Abstract
The world is increasingly becoming an uncertain and unpredictable place for both individuals and governments. High oil prices have enriched many nations and impoverished others while the environment suffers in the process. Then, out of nowhere, came the global financial crisis to add more pressure and uncertainty to a world bruised by wars, divisions, violence, poverty and inequality. But the uncertainty of the world we live in continues. The recent emergence of shale gas (natural gas extracted from shale rock formations) as, potentially, a major competitor to conventional natural gas and even oil has created a great deal of excitement and concern in the energy world and among environmentalists. It has also created more uncertainty. This development in the energy landscape could have serious implications for many of the world’s producers of oil and gas (especially those in the Arab Gulf region) and their millions of expatriates (many of them from poor third world countries). This chapter will provide a historical and current account of the “shale phenomenon” and its implications for a region whose prosperity and stability was secured by generous wealth distribution programmes made possible by massive financial resources generated from the sale of conventional oil and gas.
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Notes
- 1.
The GCC is an economic and political union comprising Saudi Arabia, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.
- 2.
A region in eastern Japan, about 250 km north of Tokyo.
- 3.
Gas prices have since recovered to reach $5.20 Mbtu in early 2014 (SRSrocco Report 2014).
- 4.
World reserves of natural gas for end of 2012 are estimated at 6614 TCF (BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2013).
- 5.
Gas containing less than 95% methane and more than 5% of heavier hydrocarbon molecules (e.g., ethane, propane, and butane) is sometimes referred to as wet gas.
- 6.
The Marcellus is a deep layer of sedimentary rock formation (known for its rich gas deposits) located in the eastern United States and extends from southern New York across Pennsylvania, and into western Maryland, West Virginia, and eastern Ohio.
- 7.
The Pickens Plan is an energy policy proposal announced July 8, 2008 by American businessman T. Boone Pickens. Despite wide support for the plan from politicians the plan was defeated in March 2012 when 47 senators voted against it in the US Senate even though 52 senators voted for it. The US Senate, which no longer abides by majority rule, required 60 votes to pass the plan.
- 8.
Methane gas is a powerful greenhouse gas with a global warming potential that is far greater than that of carbon dioxide. Up to 7.9% of methane produced from shale-gas production escapes to the atmosphere in venting and leaks over the lifetime of a well. See: Robert W. Howarth, R. W, Santoro, R and Ingraffea, A. “Methane and the greenhouse-gas footprint of natural gas from shale formations”, 2011.
- 9.
This is the budget break-even cost (i.e., the price at which the major oil producing countries need to sell oil in order to be able to fund their national spending).
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Sultan, N. (2017). A New Era for Energy: The Nightmare Gulf Scenario and Its Implications for Human and Environmental Security. In: Behnassi, M., McGlade, K. (eds) Environmental Change and Human Security in Africa and the Middle East. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45648-5_10
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