Unlock the rock: cracking the shale gas challenge

Energy security is at the top of the agenda for many governments. Still overwhelmingly dependent on fossil fuels for power generation and transport, the West, in particular, relies heavily on imports from the Middle East, Russia and some of the former Soviet states. In many cases, the political situations in these countries make this reliance extremely uneasy.

But although research - and rhetoric - is looking towards alternative sources of energy and a resurgence of nuclear power, the energy infrastructure is still focused on fossil fuels and, in the case of power generation, this generally means gas. Not as cheap as coal, but far less polluting in terms of carbon emissions and other impurities, gas is the fuel of choice for most modern fossil-fuel power stations.

However, in the past few years, worries over gas security have begun to ease. The reason is the increased exploitation of a form of gas resource that’s very different from the familiar natural reservoir in porous rock. It’s known as shale gas.