The Future Of Shale Development Worldwide, In Three Charts

You may have seen the above map showing worldwide shale basins. It seems like a lot of other nations could replicate America's shale boom if they only put their minds to it.

But while Mother Earth may have generously distributed her deposits of unconventional resources, she and Man have also conspired to make them not all equally accessible.

Scott Gruber at AllianceBernstein has created three annotated charts showing the amount of known shale reserves for all major countries, and the barriers to companies' ability to drill there.

Check it out:

Europe, who arguably needs it most as it faces an energy cost crisis, has put in place the greatest restrictions to accessing its reserves.

Latin America, led by Argentina, will likely be runner-up to the North American boom.

Asia, especially China, has great potential, but, for now at least, the rocks there are a bit more difficult to drill.