The International Energy Agency (IEA) has just released its World Energy Outlook special report on unconventional gas entitled “Golden Rules for a Golden Age of Gas”.

The report explains that within the next two decades, natural gas could become the world’s second most important energy source after oil, should the right rules be introduced to ensure safe and environmentally sustainable use of unconventional gas resources.

Furthermore, the report underscores the economic gains offered by the rapid growth in unconventional gas and its role as geopolitical game changer, with countries that were net importers of gas in 2010, including the US, gaining the wider economic benefits associated with improved energy trade balances and lower energy prices. Australia, India, Canada and Indonesia are also set for big increases in unconventional gas production while the share of Russia and countries in the Middle East in international gas trade declines from around 45 percent in 2010 to 35 per cent in 2035. However, the boom can only run if measures are taken to ensure these reserves are extracted in a socially and environmentally satisfactory way and if the percentage of unconventional gas in the national energy mix will be accompanied by RES and the roll out of CCS technology.

The document is available for downloading here

Read the full article in the latest issue of Climate Policy News by Marinella Davide and Valeria Barbi.

Photo by ZazzaNM.