the U.S. energy boom on Africa, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, and discusses some of the challenges and opportunities that have resulted from the fall in U.S. demand for Africa's oil resources. Shifts in trade patterns demand a refocusing of U.S. security measures and an increase in strategic collaboration, as opposed to isolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Estonia, oil shale is used as a fuel for producing energy and as raw material for processing shale oil. Concentration plants at mines must guarantee required oil shale quality and quantity parameters. The processing rock material (run-of-mine) is the mineral composition, the quality of which depends on geological conditions and technology in mine. Mathematical description and data analysis are performed on working processes from working place (face) to a concentration plant: extraction, crushing, screening and concentration. A mathematical model for a concentration plant was created based on these studies. This model allows determining the optimum parameter kinds of trade oil shale and helps to design processing flow sheet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the condition of the shale oil and gas production in Northeast Asia. Explored is the role of entrepreneurship in the advancements of shale production, along with its implications in various countries including Saudi Arabia, China and Iran. Also discussed are issues on property-rights regime, research and development initiatives and hydraulic fracturing within the sector.

The article focuses on the peak oil theory, the once-popular notion of petroleum geologist M. King Hubbert in which worldwide oil production will decline after it reaches a maximum level. Topics include the report of the International Energy Agency (IEA) on the growth of American shale oil, the role of advanced production technology in prolonging the life of petroleum products, and the new theory called techno-dynamism wherein there will be no physical limit to the global supply of oil.

The article discusses the rapidly changing market dynamics in natural gas industry due to shale gas phenomenon. The sudden growth of large production volumes in the market area would have a profound effect on the function and need for pipelines. Bentek's Beast in the East hud of Northeast production produced 40 percent of the demand but there was a need for 40 percent of the inbound pipeline capacity. There is an urgent need for the infrastructure network and its regulatory structure to adapt.

In this paper I try to present the recent drop in global oil prices which is affecting economies around the world. I tried to show the causes behind the falling prices and their effects on major energy consumers and producers. One may see some structural changes in the oil market, particularly the rapid growth in oil supply and the decline in demand covering the 2001-2012 period in some important developed countries, like Eurozone states and Japan. In the absence of any production cuttings of OPEC and a robust economic recovery in the developed countries and under the circumstances of a slowdown of BRICS economies, first of all of Chinese economy, one cannot predict any price increase on short term. But very low prices will seriously affect shale oil production in USA and oil production outside OPEC which will work towards balancing supply and demand after a while. Any price prediction on medium and long-term is currently difficult and also uncertain and the only certainty seems to be the large fluctuations of oil market prices under the influence of some future military, political and economic events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent developments bring US to a leading natural gas and oil producer position. The attempts in last 20 years to bring new horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies together have developed a success in shale gas and oil production in US; the production volumes has reached to a position to redefine the market. Last estimations are bringing more information about the shale capacities of the major basins of the world. However, the estimates are based on a wide range of assumptions and consequently their results vary in a large scale. In any case, these developments have crucial economic, political and geopolitical consequences on the energy market, petroleum producer and consumer countries and regions. Despite the wide range of ambiguity of the estimated size of the resources, the estimations show US and North America has one of the biggest potential, already turning technology into the giant production numbers. Some of the estimations allege so big numbers can even mean to a new world order. The asymmetric nature of the potential, can also be said, increases some of the expected impacts too. In this study, basically, we want to supply an initial solid and economical evaluation to this ambiguity. We are trying to shape a frame for the new energy potential and to put it in a place in the current practice of the world. Secondly, in this context, we are underlying here some of the possible economic and geopolitical consequences each of which can constitute a subject of deeper study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

States have acted quickly to respond to the public's demand for information on the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing. Proponents of these disclosure requirements have relied on a number of policy rationales. However, the resulting disclosure systems may not be achieving stated goals. Ineffective disclosure requirements risk undermining public confidence in the disclosure process and waste an important opportunity to put these disclosures to work. This article suggests using a Goal-Oriented Disclosure Design approach to HFC disclosure, built around the goals for disclosure, the information end users need to target in pursuit of each goal, and the feedback loops those end users can trigger. The article then walks through the design steps for a disclosure regime intended to fully inform first responders and medical professionals, so that they may timely treat and diagnose patients who may have been exposed to hydraulic fracturing chemicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: New unconventional oil extraction technologies are needed because conventional technologies to extract gas and oil from oil shale or tar sands are both economically unfeasible and ecologically devastating. One technology proposed in this paper is built on long-standing proposals to explode a nuclear bomb in the heart of an oil shale deposit which in a flash causes the release of gas and oil from the oil shale. This rubble chimney will have a glassy bottom which seals the oil from sinking into the earth, thus preventing damage to the aquifer. The authors show that the equivalent of a significant atomic bomb can be achieved using conventional explosives or liquid oxygen and carbon. The computations further show that the amount of carbonous material lost in the explosion is a small price to pay for the safe in situ collection of the oil and gas. Computations show that this technology is both physically possible and economically feasible. A second approach is using the supercritical state — that exact point between liquid and gas — to extract the oil and gas from the oil shale and from the tar sands. In one configuration, the supercritical state is achieved by a sea-based configuration using the weight of water to provide sufficient pressure. A land-based alternative is a pressure well — a very deep well that similarly achieves sufficient pressure to produce the supercritical state. Supercritical carbon dioxide is frequently used in extraction using the supercritical state and the specific technology using carbon dioxide both in devices as well as in high pressure in situ. To contain the pollutants and maximize the output, a plasma tunneler heats the oil shale in situ and collects the oil and gas while the gases are contained in inflatable domes at the “worm hole” or the aperture that the earth penetration device was fed from. Other non-combustion proposals are advanced as well. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article discusses a study from the Mining Department of Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia in 1964-1967 regarding the properties of oil shale deposit in the country. It provides an overview of the problems involving to the oil shale utilization. It also emphasizes the determination of rock strength as well as its mineralogical and petrographical features.

