From an article about the continued growth of shale gas in the US comes this interesting snippet:
"Despite losing 53 rigs, gas production is still up an estimated 3.1 Bcf/d this gas year (November to November)," Adkins said.
"Wait a minute! Weren't low prices and high shale gas decline rates supposed to force U.S. gas supply sharply lower? Not for the Marcellus," Adkins said, noting that drillers can make money at $3.00/Mcf in the Marcellus.
My understanding had always been that you couldn't really make money from shale gas at less than $6/Mcf, hence the losses being accrued by many producers in the USA. Given that UK shale beds are much, much thicker than those in the Marcellus, this bodes well for the possibility of a financial bonanza and/or cheap gas.