North America is witnessing a fresh surge of natural gas production, which is encouraging investors to pump money into the industry, says a new report by natural resources expert GlobalData.

The new report states that the increase in shale gas drilling has made the US less dependent on liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, and the region now plans to export some of its own natural gas production.

The US has witnessed a huge increase in shale gas production, and consequently, the price of natural gas in the country has decreased, in turn attracting even more investors and LNG consumers.

Significant commercial production of shale gas is being attained by the Barnett shale play in East Texas, the Fayetteville shale play in northern Arkansas, the Haynesville shale play in northern Louisiana, the Woodford shale play in eastern Oklahoma, the Antrim in upper Michigan, the Bakken in North Dakota and the Marcellus shale play stretching into western Pennsylvania, western New York and West Virginia. The increase in the drilling of shale gas in the US has reduced its dependence on LNG imports, and now the region is even planning to export some of its natural gas production as LNG.

North America will witness significant additions to its LNG liquefaction capacities during 2012–2017, thanks to this increasing shale gas production. The Sabine Pass liquefaction terminal, the Freeport Liquefaction terminal, and the Cameron LNG Liquefaction terminal are all planned, and this new liquefaction capacity will lead the region to emerge as one of the top LNG exporters globally.

A number of projects are also under development in Canada, and it is expected that shale gas production there will increase significantly in the near future. The recoverable shale gas reserves are mainly located in British Columbia, Alberta, New Brunswick and Quebec. The Kitimat LNG terminal is expected to commence its operations from 2015, and this key site will have a total LNG liquefaction capacity of 5 Million Metric tons per annum (MMtpa).

The growing success of North America’s shale gas production industry is changing the global market, and threatening to derail Australia’s plan to become the world’s largest LNG exporter. High gas prices in Australia contrast to lowering prices in the US, and some stakeholders in Australia’s LNG projects are looking to move their investments elsewhere.