The analysis software, FLAC3D, was used for simulation of Nong'an oil shale mining according to the three-dimensional fast Lagrangian algorithm. A simulation study involving drilling hydraulic mining methods for different borehole spacings in the Nong'an oil shale mining area was conducted. The best mining scheme was selected in terms of safety factors and economic benefits, and used for the analysis of the vertical displacement and ground surface settlement of the oil shale area. Drill hole spacing was identified as a key factor for the coefficient of borehole hydraulic mining based on the general relationship between the coefficient and borehole spacing. The optimal mining hole spacing was 25 m, and the distribution regularities of the vertical displacement of the surrounding rock near the excavation and earth surface were observed. The results showed that FLAC3D can simulate and analyze the oil shale hydraulic mining process and is an effective and suitable method for oil shale exploitation research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the kinetics of pyrolysis of North-Korean oil shale was investigated. Fischer Assay analysis showed that the oil yield of oil shale sample was 12.14 wt%. Thermogravimetry was applied to the analysis of pyrolysis of oil shale at the heating rates of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 °C/min. The kinetic parameters (apparent activation energy E and frequency factor A) were determined by the Friedman procedure, maximum pyrolysis rate method and parallel reactions model, respectively. Based on the Friedman procedure the values of apparent activation energy E were found to range from 209 kJ/mol to 359 kJ/mol and frequency factor A from 6.32 × 1012 to 1.99 × 1020·min-1. It was shown by the maximum pyrolysis rate method that E and A were respectively 191.52 kJ/mol and 1.51 × 1013·min-1. As determined by the parallel reactions model, the values of apparent activation energy were mainly between 130 kJ/mol and 240 kJ/mol. The plot of ln A vs E for oil shale pyrolysis was a straight line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxy-fuel combustion is considered as one of the promising carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies for coal-fired boilers. In oxy-fuel combustion, the combustion gases are oxygen and the recirculating flue gas, and the main components of the combustion gas are O2, CO2 and H2O [1]. The paper presents the results of the calculation of the flue gas amount during combustion of oil shale using oxy-fuel technology in a circulated fluidized bed (CFB) mode. The calculations were performed for different oil shale heating values and different recycled flue gas (RFG) ratios. Oxy-fuel combustion with flue gas recycling was found to enable the decrease of the extent of carbonate minerals decomposition (ECD), thereby increasing the amount of heat released per 1 kg of fuel. To minimize ECD, the recycled flue gas ratio should be maintained at a level higher than 0.7. This condition allows an increase of the partial pressure of CO2 over the equilibrium state line of calcite decomposition reaction at the bed temperature. The decrease of ECD was observed up to kCO2-min = 0.28. The decrease of kCO2 leads to an additional increase in the amount of heat released during oil shale combustion per 1 kg and, depending on the mean lower heating value (LHV), the heat can be increased up to 0.34 MJ/kg. A comparison with the bituminous and anthracite coals revealed that the specific emission of CO2 per input fuel energy for oil shale is expected to be even smaller compared with those of the considered coals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of testing a horizontal tubular reactor for pyro-gasification of pulverized oil shales to obtain shale gas. The parameters characterizing the thermokinetics of pyro-gasification and heat exchange between the chemically reacting flow of shale gas suspension and the wall of the reactor have been obtained. The algorithm for the reactor design, and the inherent calculation data are provided: residence time for particles in the reactor 0.3-0.4 s and thermal stress volume of reaction 18-27.2 GJ/(m3·h). It is shown that a unit having a tubular reactor exhibits higher performance characteristics compared to existing systems for thermal processing of solid fuels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the essential of oil shale, a fine-grained sedimentary rock that contains organic matter yielding economic amounts of oil and combustible gas during destructive distillation. It states the large number of deposits worldwide and the determination on its potential as reserves including Australia, Jordan and the U.S. An overview of the uses and the geological explorations of the mineral resources are also mentioned.

The unconventional oil and gas revolution is certainly a game changer in the current international political setting, since it will bring the United States close to energy self-sufficiency. However, it seems unlikely that this new energy status will dramatically redefine US foreign policy and security priorities. In strategic regions such as the Middle East, US interests are expected to remain unchanged, while the new energy status will contribute only in part to modifying the US approach towards the EU’s energy posture vis-à-vis Russia. What the new American energy condition is likely to change are the tools and policy options available to Washington to cope with the strategic challenges – China’s powerin primis– emerging in the multipolar international relations system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents an analysis of the changes in the energy sector that requires new paradigm of efficient energy security to meet the changed realities of energy markets and the global economic development. It explores topics including energy or resource nationalism, the negative internal conditions resulting from resource curse, and the global financial crisis and its impact on the energy sector. it discusses how the shale revolution in gas and oil production affects the energy market.