Shale gas is extracted by tapping gas from shale rock using a process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Those resources consist of a lot of rock, a lot of sunlight that could be used to generate electricity to process the rock and, at least in the dreams of many lunar scientists, some 20 billion tonnes of frozen water believed to lie at the bottoms of craters near the poles, where it is sheltered from the evaporative effects of sunlight.
It said markets had been hit by a combination of factors including the 2011 Japanese tsunami and the USA's interest in shale gas, which is extracted from shale rock using the controversial process of fracking.
Fracking is a drilling process that frees gas from deep rock deposits by injecting wells with chemical-laced water at high pressure.
Mr McGuinness said he had no concerns about the political process, which he said was "rock solid".
Lord Whitty also said he was "suspicious" of fracking, a controversial process used in capturing gas from shale rock.
Unlike the normal gas extraction, chemically treated water is forced upon the rock underground to fracture it releasing the gas in the process.
The EPA has subpoenaed Halliburton for the secret formula for the liquid chemical cocktail it pumps into underground rock structures so natural gas can be accessed through a process known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking.
Fracking is a controversial process that involves pumping water and chemicals into shale rock at high pressure to extract gas.
Fracking is the process of blasting water at high pressure into shale rock to release oil or gas held within it.
Wells in shale plays have to undergo a process known as fracturing to boost the porosity of the rock and to make oil and gas flow to the well head.
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Oil shale is sedimentary rock with oil in it that has historically been considered too expensive to process.
Under the process of fracking, oil or gas is extracted from shale rock by pumping a mixture of sand, water and chemicals into the rock at high pressure.
This process of combining of water, cement paste, sand and rock creates an awful lot of CO2 gases - which are linked by some scientists to global warming - about five to 10% of the world's total emissions.
But councillors in Bath fear the water courses which supply the springs in the World Heritage city could be contaminated by the process, or that water could change direction through new fractures in the rock.
Despite the sharp fall in natural gas prices in the U.S. caused by rising production from shale and other unconventional rock formations there was a time when early investors in shale gas made fat profits, a process which is being mirrored in Australia.
Some people have looked at the idea of grinding up peridotite and using it to soak up emissions from power stations, but the process turns out to be expensive, partly because of the costs of transporting all the rock.
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