The United States has become the oil and gas supplier of last resort for many importers amid the Middle East crisis. The reason it could become the supplier of last resort was shale, so the question naturally arises whether the U.S. shale revolution could be repeated in other parts of the world. Unfortunately, the answer is “Not likely.”Wood Mackenzie recently reported on the main advantages of the U.S. shale oil and gas industry and why it would be difficult to replicate its success in other jurisdictions. Among these advantages, Wood Mac’s experts listed an industry made up of hundreds of small players willing to bet everything on getting a piece of the shale pie and the fast development of hydraulic fracturing technology, along with a well-developed infrastructure, “access to capital, liquid M&A markets and a relatively favourable fiscal regime.”Those small shale players are now gone, gobbled up by the big ones as the industry went through several waves of consolidation, prompted by oil price drops, which highlighted some of the weaknesses of the shale industry, namely, price sensitivity and, more recently, limits to efficiency gains and well productivity, which analyst reports say is in decline across the shale patch.These shortcomings are yet to manifest in the few locations that have rolled the dice on shale exploration, namely Argentina and China. Argentina has the Vaca Muerta formation, believed to be the world’s second-largest after the Permian, and business there is booming. After a slow start earlier this decade, Vaca Muerta is the hotspot of drilling activity, with crude oil production increasing by about 16% from last year, and topping 800,000 barrels per day earlier this year. By the end of the decade, and possibly sooner, the Argentinian shale play will be able to deliver 1 million barrels daily of crude oil, as well as a lot of natural gas, industry and analysts say."Vaca Muerta is one of the most compelling shale plays in the world, and we're thrilled to continue to invest in Argentina and build Continental's position through this agreement with Pan American Energy," Continental Resources president and CEO Doug Lawler said in January. He is not the only shale executive eager to make the shale revolution international.Continental recently sealed two exploration deals in Turkey, one for the Diyarbakir Basin of Southeast Turkey and the Thrace Basin of northwest Turkey. Early evaluations suggest the ultimate recoverable reserves could reach 6 billion barrels of oil and 12-20 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Diyarbakir Basin, and 20-45 trillion cu ft in the Thrace Basin, the company said at the time.Other shale locations that have attracted the interest of U.S. shale majors include Australia’s Beetaloo Basin, considered to be one of the biggest shale gas deposits globally, with Australia’s Northern Territory government reporting estimated resources of over 500 trillion cu ft in discovered and prospective gas. Another investment destination, at least until March this year, was the United Arab Emirates. A lot more famous for its conventional resources, the UAE is also home to significant shale oil and gas reserves, according to EOG Resources, which started drilling there last year. Saudi Aramco, meanwhile, is focusing on its giant Jafurah unconventional gas field as it seeks to boost its natural gas output.In China, it’s also the state energy giants that are leading the shale charge. The country has some of the largest recoverable shale reserves in the world, but they are challenging to reach. This is why it took Chinese oil majors years to tap these reserves—and the lack of the U.S. abundance of fast-improving tech and infrastructure that Wood Mac mentioned in its report. What China has, however, is a government that sets industry targets and supplies the money to achieve these targets, which is what happened in shale.Last year, China’s shale oil production hit 7.7 million tons, which is equal to 56.44 million barrels, and as such, not a whole lot—but there is an important detail. The 2025 shale oil output volume represents an eightfold increase from 2018. Meanwhile, unconventional gas has come to account for as much as 46% of the country’s total gas output, with shale gas production hitting 27 billion cu m.So, it seems that although it would be difficult to replicate the U.S. shale boom exactly, it is not as difficult to develop shale resources outside the United States. Europe is the glaring exception and there are several reasons for that. The first one is, of course, regulation. The European Union is notorious for its appetite for regulating everything. Then there are national governments’ moratoria on shale drilling—and all other drilling in some countries, for climate change reasons. But the biggest reason shale is not going to take off in Europe is that there are simply not enough resources to make exploration commercially viable.By Irina Slav for Oilprice.comMore Top Reads From Oilprice.comNigeria Needs New Export Markets as UAE's Exit Rattles OPECGermany Launches Formal Sale Process for UniperIran’s Floating Oil Stockpile Jumps 65% as U.S. Naval Blockade Bites