May 08

Polish Experts: Shale Gas Debate Should Be Based On Fact Rather Than Emotion

By Curve energy market, hydraulic fracturing, natural gas in Europe, Poland, San Leon Energy, shale gas No Comments »

 

The Schuman Foundation conference on “Expectations and Reality: What’s next for Shale Gas ?” took place in the European Parliament Information Office in Warsaw on 16 April 2012. The main theme of the discussion was the future of unconventional gas in Poland and Europe following the recently published Polish PGI shale gas reserve estimates and the European Parliament’s Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee (ENVI) report on the environmental impacts of shale gas.

Among the experts invited were MEP Boguslaw Sonik  and MEP Boguslaw Liberadzki,  Professor Jan Lubal and Dr. Piotr Kasza of Polish Oil and Gas Institute, and Chemical Substances Inspector Jerzy Majka.

Referring to the ENVI report,  MEP Boguslaw Sonik, report rapporteur, explained that while the document had no direct legislative power, it was very important for the future of shale gas in the European Union. In his opinion, the unconventional gas debate in Europe, which started two years ago, is based largely on myth and fear, hence the need for the European Parliament to adopt an official stance on the issue.

MEP Boguslaw Liberadzki said that in terms of the energy industry’s needs, there were three key requirements to make the environment competitive in the European Union: sustainable economic development, the cost of energy production and, most importantly, agreement among the EU member states. He suggested that shale gas could bring member states together but appealed for the debate on this issue to be less based on emotion and more based on fact. Poland, he continued, should highlight that without shale gas it would be forced to rely on nuclear energy.

Speaking about the potential problems that may arise during shale gas extraction, Professor Jerzy Majka highlighted that accidents cannot be avoided making it necessary for appropriate safety monitoring systems to be put in place. He added that exploration companies should disclose the chemical used in hydraulic fracturing fluids to authorities.

Tagged with: • • • • • •
May 08

Without Shale, Europe’s Gas Bill Is Mounting

By Curve energy crisis, energy market, natural gas in Europe, natural gas in the USA, Poland, Realm Energy, San Leon Energy, shale gas in Europe No Comments »

 

Germany and the U.K., Europe’s two largest consumers of natural gas, are likely to lean ever more heavily on the fuel to meet energy needs in the coming years, as the expansion of low-carbon nuclear and renewable power falls short of their needs.

This extra demand would probably be met by high-priced imports, such as gas brought in from Russia via pipelines or liquefied natural gas from the Middle East and Africa. For a continent already grappling with its long-term competitiveness, this could be bad news. “Low prices for natural gas offer manufacturing a powerful competitive advantage, potentially stimulating much broader economic growth,” said Mark Williams, downstream director for energy giant Royal Dutch Shell PLC.

The U.S. is enjoying just that, thanks to a boom in production of natural gas trapped in shale rock. In Europe, there are hopes that its shale-gas resources could eventually help it at least partially mimic the U.S. The big shift that is pushing the U.K. and Germany toward greater dependence on gas is the decline in nuclear power.

After the Japanese earthquake and tsunami triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear-power plant last year, the German government decided to close all of its nuclear reactors, which produce 13 gigawatts of power, or the equivalent of 8% of Germany’s energy-generating capacity, by 2022. This coincides with the end of life spans for all but one of the U.K.’s reactors by 2023 that will leave just 1.2 gigawatts of capacity of the 11 gigawatts that they currently produce.

Several European and British utilities have planned to build 16 gigawatts of new nuclear reactors, but some projects are now in doubt as their backers say it is uncertain that these plants can operate profitably given current electricity prices.

German utilities E.ON AG and RWE AG have abandoned a joint venture to build new nuclear plants with a combined capacity of 6 gigawatts because they lacked the capital to finance the work and external financing was scarce.

In February, U.K. utility Scottish and Southern Energy SSE.LN +0.23% PLC quit a consortium with GDF Suez SA and Iberdrola SA IBE.MC -1.59% to build plants with 3.6 gigawatts of planned new nuclear capacity in order to focus on renewable energy. GDF Suez and Iberdrola say they remain committed, but analysts say the projects are more doubtful. A major expansion of coal power would cause countries to miss their carbon-reduction targets, and it seems unlikely that renewable energy could quickly fill this gap. “Most clean energy technologies are not being deployed quickly enough, [and] are not on track to make their required contribution,” the International Energy Agency said in a report last month.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said an additional 10 gigawatts of gas-fired power plants will be built by 2022 to fill the gap left by shuttered nuclear plants. In the U.K., even the most optimistic scenario for the use of nuclear power leaves a 6-gigawatt hole to be filled, most likely by gas. Assuming the most efficient gas-fired power plants were built, replacing these reactors would add around 14 billion cubic meters a year to European gas demand, equivalent to almost 3% of 2010 EU gas consumption. This figure could rise further if the U.K. government can’t come up with stronger financial support for new nuclear projects.

