Report Forecasts 35 Billion Cubic Metres of Shale Gas in Europe by 2020

Europe has the potential to produce 35 billion cubic metres a year of shale gas by 2020, a new report has said. The report published by consultants at Douglas Westwood says that the UK and Poland is likely to reach 2 million cubic metres and 11 million cubic metres by 2020.

"Douglas-Westwood forecast strong and continual development in the unconventional gas sector in Europe and Asia-Pacific, following the success of the now well established shale gas sector in North America,” CEO Andrew Reid said. “By 2020, Douglas-Westwood forecast the global production of unconventional gas will reach almost 800bcm, up from 450bcm in 2011."

The company also said that Europe is lagging behind North America in production, but that increased efforts and greater economic viability of shale gas exploration means that Europe could be producing commercial shale gas by the middle of this decade.

Author of the report, Joseph Dutton, says that China's attitude to exploration and shale gas is more positive than Europe's and could that China could be a larger producer in the future.

"China has a very optimistic and forthright attitude to any kind of economic development and it doesn't have the same issues from a regulatory point of view that Europe does," he said. "The potential in China is huge."