External Interests Battle on Polish Shale
The conflicting business and political interests of the U.S. and Russia are emerging as Poland moves to development its shale gas resources.
Poland will push ahead with shale gas exploration despite France's recent ban over concerns that hydraulic fracturing used in extraction is environmentally risky.
"I already know who is lobbying against the extraction of shale gas. Please don't tell me it's Europe. There are people, institutions, interests which also manage to create effective lobbying in Europe," Prime Minister Donald Tusk commented earlier this month.
"But we will proceed according to our own terms," he added.
Speaking at a shale gas conference jointly held by U.S. Embassy and the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Poland is not worried about public statements that put shale gas exploration in a negative light, mostly on environmental grounds.
“Exploration of our own resources is our chance and our obligation,” said Sikorski. He continued that shale gas exploration was a great chance to limit Poland and Europe’s dependence on imports.
"Let's not be afraid, let's just do our own thing. We just have to keep explaining to environmentalists and local people what it's about. From what I know, the technology keeps improving," commented Sikorski.
When asked about the origins of the negative statements on shale gas, referred to as “black PR”, by a reporter, Mr. Sikorski responded: “You try to guess.”
Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, together with the French nuclear lobby, reportedly played a significant role in pressing for the a ban on unconventional resource development in France. (Read More HERE)
Gazprom has consistently downplayed the prospects for European shales, attributing US success to a series of favorable variables including geology, regulations and legislation, environmental requirements and services capabilities, that are not easily replicated.
Richard Morningstar, the United States’ Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy spoke directly about the threat shale gas may play to Russian domination of the European gas market.
“Our Russian friends are taking this very seriously,” said Morningstar. “I don’t think they’ll be even a little bit successful in blocking shale gas development.”
The French moratorium was not unexpected. France is a nuclear nation: generating gets more than 75 percent of the country’s electrical needs from atomic power and an exporter of both world's largest net exporter of (primarily nuclear) electric power and nuclear power technology and expertise.
The French government is the main shareholder of the nuclear technology company Areva. Électricité de France, which manages the France's 59 nuclear power plants, is a prospective bidder hoping to design and build a nuclear power plant Poland plans to bring on-stream in 2020.
A recent U.S. Energy Information Administration report, estimated Poland’s recoverable shale gas resources at 5.3 trillion cubic meters (TCM), the largest of any European state studied and equal to over 300 years of Poland's annual gas consumption.
Read Gas Powers Wrestle in Poland from the Wall Street Journal HERE