Meeting this extra demand could prove expensive. Pipeline gas from Russia is priced on a formula tied to crude oil, so is relatively expensive. Goldman Sachs expects oil-indexed natural gas on continental Europe to sell at an average price of $13.60 per million British thermal units this year, a 24% premium to the market price in the U.K., which gets around half its gas from the North Sea. Rising demand for LNG from Asia is also pushing up prices.

The amount of LNG available to the U.K. in the first quarter of 2012 halved from the same period a year earlier, after the country was outbid by Asian customers, and it had to import more oil-indexed gas to compensate, said Barclays analyst Trevor Sikorski. “We expect the LNG market to increasingly tighten as we go through the next few years,” he said. However, recent developments in the gas industry mean this is by no means set in stone.

Many companies believe the U.K. and Germany’s neighbor Poland may hold resources that would enable them to at least partially mimic the boom in shale gas production that has pushed U.S. gas prices to 10-year lows. Industry analysts say there are still questions over how cheaply and quickly these resources could be tapped. “Forget about straight-line forecasts for natural gas demand and supply,” said Anne-Sophie Corbeau, a senior gas analyst at the International Energy Agency. Shale gas opens the way for “patterns [to] suddenly diverge from the conventional view in the most unexpected way.”

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Tagged with: • • • •
May 08

Poland Has No Plans For Shale Gas Moratorium

By Curve natural gas in Europe, Poland, Realm Energy, San Leon Energy, Shale gas production, shale gas reserves No Comments »

 

Poland has no plans to follow the example of several European countries that introduced moratoriums on shale gas exploration and will continue its efforts to tap unconventional energy sources to limit its dependence on costly Russian supplies.

The Czech Republic said on Monday it was planning a two-year moratorium on granting licences for shale gas exploration to put required legislation in place.

Countries like France and Bulgaria have already halted exploration due to environmental concerns related to a drilling method known as fracking, which uses large amounts of fresh water and chemicals to extract shale gas.

“The government is not planning any shale gas moratorium,” Tomasz Arabski, the head of the prime minister’s office, told a news conference on Tuesday before a government sitting.

Poland has granted more than 100 exploration licences to its state-controlled companies as well as global majors such as Chevron and Exxon Mobil. It has estimated its shale reserves at 346 billion to 768 billion cubic metres (bcm).

The country has so far strongly pushed the companies it controls to join forces and explore its shale gas deposits. It expects first shale gas production at the turn of 2014 and 2015.

Source: Reuters

Tagged with: • • • •
May 08

South Stream Pipeline: “Based on Parity”

By Curve hydraulic fracturing, natural gas in Europe, Realm Energy, San Leon Energy No Comments »

 

The South Stream natural gas pipeline project through the Black Sea is a Russian-EU partnership.

“Often our project is perceived as a purely Russian enterprise. In fact, it’s based on parity,” Sebastian Sass, Head of Communications & Spokesperson, South Stream Transport AG said.

South Stream Transport AG is in charge of planning and constructing the offshore section of South Stream, from Russia to Bulgaria. “That’s the competence and task of our company. The offshore crossing through the Black Sea is the key link, connecting the world’s largest gas sources in Russia with the consumers in the EU. We believe it’s in both sides’ interest that this is based on parity.”

The task of constructing the offshore section of the South Stream natural gas pipeline is a complex and ambitious endeavor.

“Comprising a 900 km underwater pipeline from Russia to Bulgaria through the Black Sea it will reach a maximum depth of 2,500 meters. When fully operational, the pipeline will have a capacity of 63 billion cubic meters per year, comprising four lines,” he said.

South Stream Transport AG, the company responsible for the planning, construction, and subsequent operation of the offshore gas pipeline through the Black Sea, was established in October of last year in Zug, Switzerland.

South Stream Transport AG’s Board of Directors, which had recently been appointed, has six members: “Three of which are from our Russian shareholder; three of which come from our EU-based shareholders and the interesting thing is that this really does reflect the fact that South Stream Transport is a project based on genuine parity between the Russian partner and the EU partners. The shareholding is divided accordingly and this is reflected in the composition of our board.”

