What is shale gas?

Shale gas is natural gas that is trapped within shale rocks formations. Shale is a clastic sedimentary rock that is made up of clay-size weathering debris. It normally breaks into thin flat pieces. Shale is the most abundant of the sedimentary rocks

Particularly black shales are fine-grained sedimentary rocks that contain large amounts of organic matter.

Gas shales’ are often both the source rocks and the reservoir for natural gas. Traditionally organic-rich shales have been viewed as source and cap rocks for hydrocarbon reservoirs. Now they are also viewed as reservoir rocks.