US gas galore

Returns have been more difficult to find than gas in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays. New pipelines opening up fresh markets and better wells could help improve things

The greatest gas growth story in the world over the past decade has come out of America's northeast with the development of the vast Marcellus, and more recently the Utica, shale plays. The Appalachian gasfields' explosive growth has driven the transformation of America from the world's largest gas buyer to being on the cusp of becoming a global gas powerhouse, overturning the domestic market, the international gas trade and energy geopolitics in the process. The Appalachian gasfields weren't on the market's map at the start of this decade. But over the past seven years, production has risen more than ten-fold to record highs this winter of more than 27bn cubic feet a day. This is more than