What Gulf must do to join the shale revolution

If the Arabian Gulf wants to join North America's shale boom, then it needs more infrastructure, says a representative of the oil giant ExxonMobil.

Where there are oilfields, there are bound to be rich shale resources like those that have ignited a boom in jobs and industry in North America, say oil executives.

But the Arabian Gulf needs to pave the way for that kind of challenging development with more infrastructure if it wants to become an attractive prospect for the likes of ExxonMobil, a representative from the company said yesterday in Dubai.

The "robustness" of hydrocarbons infrastructure such as pipelines and gas processing facilities has made unconventional exploration possible in the United States, said James White, the Middle East new opportunity manager for the Houston-based major.

"That would be an issue in the Middle East until people recognise that's something they need to investigate and understand," he told the Dubai Global Energy Forum. "The pace of infrastructure needs to be in line with the pace of exploration and delineation."

With the exception of a planned US$20 billion (Dh73.46bn) fracking project in Oman, the Middle East has largely remained off-limits for unconventional exploration.

Dubai Petroleum has investigated prospects for shale in the emirate, which has fewer conventional resources to pump than Abu Dhabi, but technology for fracking would need to improve to operate at the greater depths that the Dubai fields require, say analysts.

Opec producers are warily watching the shale revolution in North America, which has reduced natural gas prices to a 10th of their highs and attracted big bucks in downstream investment that might have otherwise gone to the region, as well as reducing western dependence on foreign supplies.

ExxonMobil is assessing opportunities in the Gulf and speaking with governments about unconventional development, said Mr White.

"This is an area that would be of intense interest," he said. "As we look around today, we are trying to assess what is the right timing, what is the right pace? And we are also engaging various stakeholders around the region and understanding what some of the biggest issues might be commercially."