Telegraph: Shale gas could meet 6pc of European demand by 2035, BP predicts
Shale gas will make only a "very marginal" contribution of about 6pc of Europe's gas demand by 2035, oil giant BP has predicted.
The continent will become ever more dependent on imports of gas, with import levels to increase from 66pc today to 84pc, the oil giant forecast.
Unveiling BP's World Energy Outlook 2035, which predicts trends in world energy markets over the next 22 years, Christof Rühl, BP's chief economist, said it saw shale production in Europe as "very marginal" and said it "only kicks in towards the end of that period".
He forecast that production from shale gas and other "unconventional" gas sources, such as coal bed methane, would together reach about 3.7bn cubic feet (bcf) per day by 2035, against forecast European demand of "roughly 60 bcf per day".
Demand for gas in Europe will grow only "very slowly" at about 1pc each year - but at the same time the volumes of gas produced in Europe will decline by about 1.4pc each year, leaving the continent ever more dependent on imports. MORE