The global impact of the US shale gas boom was in further evidence this week as Qatar Petroleum, along with its MOU partner, Centrica, made its first move into the North American E&P market in a $1 billion acquisition of Canadian assets from Suncor Energy. North America had been earmarked by Qatar as a guaranteed market to sell its copious LNG export capacity in, but the US Shale boom has turned this idea on its head, as the middle-eastern NOC becomes the latest foreign power to move into the North American E&P arena.

Investors from outside the United States are playing an increasingly vital role in the US tight oil and shale natural gas industry, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Joint ventures by foreign companies accounted for 20% of the $133.7 billion invested in US tight oil and shale gas plays between 2008 and 2012.

Northern Petroleum Plc (AIM: NOP) acquired additional leases in Canada following the Alberta Crown lands sale that took place March 20, 2013.

Houston-based oil and gas giant ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) has teamed up with China’s largest oil and gas producer, PetroChina Company Ltd. (PetroChina) on agreements targeting the unconventional resource space in Western Australia and in China’s Sichuan Basin.

Norwest Energy has restarted operations on the unconventional shale gas well, Arrowsmith-2, located in EP413, northern Perth Basin, Western Australia.

On Dec. 28, Houston-based NEOS GeoSolutions Inc. said it had delivered the final results for Phase I of its integrated geological and geophysical study in Argentina’s Neuquén Basin to the project’s underwriters, a group that includes a North American supermajor.

Houston-based ZaZa Energy Corporation [NASDAQ: ZAZA] said Dec. 27 that it has completed the sale of its French assets, comprising 100% of the shares of ZaZa Energy France SAS (ZEF), to Vermilion REP SAS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vermilion Energy Inc., for a gross purchase price of US$85.8 million.

Europe’s loss is the United States’ gain with respect to shale gas production, says the chief executive of the world’s largest petrochemical group.

The Supreme Court of Israel has rejected a petition against the IEI oil shale project, clearing a legal roadblock and allowing the project to move forward to the permitting phase.

Houston-based Far East Energy Corporation [OTCBB: FEEC] said Dec. 19 that it has entered into an amendment to its bridge facility agreement with Standard Chartered Bank.

The government of the United Kingdom is set to announce a number of tax incentives on Dec. 6 for the development of shale gas and is creating a new department (the Office for Unconventional Gas) in order to coordinate activities in the sector.

Sintana Energy Inc. has released results of an independent report detailing prospects for conventional and unconventional resources on its 43,000 acre block in Colombia.

Fortescue, the world’s fourth largest iron ore producer, has entered the Western Australia unconventional gas space with an investment in Oil Basins Ltd., reported the Australian Associated Press (AAP).

Sintana Energy Inc. has entered into a farmout agreement with Exxon Mobil Corp. for the exploration and development of unconventional oil and gas resources underlying the 43,000 acre VMM-37 Block in Colombia's Middle Magdalena Basin.