Unconventional Gas: A growing resource

Over the last few years there has been a surge of interest for unconventional gas around the world. With newly discovered unconventional gas resources being distributed globally and adding substantially to already known reserves of natural gas, many countries have hope that they may be able to secure new domestic gas supplies.

Only four countries currently produce commercial volumes of either natural gas from shale formations (shale gas) or crude oil from tight formations (tight oil) - Canada, China,  Argentina, and the USA, which is by far the dominant producer of both shale and tight gas.

Within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, unconventional gas development is set to grow exponentially over the next 5 years, with the Kingdom estimated as potentially holding the world’s fifth largest reserves.

Unconventional resources in Saudi Arabia offer an opportunity to extend needed gas plateaus in the long term, to substitute gas for liquid fuels and to provide potential feedstock for the growing chemical industry.