Water Is Quietly Becoming One of the Biggest Risks in Energy
Canadian Natural Says Pipeline Needed to Unlock Oil Sands Growth Robert Rapier is a chemical engineer in the energy industry.
He has 25 years of international engineering experience in the chemical, oil and gas, and… A decade ago, China was widely expected to become a shale powerhouse.
By some estimates, it holds moretechnically recoverable shale gasthan the United States, and there was real optimism that it could replicate the U.S.
China’s gas production is rising, but in 2025 accounted for only6% of the world’s production, a far cry from the U.S.
There are several reasons for this, including more complex geology and deeper formations, but one factor receives far less attention than it should.
Much of China’s shale resource sits in regions where water is scarce.
Hydraulic fracturing requires significant volumes of water, and in those regions, it simply isn’t available at the scale needed for rapid development.
That example points to a broader issue that is starting to surface across the global energy system.
We tend to think about energy in terms of resources, technology, and capital.
Those are critical, but they are not the whole picture.
Energy production depends on a range of supporting inputs, and one of the most important is water.
This is not yet a dominant narrative in the markets, but it is shaping outcomes.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | ▲ +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | ▲ +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | ▲ +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | ▲ +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | ▼ -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | ▲ +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | ▼ -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | ▲ +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | ▼ -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | ▲ +0.92% |
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