He reported that 50% of South Stream Transport AG was owned by the Russian company OAO Gazprom; the Italian company Eni S.p.A. acquired a 20% stake; the French energy company EDF and the German company Wintershall Holding GmbH (BASF Group) had acquired 15% each.

“Russian gas deliveries to Europe have been stable for more than 40 years. Even during the Cold War, gas supplies from Russia have been uninterrupted. This proves that Russia is a stable and reliable gas supplier,” said Mr. Sass.

“The relative share of Russian gas in EU imports now stands at half of its 1980 level, despite the fact that total imports from Russia have grown,” he explained. “This shows that sources have been successfully diversified, with new suppliers entering the market such as Norway and Algeria. Today’s deliveries of Russian gas use in majority the same routes as in the 1980s. While the first line of the Nord Stream Pipeline started delivering gas into the European grid in November 2011, there is a clear need for yet more diversification.”

He added that the South Stream offshore crossing through the Black Sea did provide for diversification of routes and provided additional capacity.

“Growth demands have been revised,” he said. “While European gas consumption is rising, the region’s domestic production is declining. The revision of energy policies in some EU countries will somehow need to be compensated and renewables are not in a position to cover that fully.”

Mr. Sass reported that the Consolidated Feasibility Study for the South Stream offshore section had been completed.“We have the ambitious target to come to an FID (Final Investment Decision) and to start the construction of the South Stream Offshore Pipeline by the end of this year,” he said.

“We aim to be delivering gas by the end of 2015 through the first of four offshore pipelines. There will be altogether four, which will be taken into operation subsequently and our main aim is to deliver gas within that timeline.

“The milestones that we need to achieve ahead of that are all aiming at making this particular objective of delivering gas within that timeframe possible,” he continued.

Meanwhile, South Stream Transport AG has also recently launched its website.

“The website will be a tool to implement transparent communications. Currently, we’ve launched it in English and Russian but it will be expanded into a number of languages, and also as the project progresses there will be more detailed information on the project as such, on the Environmental and Social Impact Assessments for example,” he said.

Mr. Sass emphasized the importance of providing information about such energy projects as South Stream.

“With the launch of our website, we are initiating a proactive and timely information exchange with all interested stakeholder groups. We are committed to transparency and openness. Our website will be an essential element to fulfill our commitment,” he explained.

Source: Natural Gas Europe

Tagged with: • •
May 07

Shale source rocks a game-changer due to 8-to-1 resource potential

By Curve Realm Energy, San Leon Energy, shale gas, shale gas reserves No Comments »

 

One way to get a handle on the enormity of potentially producible hydrocarbons contained in shale formations is to estimate how much recoverable oil and gas remain within the source rocks in which they were generated as compared to how much producible oil migrated into “conventional” reservoirs.

Applying this illustrative methodology indicates that for every barrel of crude oil in conventional reservoirs that constitute the bulk of global crude oil reserves of 1.3 trillion bbl there are 8 bbl of potentially producible oil equivalents remaining in the source rock that generated that 1 bbl of conventional reserves (Table 1).

While this admittedly simplistic illustration could provoke considerable dissent within the petroleum geology community, it should prove directionally correct. As such, one is talking about a world-scale game changer as source rocks are moved into the producible column.

The resulting increase in potentially recoverable global crude oil of 1.3 trillion bbl,1 which constitutes a 40-year supply at current consumption rates,2 could be material.

Speculation as to the extent of the impact of this transformation on alternative energy supplies, the global economy and geopolitics, while certainly warranted, is well beyond the scope of this discussion.

Discussion

It’s worth remembering that up until, say, the mid 1990s, source rocks, principally shale-based formations, were recognized as only generating and expelling the hydrocarbons that, in turn, charged porous, reservoir-quality formations within the migration limits of this expelled oil and gas.

The source rocks themselves were not considered producible by virtue of very low porosities and permeabilities as compared to the far higher values characterizing reservoir-quality formations. So, while shale source rocks were considered a prerequisite for finding hydrocarbon-charged, reservoir-quality formations, they were largely “unstudied” as potential reservoirs due to the prohibitive economics of their low porosities and permeabilities.

Now that the subsequent evolution and exploitation of horizontal (directional) drilling and hydraulic fracturing have “unlocked” this otherwise unrecoverable shale oil, not to mention shale gas, the notion of what constitutes resource potential is in the process of being radically enlarged.

