Platts: Poland to invest $1.6 billion in shale gas exploration by 2016

Poland will invest about Zloty 5 billion ($1.57 billion) in shale gas exploration by 2016, the country's treasury minister Wlodzimierz Karpinski said Wednesday.

"Polish energy security and independence is a government priority," Karpinski told parliament as he outlined the government's energy policy priorities until the end of its term next year, according to a treasury ministry statement.

"It's based on the search for our own raw materials and the maximum use of national resources. We want to take advantage of this opportunity for energy independence, which in Poland may derive from shale gas reserves, and that's why state companies will invest not less than Zloty 5 billion in unconventional exploration to 2016," he added.

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