• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.193-204
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• 2014

Shale gas has caused a change in the dynamics of gas market since development of horizontal drilling technic and hydraulic fracturing technic caused its commercial production. The commercial amount of shale gas is 187.5 trillions $m^3$ so human can use it for 59 years and the amount will increase in the future. Several nations such as USA, Canada, China and Russia have more and more interested in shale gas as a futuristic major energy source. In accordance with this trend in the world, the amount of studying theses for development of shale gas have increased so their theses became important increasingly. The number of searched theses (1986 ~ The first half of 2013) is 3,468 and has increased recently. Among 89 nations studying shale gas, USA has 637 theses as No.1 in the world. 1,813 global studying institutes have studied shale gas; in the analysis result of several studying institutes, US geological survey institute was ranked as No.1 for the quality level of shale gas study and intensity of global cooperation.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.551-561
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• 2014

Natural gas is the world's fastest-growing fossil fuel, with consumption increasing from 113 trillion cubic feet(Tcf) in 2010 to 185Tcf in 2040. While conventional natural gas streams from the earth relatively easily, unconventional gas finds are more difficult to develop and more costly to produce. Right now, there are six main types of unconventional gas, including deep gas, gas-containing shale, coalbed methane(CBM), geopressurized zones, Arctic and subsea hydrates, and tight gas. Tight gas refers to natural gas reservoirs locked in extraordinarily impermeable, hard rocks(sandstone, siltstone or carbonate sedimentary rocks). In this study, we analyzed total 375 papers(2000-2014) of tight gas by country, institution, international cooperation etc.