The shale gas boom is about to explode, literally! As you may be aware, new technology now enables us to access shale gas by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking as it is more commonly known. Fracking involves blasting a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals at dense shale rocks to split them apart and release the tiny bubbles of methane trapped within. Although fracking has been persistently in the news, not least because it has been associated with alleged instances of water contamination in the US, it does not appear to have hampered the shale gas boom…

This week, the International Energy Agency, the world’s most respected energy body, predicted that the shale gas boom will boost US manufacturing and jobs until at least 2035, reinforcing America’s economic edge over Asia and Europe for the next two decades. It added that shale would continue to fuel the American economy even after the US starts ramping up exports, despite fears that selling the cheap gas to overseas customers would erode the country’s competitive advantage. These are unfounded fears, it seems…

Big winners will be energy-intensive industrial firms who are able to access cheap gas, most of which are, and will continue to be, in America. PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that US chemicals firms have already grown capacity by a third and US petrochemical companies are blowing away their European competition. One such company, Dow Chemical has seen its net income rise by a third and earnings per share grow by 13.1% since last year. Companies that transport shale oil and gas around the US, like Kinder Morgan who owns 180 terminals and 37,000 miles of pipelines, are also perfectly placed to profit from the energy boom. Recent results show that quarterly profits were up by 80% on a year ago.

The shale gas industry is undoubtedly booming, with enough evidence to suggest that this is a new energy revolution and by no means hot air!