Tools define resources. Put radically improved exploitation tools in the hands of an exploration geologist and he will significantly increase what constitutes a recoverable resource.

Now that there are tools to economically recover shale-locked oil and gas, shale formations, intrinsically widespread throughout the world, are being “discovered” at a game-changing rate. This process has really just begun.

Speculative estimates of just how much generated oil remains in shale source rocks range between 45% and 95% depending on the geology of the formation and the quality of the estimate.

At one extreme is the vast 9-11 million acre Bakken Source System3 from which little or no oil has been expelled due to the overlying Lodgepole carbonate seal and such likely analogs as the Nordegg member of the Fernie formation of the Western Canada basin in Alberta.4-6

At the other extreme might be John Hunt’s estimate of 45% remaining in source rocks (both shale and carbonate) for oil generated in the last 100 million years.7 EOG Resources Inc., active in the two leading US shale oil plays, the Bakken and the Eagle Ford, estimates that “75% of generated oil [is] still in mother (shale) source rocks.”14

The overriding issue here is not the competence of the researchers making these estimates but rather the legacy of lack of economic incentives justifying the requisite study of shale source rocks. Accordingly, the understanding of shale source beds as productive reservoirs still pales in comparison to what is known about the behavior of the “conventional” reservoirs that comprise the bulk of the world’s reserves.

As this void is addressed, as often has been the case of analogous instances in the past, shale-based hydrocarbon resource estimates will increase, probably dramatically. A good example of this process is the US Geological Survey, which increased its estimate of Barnett shale recoverable gas resources from 3 tcf in 19968 to 26 tcf in 20049 principally as a result of the implementation of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.

The subsequent pioneering use of the same tools in the oil-rich Bakken of Montana and North Dakota expanded the estimate of Bakken resource potential from a USGS researcher’s unofficial finding of 151 million bbl in 199510 to a published 3.7 billion bbl in 2008.11 Industry estimates utilizing recent data now place Bakken ultimate recovery well north of a 2011 estimate of 24 billion bbl.12 13

Inspired by this pioneering success in identifying an oil-rich shale, a wide ranging search for analogs has already come up with the Texas Eagle Ford, which EOG contends will outstrip even the Bakken.15

This search is being repeated on a global scale ranging from California’s Monterey shale to shales in Argentina’s Neuquen basin, Canada’s Nordegg formation, France’s Paris basin, Poland’s Baltic basin, and China’s widespread but still largely uncharted shale formations…and this is just for starters.

Clearly, a key variable going forward in determining shale oil reserve potential will be the degree of improvement in currently low recovery rates. However, given the steady improvements in recovery technologies across widely varying reservoir geologies over the last 60 plus years, recovery rates are likely to experience marked improvement.

When one is talking presently of only 4-6% recovery for shale oil, an increase to 10% and, in turn, a doubling of potential reserves, is ultimately likely if the past is any kind of prologue.

Somewhat simplistically, this has all been distilled down to the observation in Table 1 that for every 1 bbl of oil reserves in a “conventional” reservoir, 8 bbl of recoverable oil equivalent could well remain behind in the shale source rock that generated this 1 bbl of reserves.

This, by any measure, should be a world-scale game changer for the oil and gas industry.

Well beyond the scope of this discussion is what impact this transformation could have on the global economy, alternative fuels, and geopolitics.

Source: Oil & Gas Journal

Tagged with: •
May 04

Algeria To Tap ‘Big Potential’ For Shale Gas With Incentives

By Curve Energy, International Oil Corporations, natural gas in Europe, San Leon Energy No Comments »

 

Algeria sees “big potential” for shale gas and plans incentives to encourage exploration as extraction of so-called unconventional resources becomes economically feasible, according to an Oil Ministry official.

Algeria will introduce new legislation to spur investment in exploration this year, including tax incentives that “take account of the production difficulties of this kind of fuel,” said Ali Hached, an adviser to Energy and Mines Minister Youcef Yousfi. “There is big potential,” he said at a Paris summit.

Countries from the U.S. to Poland are exploring for natural gas in shale, which requires the injection of water, sand and chemicals into sedimentary rock at high pressure to extract the fuel. Energy producers have stepped up the search for such unconventional resources as rising energy prices and advances in technology have made such developments profitable.

