Shale Industry Faces Global Reality Check

New technologies in shale oil and gas recovery have reduced energy costs in the United States, and governments around the globe consider fracking for energy security. Richard Anderson of BBC News questions if the US trends can be replicated in Europe and elsewhere. Companies tried drilling in Poland with little luck because of geology challenges. Also in Poland, “A punitive tax regime and an insistence that foreign companies work with local partners did much to dampen enthusiasm, although the government has since made its regulatory regime more attractive to overseas investors,” reports Anderson. Citizens elsewhere in Europe – concerned about water contamination, wastewater as well as earthquake tremors – demand strong regulations and enforcement: “France has banned fracking, while moratoriums have been put in place in Germany, Romania and Bulgaria,” Anderson reports. Fracking may be more likely for arid northwest China, which has the shale resources and fewer regulations, but only if new technologies emerge that don’t depend on pumping water into the ground to ease extraction. – YaleGlobal