The leadership displayed by Consortium Chairman Leodoro Martinez and others in organizing and managing this collaborative effort has been truly extraordinary, and has been a major factor in ensuring the Eagle Ford Shale has become a major success story, and a model for leaders in other shale plays across the United States to follow.

FORBES: The Blessing That is the Eagle Ford Shale

So-called unconventional gas, which has been discovered in huge amounts in shale formations in the U.S. and elsewhere, will be come a big factor.

FORBES: MIT: The Future Is A (Natural) Gas

The second factor is the explosion in gas output in the U.S. caused by the shale gas boom.

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