Translated from the following link: http://www.dn.no/energi/article1970773.ece?WT.mc_id=dn_rss

Published: 09/07/2010 - 14:50 by Espen Bjerke.

Thina Saltvedt from Nordea Markets predicts a shale gas revolution where shale gas outcompetes both oil and coal.
The shale gas industry does not have the best environmental renome. In order to free up natural gas trapped in shale, massive amounts of water are required. This is transported in huge tankers and then injected into the ground to break up the shale rock and release the gas. Chemicals are added to the water that many fear could end up in groundwater. Recently there have been examples of peoples drinking water being destroyed by this drilling process.

Nevertheless, shale gas may be the clean energy source the world needs before renewable energy can take over on a large scale, according to Nordea's oil expert.
- Shale Gas fever in the United States could become a pandemic, Saltvedt concludes in a recent report.
She believes shale gas has the potential to change the global energy situation.
- A shale gas pandemic can even affect prices and the market prospects for alternative energy sources like oil and coal and become a bridge to a low-carbon regime, writes Saltvedt in a new analysis.

Saltvedt writes in the analysis that although governments worldwide focus on renewable energy, the transition will take a long time and demand considerable resources and subsidies before renewable energy becomes profitable and can sustain a large part of the world's energy needs.

Substantial resources are now being used to identify opportunities to start shale gas production in Europe, Australia, South Africa, South America and China, she points out.

- Natural gas is regarded as the cleanest burning of all fossil fuels and produces 30 percent less carbon than oil and 50 percent less than coal. Any spills are easily dealt with and constitute little damage to the environment.