Bazz we certainly got away from threads subject.
But as I agree these things impact on population I helped the move.
However rather a long bow in use here, what are the costs in producing CSG.
WE EXPORT IT [natural gas] at less than wholesale cost of LPG we buy at the pumps.
Shale? yes the very reason we stopped using it, was costs to retrieve it.
In fact Humanity will not retreat on this matter, it is Laughable, to think man lands on Mars, has mapped the human Gene system.
Has in yours and my lifetime Bazz, seen us move forward on many fronts.
If no other option than ethanol, we would make enough .
IF, for a time,Natural gas was all we had we would use it.
We have no intention of returning to bear skins and the caves.
SOME folk who use no petroleum have more children, to feed mum and dad it old age, linked to the over all subject if not its side issue.

Belly re shale oil.
Not sure anyone knows what the costs would be here.
In the US, they stop drilling if their price at the well head is less
than about $80 a barrel.
Gas is something different but they say that at $2 a mega joule they
are are going broke. It seems that because of transportation costs the
price of NG is all over the place.
I have no idea what they are getting for csg here.
It is just that I am very skeptical when I see reports of a bonanza.
It will be interesting to see what is the csg decline rate.

Bazz I agree shale oil is out of the question -currently, due to costs of extraction.
Mate thought you would know CSG and Natural Gas are the one product.
And that Australia has a great deal of it, in fact the world has,and may have as much as we had oil at the start of us using it.
This does not make it sustainable, or a long term answer.
Current speeding up of the search for fuel,s, and the time we are given by Natural gas and oil will carry us till new fuel arrives.
My guess? a blended ethanol.

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/national/aussie-brothers-make-biofuel-breakthrough/story-e6frfku9-1226508496055
Bazz this link caught my eye.
The Bell mentioned, as far as I know is no relation.
Dad and his clan had big family,s as did mums 13 is about the average.
Now I am as interested in this subject as you are.
And constantly trawl the web looking for such.
A thousand such links could be found, without trying.
This looks promising.

Yes, Belly I did know that CSG & Natural gas are almost the same.
The link is to a process similar to what they are doing in Brazil.
It is a viable process and might produce some ethanol.
I have seen what the net fuel ratio produced was but I cannot remember
what is was.
I wonder if they gave the figure in their report.
It does raise the question as to why they gave up in Queensland.

Do you know if there is still any ethanol production in Queensland ?
Most of the ethanol here comes from wheat grain.

Bazz in a recent link, maybe the one above it was said we do not currently use food stuff for fuel creation here.
Not sure what they do in QLD, but current world wide grain shortages have driven prices high, a benefit for us this harvest year.
Not going to be sustainable to use other than spoiled grain in fuel production however this year.
My hope is products lower in sugar [power] will be usable with new ways yet to be found.