Energy: Shale Gas Makes Further Inroads into Europe’s Energy Mix
The rewards of shale gas are starting to outweigh the potential risks of getting the energy source out of the ground for a number of European countries. Reserves of the gas are now thought to be much larger in some states than previously estimated. In others, there is growing concern over the dominance in the market of the United States. Some are also keen to break their dependence on Russian conventional gas.
MANY of the shale gas fields in Europe are situated in areas where the geology makes it much harder to extract than those in the United States. They are also in places with much higher population densities than the US, and their service industries and infrastructure for the industry are much less developed. These obstacles have dissuaded, until recently, a number of European countries from developing their own resources, particularly where there is strong opposition over potential environmental
risks.
But the balance is starting to shift, with more countries actively considering either starting shale gas production or expanding existing industries. The one major exception is France, where the debate over shale gas production is still raging. New geological analyses in Germany and the UK have confirmed that their shale gas resources are considerably bigger than previously estimated.
This article is re-published with the kind consent of World Review and the the Geopoliticcal Information Service. Click HERE to read the second part of the Geopolitical Information Service's report by Dr. Frank Umbach in full.
Dr. Frank Umbach is Associate Director at the European Centre for Energy and Resource Security (EUCERS) at the King's College, London (www.eucers.eu); Senior Associate and Head of the Programme "International Energy Security" at the Centre for European Security Strategies (CESS, GmbH), Munich-Berlin (www.cess-net.eu) &Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Energy and Environmental Programme, U.S. Atlantic Council, Washington D.C. (www.acus.org) He is also a consultant on international energy security and security policies as well as the Asia-Pacific region.