Surprise! DOE report citing "abundant" shale gas reserves prepared by oil/gas contractor
"A new report out last week from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has doubled estimates of 'technically recoverable' oil and gas resources available globally. The report says that shale-based resources potentially increase the world's total oil supplies by 11 per cent.
Acknowledging fault-lines in its new study, contracted to energy consulting firm Advanced Resources International Inc. (ARI), the EIA said:
These shale oil and shale gas resource estimates are highly uncertain and will remain so until they are extensively tested with production wells.
The report estimates shale resources outside the US by extrapolation based on 'the geology and resource recovery rates of similar shale formations in the United States." Hence, the EIA concedes that "the extent to which global technically recoverable shale resources will prove to be economically recoverable is not yet clear.'"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/earth-insight/2013/jun/21/shale-gas-peak-oil-economic-crisis