Turkey's shale gas potential and comparison of its success factors with the US and European developments

Recent shale gas developments has been transforming the USA with repercussions on world economy in general; as well as having a great impact on the formation of short and mid-term global energy future. It is even dubbed as the unexpected energy revolution of the 21st century. The fact that the USA has so far had an outstanding success in shale gas development deserves close attention and therefore, the study of how the same fact could be applicable and replicable in other shale resourceful countries and to what extent the factors leading to this success are utilisable in other countries is very relevant. In this respect, Europe and Turkey are also known to have some considerable shale resources. Due to high dependence on gas imports, the issue gains even more significance for Turkey. In light of the above considerations, such a comparison between the USA and Europe-Turkey, with regards to shale gas developments, might be interesting and necessary. In this paper, it is aimed to analyse the US shale revolution and more importantly to make a comparison between the US and European implementations so far and especially Turkish potential and prospects in that regard. © 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.