The following is an article I found on the brisbane times website but it was originally published in the london telegraph

The solution to the world energy crisis is closer than you think

Advancesin technology mean we may need to rewrite the geo-strategy textbooksfor the next half century, writes Ambrose Evans-Pritchard.

Americais not going to bleed its wealth importing fuel. Russia's grip onEurope's gas will weaken. Improvident Britain may avoid paralysingblackouts by mid-decade after all.

The World GasConference in Buenos Aires last week was an event that shatteredassumptions. Advances in technology for extracting gas from shale andmethane beds have quickened dramatically, altering the global balanceof energy faster than almost anybody expected.

BP's chief executive, Tony Hayward, said proven natural gas reservesaround the world had risen to 1.2 trillion barrels of oil equivalent,enough for 60 years' supply, and were rising fast. ''There has been arevolution in the gas fields of North America. Reserve estimates arerising sharply as technology unlocks unconventional resources.''

Thisis almost unknown to the public, despite the efforts of the bloggerNick Grealy at No Hot Air, who has been arguing for some time thatBritain's shale reserves could replace declining North Sea output. RuneBjornson of StatoilHydro in Norway said exploitable reserves were muchgreater than supposed just three years ago and might meet global gasneeds for generations.

''The common wisdom was that unconventional gas was too difficult, too expensive and too demanding,'' he said, according to Petroleum Economist. ''This has changed. If we ever doubted that gas was the fuel of the future - in many ways there's the answer.''

Thebreakthrough has been to combine 3D seismic imaging with newtechnologies to free ''tight gas'' by smashing rocks, known ashydro-fracturing or ''fracking'' in the trade.

TheUS is leading the charge. Operations in Pennsylvania and Texas havealready been sufficient to cut US imports of liquefied natural gas fromTrinidad and Qatar to almost nil, with knock-on effects for the globalgas market - and crude oil. It is one reason why spot prices for someLNG deliveries have dropped to 50 per cent of pipeline contracts.

Energybulls gambling that the world economy will soon resume its bubbletrajectory need to remember two facts: industrial production over thepast year is still down 19 per cent in Japan, 18 per cent in Italy, 17per cent in Germany, 15 per cent in Canada, 13 per cent in France andRussia, 11 per cent in the US and Britain and 10 per cent in Brazil. A12 per cent rise in China does not offset this.

Membersof the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are cheatingon quota cuts. Non-compliance has fallen to 62 per cent from 82 percent in March. Iran, Nigeria, Venezuela and others face a budgetcrunch. Why comply when non-OPEC Russia is pumping at breakneck speed?

TheUS Energy Department expects shale to meet half of US gas demand within20 years, if not earlier. Projects are cranking up in eastern Franceand Poland. Exploration is under way in Australia, India and China.

TexasA&M University said US methods could increase global gas reservesby nine times to 450 trillion cubic metres. Almost a quarter is inChina but it may lack the water resources to harness the technologygiven the depletion of the North China water basin.

Needless to say, the Kremlin is irked. ''There's a lot of myths about shale production,'' said Gazprom's Alexander Medvedev.

Ifthe new forecasts are accurate, Gazprom is not going to be theperennial cash cow funding Russia's great power resurgence. Russia'sbudget may be in structural deficit.

As for the US,we may soon be looking at an era when gas, wind and solar powercombined with a smarter grid and a switch to electric cars returns thecountry to near energy self-sufficiency.

This hascurrency implications. If you strip out the energy deficit, America'svaulting savings rate may soon bring the current account back intosurplus - and that is going to come at somebody else's expense, chieflyJapan, Germany and, up to a point, China.

Shale gasis undoubtedly messy. Millions of litres of water mixed with sand,hydrochloric acid and toxic chemicals are blasted at rocks. This issupposed to happen below the water basins, but accidents have beencommon. Pennsylvania's eco-police have shut down a Cabot Oil & Gasoperation after 36,000 litres of chemicals spilled into a stream.

Nor is it exactly green. Natural gas has much lower CO2emissions than coal, even from shale - which is why the Sierra Club isbacking it as the lesser of evils against ''clean coal'' (not yet areality). The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said Americamight not need any new coal or nuclear plants ''ever'' again.

Iam not qualified to judge where gas excitement crosses into hyperbole.I pass on the story because the claims of BP and Statoil are soextraordinary that we may need to rewrite the geo-strategy textbooksfor the next half century.