Dunn and McClelland, 13 – Professor of International Politics and Head of the Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Birmingham AND Associate Director for North America at the risk analytics consultancy Maplecroft in charge of energy policy (David and Mark, “Shale gas and the revival of American power: debunking decline?,” The Royal Institute of International Affairs, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-2346.12081/abstract)//eek
The overseas impact of a revival of the US energy industry could also be very significant. Cheap, abundant shale gas flooding the US energy market—and its likely export—will result in natural gas playing a much larger role in the functioning of the global economy, especially as other countries including China, Argentina, Mexico, Canada and Australia follow suit in the development of these resources. Such a development will encourage and probably expedite the use of natural gas in an increasing number of functions in society, including electricity generation and transport. Countries with the largest conventional gas reserves—Russia, Iran and Qatar—stand to lose the most from this, but all the major OPEC oil exporters, including Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, could see lower prices for their oil exports in the medium to long term if the most optimistic predictions of the potential