Chevron weighing shale gas prospects carefully

NEW YORK, Mar 17 (Commodity Online): Chevron is looking selectively at which shale deposits in the United States will yield the best results for the company, its exploration director said. Shale deposits are considered an emerging energy resource for the United States. T Boone Pickens, a Texas oil magnate, said abundant gas reserves in the United States made the country the 'Saudi Arabia of natural gas.' The U.S. Energy Information Agency said in its 2011 outlook that it projects technically recoverable unproven shale gas reserves sit at 827 trillion cubic feet, 474 trillion cf larger than the previous year's outlook. US Supermajor Chevron recently moved strongly into the shale market with a $4.7 billion deal to acquire assets in shale-producing states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York. George Kirkland, the director of oil and gas exploration and production at Chevron, said his company has 'a very good queue' of shale assets but stressed that he was 'very selective' on where to invest, the Financial Times reports.