Figure 8: World Shale Gas

The United States and Canada are the major producers of commercially viable natural gas from shale formations in the world, even though about a dozen other countries have conducted exploratory test wells. China is the only nation outside of North America that has registered commercially viable production of shale gas, although the volumes contribute less than 1% of the total natural gas production in that country. In comparison, shale gas as a share of total natural gas production in 2012 was 39% in the United States and 15% in Canada.