Only one in five global shale regions may succeed in producing significant amounts of oil and gas as countries from to Argentina seek to emulate the U.S. boom, said energy consultants Wood Mackenzie Ltd. Argentina is leading the pack, with plans to drill about 200 shale wells this year, more than three times the number in China, Andrew Latham, Wood Mackenzie’s vice president for exploration research, said in an interview in Perth, Western Australia, where he’s attending an industry conference. “You hear people talk about lots of different basins,” Latham said yesterday. “It’s all good, but it’s all potential, and I’d be surprised if more than one in five plays that gets drilled ever becomes commercially significant in terms of production. You only get to be one of the five by drilling.” Shale explorers are targeting China, Russia, Australia, India, South Africa and Argentina in pursuit of deposits similar […]