Latin America at Forefront of Oil Shale Shake-up

世界可能正处在页岩油气革命的风口浪尖上，很少有哪个地区能像拉丁美洲那样充满希望。

水力压裂的传播,或水力压裂,我s boosting U.S. production of unconventional oil and gas, raising the prospect of an era of energy abundance that could break the grip of Middle Eastern producers on world markets.

拉丁美洲可能会为这一局面增添大量新燃料。据美国能源信息署（EIA）估计，该地区拥有1817万亿立方英尺的可采页岩气和400多亿桶石油。该地区的天然气储量略高于美国和加拿大的总和，占全球页岩气储量的23%。石油储量约占全球总储量的12%。

But it remains to be seen whether Argentina, Brazil and Mexico — the countries that harbor more than 90 percent of the region’s known shale deposits — can create an investment climate conducive to tapping that vast potential.

除了阿根廷在瓦卡-穆尔塔的发现外，最有希望的页岩矿床是墨西哥与得克萨斯州南部交界处，该州的伊格尔福特盆地是世界上产量最大的页岩气田之一。休斯顿哈特能源公司（Hart Energy）上游石油研究主管劳拉•阿特金斯（Laura Atkins）指出：“地质盆地不会在国家边界终结。”。“因此，我们完全有理由相信，墨西哥一侧的页岩矿床有可能像伊格尔福特（Eagle Ford）的页岩矿床一样高产。”

据EIA估计，墨西哥的布尔戈斯盆地（Burgos basin）蕴藏着3.43万亿立方英尺的可采天然气。国有石油公司墨西哥石油公司（Pemex）计划在未来三年内斥资2亿美元在该盆地钻探150口井。

Pemex’s production from Mexico’s offshore oil fields has been falling for years, however. Tapping the country’s unconventional oil and gas reserves poses greater technological and financial challenges than Pemex has ever faced. To stimulate the search, the government of President Enrique Peña Nieto has proposed legislation that would open up Mexico’s oil and gas industry to foreign investment for the first time in decades. The proposed reforms would establish profit-sharing arrangements with foreign companies. But such deals would have to be especially generous to attract investment in shale, which tends to be far more costly to exploit than conventional oil and gas fields. The arid climate of northern Mexico also poses a problem because fracking requires drilling companies to inject massive quantities of water into the ground to break up shale formations and release oil and gas.

Still, market incentives are strong. Over the past decade demand for gas has surged well ahead of production, forcing Mexico to buy an ever-higher quantity of supplies abroad. The U.S. accounts for 75 percent of Mexican gas imports, mostly from those shale fields just across the Texas border, contiguous with Mexico’s own Burgos basin.

For now Brazil may offer better investment prospects. The government allows 100 percent-foreign-owned operations in shale gas. The country has 245 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable shale gas resources, located in the north, northeast and southeast. There is no active exploration or drilling taking place yet, though. Until now most industry attention has focused on large oil discoveries in so-called pre-salt formations in the deep waters off the Brazilian coast.

Some analysts question whether Brazil will keep the door open to foreign companies if the shale fields prove to be larger than current estimates.

“Brazil has been preoccupied with the development and promise of the hydrocarbon reserves in the offshore pre-salt basins, and there has been little discussion of shale gas development,” points out David Mares, a politics and energy professor at the University of California, San Diego. At the time the huge offshore discoveries were made, Brazil was one of only three nations (along with the U.S. and Canada) that allowed 100 percent foreign and private ownership of oil concessions. But in 2008 the government limited foreign and private participation to less than 50 percent. That led to low foreign participation in the pre-salt auctions in October; no U.S. multinationals made bids.

Another red flag for Brazilian shale development: possible restrictions on the importing of equipment and qualified personnel. The pre-salt oil bonanza has slowed down in part because of government regulations requiring the use of Brazilian equipment and staff in the development of those deepwater fields. “If Brazil adopts similar regulations for the development of its shale gas resources, that development will be pushed further into the future,” warns Mares.

阅读更多关于阿根廷油页岩的信息亚博赞助欧冠's feature: “Argentina Oil Shale Caught in Politics, Litigation”.