“Non-conventional resources are important in Algeria,” Abdelhamid Zerguine, chief executive officer of state-run energy company Sonatrach Group, said at today’s summit. Tests in three provinces over 180,000 square kilometers (69,500 square miles) have uncovered a possible 2 trillion cubic meters of gas, he said, adding that “partnerships will be necessary.”

Sonatrach has said it intends to invest $80 billion over five years, with more than 60 percent dedicated to exploration and production. The company plans to drill 150 exploratory wells and expand crude-processing capacity at three oil refineries.

Development of unconventional gas resources outside North America will “take time,” Yves-Louis Darricarrere, head of exploration and production at French oil company Total SA, said in Paris. Total, which is producing shale gas in the U.S. with Chesapeake Energy Corp., is developing the Timimoun and Ahnet gas projects in Algeria and pursuing projects in China.

Source: Bloomberg

Tagged with: • • • •
May 03

Fracking Does Not Need More Regulation, Report Says

By Curve hydraulic fracturing, natural gas in Europe, San Leon Energy, shale gas No Comments »

 

There is no need for more environmental legislation in the case of shale gas exploration, at least until it reaches commercial scale, says a new study published by the European commission.

The activities relating to exploration of shale gas are already subject to EU and national laws and regulations, says the report, carried out for the European commission by Belgian law firm Philippe & Partners.

Water protection issues, for instance, which have been raised as an issue by shale gas detractors, are already covered by EU legislation under the Water Framework Directive, the Groundwater Directive and the Mining Waste Directive. Meanwhile, the use of chemicals is covered by the REACH regulation, the study says.

“It is a new technology and we do not have a specific legislation on shale gas, because it is so new,” said Marlene Holzner, European commission spokesperson on energy.

“So the study only says that the existing regulations are applicable for shale gas, that the tool is there and has only to be applied,” she told EurActiv, adding that the study was carried out only in four countries – Poland, France, Germany and Sweden. It was released on 27 January.

The law firm said shale gas activities were too small at the moment to justify specific legislation. “Neither on the European level nor on the national level have we noticed significant gaps in the current legislative framework, when it comes to regulating the current level of shale gas activities,” the study says.

This is, however, not a reason for “complacency”, the study says, since the assessment refers only to the current scale of operations in Europe. Shale gas exploitation on a commercial scale would involve bigger maneuvers, it adds.

Europe has less experience in exploring shale gas formations as a new source of natural gas and no commercial scale exploitations have taken place yet, but this “is expected in a few years’ time”, the report says.

Shale gas is an unconventional source of natural gas and studies show different results on how safe the two main methods of extracting it from rock formations.

One is the horizontal drilling in various regions of the rock, which is needed to capture the gas pockets. The other, hydraulic fracturing – or ‘fracking’ – involves a high-pressure injunction of fluids usually mixed with chemicals into shale rock. Both of them require seismic and drilling permits, as well as large amounts of chemicals and water.

Only after conducting consecutive tests for drilling and fracturing does a project reach the stage of planning and acquiring the needed pipeline, followed by the decision to bring the extraction to a commercial scale.

In a few years’ time, investors might find themselves in need of making a decision on the commercial development of their shale gas projects, a situation which is not covered by the EU study published on 27 January.

Poland, which aims to shrug off its dependency on Russian gas, is planning to begin commercial shale gas production from 2014, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said last year. Most of the projects are currently at the phase of seismic surveys and some projects already have entered the drilling phase, which is expected to intensify after 2014.

The natural gas trapped in shale rock in Poland could provide the country with enough fuel to last for 300 years, the US Department of Energy said last year.

However, not everyone is willing to allow drilling operations on their land, despite the economic potential. At the beginning of January, thousands of Bulgarians protested against exploration for shale gas over fears it could poison underground water, trigger earthquakes and pose serious public health hazards.

Source: The Guardian
Tagged with: • • • • •
May 03

The Financial Times – Finds That Form A Bedrock Of Hope

By Curve energy independence, energy market, hydraulic fracturing, natural gas in Europe, San Leon Energy No Comments »

The Financial Times published a special report on the potential of shale gas to undermine the concept of ‘peak oil’, reshape domestic economies as “one of the linchpins of global energy supply in the 21st century” and recast geopolitics, influencing companies’ investment decisions.

With quantifiable shale reserves now having been identified in Argentina, Australia, South Africa, northern Africa and eastern Europe, as well as in the UK and France, the US Energy Information Administration now estimates these could raise recoverable global gas resources by more than 40 per cent. The author stresses the economic and environmental potential of shale gas as it could improve energy security vis-à-vis Russia, and improve global carbon emissions should China decide to switch from coal. He concludes that the “promise of energy independence, job creation and cheaper power will spur many governments to push ahead.”

