The interest to assessing the shale gas resources in the USA has increased at the turn of the twentieth to twenty-first centuries. The success of the US oil and gas companies in commercial scale production spurred the efforts on verification of the data about the available shale gas resources. The shale gas production has created a surge in development of production base and evolvement of new technologies, making the USA the leader in the gas industry. With considerable shale gas reserves, the USA may claim to secure the leading positions and to influence significantly the formation of the world gas market. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016.