A recent Wall St Journal article highlighted the value of investment in shale oil and gas in the USA.

According to the article, output of shale oil per rig has been rising by 30%-40% per year since 2012, and by about half that for gas. That means that for every dollar of investment, the outputs have been improving constantly. What’s more, a large chunk of the money invested in shale oil plays has been invested into purchasing land, meaning it’s a one-time spend per rig.

Why is this important? Between 2006 and 2012, almost US$1 trillion has been invested into the recent explosion in shale oil and gas. But the WSJ sees no looming credit crisis - with much of the debt not maturing until 2018.