Warsaw Business Journal: Market players still positive after lower shale gas estimates

According to an eagerly anticipated report from the Polish Geological Institute (PIG), made public on March 21, Poland’s shale gas reserves stand at between 0.35 and 0.77 trillion cubic meters (tcm). That’s about 10 times less than the 5.3 tcm estimated by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) in April 2011. It is also a figure the London-based ratings agency Fitch has described as “disappointing."

Based on Poland’s current annual gas consumption of 14 billion cubic meters, these estimates, described as “conservative” by Treasury Minister Mikołaj Budzanowski, would still be sufficient to cover Polish needs for 25-55 years. And with Poland currently importing about 70 percent of the gas it uses, “even if we managed to produce 5-10 bcm a year, it would mean a strategic shift for the country and the region,” said Ernest Wyciszkiewicz, an energy security expert.  MORE