F. William Engdahl: The Fracked up USA Shale Gas Bubble.

At a time, when much of the world is looking with a mix of envy and excitement at the recent boom in USA unconventional gas from shale rock, when countries from China to Poland, to France, to the UK are beginning to launch their own ventures into unconventional shale gas extraction, hoping it is the cure for their energy woes, the US shale boom is revealing itself, to have been a gigantic hyped confidence bubble, that is already beginning to deflate. Carpe diem! America: The New Saudi Arabia? If we were to believe the current media reports out of Washington, and the US oil and gas industry, the United States is about to become  the new Saudi Arabia. We are told she is suddenly and miraculously on the track to energy self sufficiency. No longer the US economy will depend on high risk oil or gas, from the politically unstable Middle East, or African countries. The Obama White House energy adviser, Heather Zichal, has even shifted her focus from pushing carbon cap and trade schemes, to promoting America's shale revolution. In his January 2012 State of the Union Address to Congress, President Obama claimed that, largely owing to the shale gas revolution, we have a supply of natural gas, that can last America nearly 100 years. Renowned energy experts, like Cambridge Energy Researcher Daniel Yergin, in recent Congressional testimony, waxed almost poetic, about the purported benefits of the recent US shale oil and gas exploration: The United States is in the midst of the unconventional revolution in oil and gas, that it has becomes increasingly apparent, goes beyond energy itself. He did not explain what exactly energy going beyond energy itself means. He also claimed that the industry supports 1.7 million jobs, a considerable accomplishment, given the relative newness of the technology. That number could rise to 3 million by 2020. Very impressive numbers. Mr Yergin went on to suggest a major geopolitical dimension of America's shale oil and gas industry, saying expansion of US energy exports will add an additional dimension to US influence in the world. Shale gas has risen from two percent of domestic production a decade ago, to 37 percent of supply, and prices have dropped dramatically. US oil output, instead of continuing its long decline, has increased dramatically by about 38 percent since 2008. Just the increase since 2008, is equivalent to the entire output of Nigeria, the seventh largest producing country in OPEC. People talk about the potential geopolitical impact of the shale gas and tight oil. That impact is already here!