European Gas Market 'Lost Years of Growth', UK Committee Told
European gas markets have lost years of growth from the economic recession and the growth of renewable energy sources, a British parliamentary committee has been told.
Jonathan Stern of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies made the claims in his evidence before the House of Lords energy sub-committee. The House of Lords is the upper house of the British parliament, and its sub-committee has been taking submissions on the effect of shale gas in recent months.
Professor Stern said low prices for coal, and the reverse for gas supply, has also held back the gas market.
According to news reports, Prof Stern said he did not expect significant shale gas production in Europe before 2020. However, he noted that gas was a "real prospect" in some eastern European countries. In the UK, acceptance of shale energy would depend on public tolerance of drilling operations, he said.
He was speaking Tuesday during hearings on the potential of shale fuel. In parallel hearings by the House of Commons committee on energy and climate change, witnesses included Francis Egan, chief executive of Cuadrilla Resources, which is developing shale deposits near Blackpool in the county of Lancashire, and Graham Tiley, general manager for Shell in Ukraine.
Responding to questions about criticism of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), Egan said: "We have spoken of meeting 25% of the UK's gas demand. You can't do that without generating thousands of jobs."
Tiley said he understood public anxiety about fracking - which has been suspended while the government decides if it should go ahead nationally. A statement from the Department of Energy is believed to be imminent.
Other witnesses at the Commons committee hearing were Jenny Banks of the World Wildlife Fund, and Tony Bosworth of Friends of the Earth.
"Hydraulic fracturing is a very descriptive and straightforward term," Tiley said. "That's what you do. You use water to fracture the rock.
"Unfortunately the shorthand version of 'fracking' has become almost an accepted swear word these days," he said.