India's Reliance completes new US shale gas deal

MUMBAI (AFP) - – India's biggest company Reliance Industries said Thursday it would invest 1.3 billion dollars in a US shale gas field, the second such move by the conglomerate this year.

Reliance is to buy a 45-percent interest in the Eagle Ford gas field in the state of Texas, owned by US-based Pioneer Natural Resources.

Shale gas is natural gas produced from shale. Shale gas has become an increasingly more important source of natural gas in the United States over the past decade, and interest has spread to potential gas shales in Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. One analyst expects shale gas to supply as much as half the natural gas production in North America by 2020.[1]

Some analysts expect that shale gas will greatly expand worldwide energy supply.[2] A study by the Baker Institute of Public Policy at Rice University concluded that increased shale gas production in the US and Canada could help prevent Russia and Persian Gulf countries from dictating higher prices for the gas it exports to European countries.[3] The Obama administration in the US believes that increased shale gas development will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.[4]