China held its first auction of shale-gas exploration rights in June and has scheduled a second round this month.

Foreign companies, while banned from bidding, are allowed to participate as project partners. China's "technically recoverable" reserves are almost 50 percent more than those in the U.S., according to the Energy Information Administration.

India plans to hold its first shale-gas exploration rights auction by 2013 after surveying the country's reserves and drawing up policies, Oil Secretary G.C. Chaturvedi said Dec. 21.

Eoin Treacy's view While often described as major oil companies, Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell among others have for some time produced more natural gas than oil. Natural gas supply, from multiple sources, is growing rapidly. The USA's shale gas developments have been by far the most publicized, but Middle Eastern and Australian supply is also growing rapidly. The prospect of a major supply source evolving in East Africa and the potential for China and India to increase their supply are also encouraging developments. LNG development is making natural gas a more internationally traded commodity and it appears to be only a matter of time before a globally reflective pricing structure is developed for it.

These developments are all happening on the basis of real world economics. Against such a background, the politically motivated desire to tax carbon and invest in wind and solar are expensive diversions incapable of meeting the global economy's energy needs.