Balita: U.S. official downplays new shale gas rules' impact on S. Korean investment

A growing set of U.S. federal regulations on the booming shale gas industry is unlikely to have a significant impact on South Korea's investment in American shale gas assets, a U.S. official said Friday.

 South Korea, the world's No. 2 net importer of liquefied natural gas, has pushed to diversify its sources of energy supply and expand purchases of shale gas to 20 percent of its gas imports by 2020.

Technological advances for extracting shale gas, natural gas formed from being trapped in shale rock far below the surface, have fueled the boom of the shale gas industry in the U.S. over the past years, but the rapid expansion of shale drilling has sparked public concern about health and safety.

As a result, for instance, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is developing rules for shale gas developers to dispose of their wastewater or other preventive measures, prompting some analysts here to raise concerns about South Korea's investment in U.S. shale gas mining. MORE