Tuesday, 14 October 2014
Gas shale exploration in Poland under big quesition mark
Exploration of shale gas in Poland was supposed to give the country economic boost and independence from Russian gas. Unfortunately, it seems that this plan might not be possible to be fulfilled. Due to the long administrative procedures, as well as not satisfactory results after exploratory drillings, companies are resigning from the further assessment.
3Legs
Resources, company who decided to get involved in
shale gas exploration in Poland as the
first one and who pursued the most advanced exploration, has announced last month the withdrawal from further exploration work, basing its decision on poor performance
of the exploratory drilling in Lublewo.
During the test conducted, gas reservoir proved to
yield 11.2 cubic meters of
gas per day and 157 barrels of light crude oil. Such result gave the resource the possibility to cover only 30 percent of what is necessary for
commercial production, as said by Pawel Poprawa, geologist
from University
of Science and Technology in Krakow quoted by
onet.pl.
Portal
GasLupkowy.pl (internet platform dedicated to information on shale gas) points
out that one of the biggest obstacles in exploration of shale gas, in Poland, is bureaucracy. Previously quoted Pawel
Poprawa, sums the situation up as “lack of experience, flexibility, knowledge of the industry which imposes
stifling initiative process”.
Poland,
often compared to the United States who became one of the biggest gas exporters
(according to the American Ministry of Economics) has authorization procedures
massively simplified. To give an example: awarding concession in Pennsylvania
takes 45 days while in Poland around eight months.
What
is surprising, I retrieved some articles from the beginning of 2014 which had
predicted things to go in polar opposite. According to specialist ( here quoted
specialist of fuels’ market, Andrzej Szczesniak), the approach taken by then-governing
cabinet was “too-rapid” and “anti-economic”. According to Szczesniak, the
receival of concession for exploration and further sale of gas was happening
too fast – therefore only foreign companies could afford such operations.
Reading this article 10 months later seems almost surrealistic – as the
companies who are actually withdrawing from the investments are those who
specialists feared the most. PGE (Polska Grupa Energetyczna) is still very
active in exploratory drills and still pursues research.
It is very important to remember that profitability of the investment can be perceived by companies diffrently. For foreign investors is ROI and eventual gains but for Polish companies and Polish government, it is preliminarly energy independence and possibility of export of this resource abroad. Poland pays the highest price for gas (from Russia) in Europe, therefore further research in the field of shale gas can be a strategic decision which might bring positive aspects for decades.
Read more:
Picture:
The
Picture presents The Pinedale Field office
of the BLM : http://blog.global-economic-symposium.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Rig_wind_river-1024x968.jpg
Map
of concessions (2011): http://gazlupkowy.pl/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Mapa-koncesji-na-poszukiwanie-rozpoznawanie-oraz-wydobywanie-ropy-naftowej-gazu-ziemnego-i-metanu-1-grudzie%C5%84-2011.jpg
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