Spain Gas Resources Seen Meeting 70 Years of Demand With Shale

Spain, which imports about 99 percent of its natural gas, has enough prospective resources of the fuel to satisfy current demand for 70 years if shale is developed, according to a trade group for oil and gas companies.

In what it called the most comprehensive study to date, the association said today in Madrid that preliminary estimates show about 80 percent of that gas can be found in shale rock. A total of 2.05 trillion cubic meters are discoverable and could be pumped commercially at a value of about 700 million euros ($900 million) based on current market prices, according to the Spanish Association of Companies in Investigation, Exploration & Production of Hydrocarbons and Underground Storage.