Shale rock, composed mostly of mineral (calcite, dolomite, hydromicas, montmorillonite, kaolinite, fieldspar, quartz, pyrite, etc.) and organic substances, was formed 450 mln years ago on a sea bottom from plant and animal remains, and does not belong to the group of valuable mineral resources. It is characterized by relatively low heat transfer--twice lower than coil and four times lower as compared with oil--and high slag production. However, shale has long been used as a fuel, especially in places where high-quality fuel was lacking. Today shale gas is strengthening its position as a competitor to customary hydrocarbons. This problem was also a focus point at the field meeting of the RAS SB United Academic Council for Power Engineering, Machine-Building, Mechanics and Management, held in mid-July of 2013 at the recreation center "Sosnovy Bor" of the Institute of Thermal Physics named after S. Kutateladze (Novosibirsk) to discuss resource, technological and economic aspects of shale revolution and determine the position and role of our country in it. Acad. Vasily Fomin, Chairman of the Council, and Vitaly Zinovyev, Academic Secretary and Cand. Sc. (Phys. & Math.), in detail reviewed the delivered reports in the Science in Siberia newspaper. As the authors stated, according to some forecasts, global reserves of shale gas are exceeding 700 trln m3 and are larger than the reserves of traditional natural gas. They are mostly (50 percent) located in China, USA, Argentina and Mexico. As for the European countries, commercial basins are located in France, Poland, Germany, Ukraine, and in the southern part of the North Sea. In the USA, after introduction of efficient production technologies, the share of shale gas in the overall natural gas production increased from 2 percent in 2000 to 37 percent in 2011. If this dynamics keeps developing, after 2020 the US will be able to stop importing natural gas and by 2030 start exporting it. According to experts ... Читать далее