Poland Approaches 40 Shale Gas Wells

The number of completed shale gas exploratory wells in Poland reached 39 at the end of the first week of January.

Polish Ministry of Environment announced that three further wells were being drilled. In a press release the ministry advised that under the terms of licenses issued, 309 exploratory wells should be completed in Poland over the next 9 years (128 obligatory and 181 optional).

In November, the Head Geologist and junior minister for environment Piotr Wozniak, speaking at the industry conference in Warsaw noted: "after two years, there are 40, which is not very impressive.”

According to his advisor at the ministry, Maciej Wozniak, a new summary report on shale gas deposits will not be released in the coming months.

In the late 2012 Maciej Wozniak said, that the long expected, more accurate report, based on samples obtained in the last years, and not on archival data, would be released when the number of exploratory wells reaches 100, hence suggesting that more reliable estimate will be postponed until 2014 or even later.