Players undeterred as they face challenges on the development path

ConocoPhillips, Hess and Mitsubishi are the three big players in the Australian shale play, which is very much in its infancy.

The two US companies are very experienced shale players back home. ConocoPhillips has shale positions in the Eagle Ford, Bakken and Barnett plays, and plans to drill 200 wells this year.

It expects to achieve long−term average shale production of 140,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from 2017 in the US, and also has shale acreage in Poland and Canada.

Hess