Shale Boom Might Not Come to Europe, says Report for NATO

Current indications point to the US shale boom not being replicated in Europe, according to a report done for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The draft report, by Jeppe Kofod of Denmark, says negative factors concerning shale include "questions about resource endowments and a range of regulatory barriers to the exploitation of this resource as well as organised resistance to doing so".

Kofod discusses the various major pipelines projects which are being developed, including South Stream, Nabucco, and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, but notes: "If European shale production were to take off, or if global LNG markets dramatically expand and drive down gas prices, some of these projects might no longer be viable."

He says that opposition to shale, mainly because of hydraulic fracturing techniques, is a major setback for potential explorers. However, action in Australia and China to mine their indigenous shale could "galvanise Europe" to do something, Kofod writes.

The report will be considered by NATO's parliamentary assembly before formal adoption.

Read the full report, The Economic and Strategic Implications of the Unconventional Oil and Gas Revolution, here.