Source: EuropeUnconventionalGas.Org

Tagged with: • • • • •
May 03

France Could Lift Shale Gas Fracking Ban In Coming Years: Besson

By Curve France, natural gas in Europe, oil production, San Leon Energy, Shale gas in France No Comments »

France could reconsider its ban on the use of hydraulic fracturing in the exploration of shale gas if the technique can be proven to be safe, French economy minister Eric Besson said Thursday.

Speaking at the 13th International Oil Summit in Paris, Besson said the subject was not closed in France.

He said that so far, shale gas explorers had been unable to prove that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, was not harmful to the environment.

“That doesn’t mean the subject is closed — it could be reopened tomorrow,” Besson said, adding that by tomorrow he meant over the next few years.

But this would only happen if operators “can prove the safety of the technique.”

France last year imposed a ban on fracking because of fears over its environmental impact.

Oil major Total was hit as it has a shale gas exploration operation in France.

Speaking at the same conference, Total CEO Christophe de Margerie said companies were looking at how to prove its safety.

“We have to improve the way we produce [shale gas],” he said.

He added that the company was looking at developing shale gas in China.

Source: Platts

Tagged with: • • •
May 01

Poland: Interview With Grzegorz Pytel, Sobieski Institute

By Curve Poland, Realm Energy, San Leon Energy, shale gas in Europe No Comments »

 

Natural Gas Europe recently interviewed Grzegorz Pytel, Energy Security Expert at the Sobieski Institute, on the development of shale gas in Poland.

NGE: According to the previous announcements, the Polish government will soon terminate works on the legal framework for the future conditions for companies willing to produce shale gas in the country. In over a year time, the Polish state will probably enter the phase of issuing first licenses for production. How will the Polish Geological Institute/Unites States Geological Survey estimates of recoverable shale gas reserves in Poland – much lower than previous estimates -  influence positions of government and companies on a doorstep of negotiations?

Grzegorz Pytel: A very important issue in financial negotiations between the government and any companies, on any fiscal tax regime imposed on companies, is the assessment of the risk, that companies are taking in exploration and production of the resources. The greater the risk assessed at the outset, the lower the taxes and other fees that the government should be really prepared to collect later. For a simple reason: the higher the risk the higher the reward expected. Therefore the report published by the PGI which lowers the estimates and therefore increases the perceived risk, especially if it’s based on government-financed report, improves the negotiating position of the companies against the government.

NGE: The type of methodology used in PGI/USGS examination tends to give rather conservative results.  If such an outcome wasn’t particularly difficult to predict, what could be the rationale behind a decision to prepare and publish this assessment, in the first place?

GP: This is the good question. The first thing is, that in my view governments should never be in the business of speculating. For example in the area where governments have to be in the business of speculating, like pensions, which is really forecasting some years ahead, they always get it wrong. In this case there was simply too little data to have any any credible assessment and in such a situation the government can never win. If they overestimate, then they later can be blamed for being overoptimistic and so forth. If they underestimate, they improve the financial position of the companies in the negotiations of tax regime.

NGE: So why did they do it?

GP: Typically the answer should be based on the question in whose interest it was: a classic “cui bono” test. On the face of it, the whole thing looks like a huge PR and negotiating success of the companies exploring for gas in Poland. However looking for anything like conspiracy behind may be too far-fetched. Anyway, one of the people key in preparing this report, has already left the Polish Geological Institute and now works in the private sector, so maybe this is a kind of indication that possibly shows real things behind it. The straight answer is I do not know but it all looks quite odd to me. Draw your own conclusions.

NGE: Many critics have observed that this assessment was based on cores as mature as 50 years old. Do you share this doubts? Shouldn’t Poland just wait for data from new drillings,  undertaken by companies presently active in shale gas development?

GP: I’m myself not a geologist or geophysicist. However I’ve heard a very respected professor of geology, who was laughing at the research carried on fifty years core samples, which basically – if they had gas in the past – most likely it has evaporated anyway; whether the gas was there in the first place or it wasn`t. Assessing 50 years old samples and data doesn’t seem to be the best idea of all. Basically it has consequences on credibility.

Source: Natural Gas Europe

Tagged with: • • • •
Previous Entries
preload preload preload