ENI Sees European Shales on Slower Track
Eni SpA Chief Paolo Scaroni has said that European unconventional gas development may not move as quickly at first anticipated.
"Perhaps shale gas, and other unconventional gas will have a less rosy future than we had imagined when the technology was developed especially given the environmental problems," Reuters quoted Scaroni as saying.
Scaroni provide an anecdote of a recent visit to South Africa, where a leading daily newspaper featured a front page article about the dangers of shale gas production
"Now, if in a country that has only 46 million inhabitants and an area four times larger than Italy, gives so much importance to the problem of pollution where production has not been initiated, I think this is a signal of the difficulties they may encounter this type of exploitation."
Scaroni said invasiveness, noise, and the risks of pollution, may make it difficult to employ shale gas extraction into a densely populated Europe.
However, commented Scaroni, the discovery and successful production of unconventional resources has changed the face of the gas market.
Eni is engaged in unconventional gas activities in North America, in Poland, Algeria and in China.
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