Metal Miner: Will Europe Ever Catch up With the US in Shale Gas Success?

Europe’s most promising region in Poland was widely expected to lead the way. Regulation was lighter than in markets like Germany which has a moratorium in place and France where significant probable reserves have been ruled out by all major political parties in the country with an outright ban.

Less dense population areas in Poland were also expected to reduce the not-in-my-backyard response seen in the UK, in particular, but according to a BBC report out of 30 to 40 wells planned for 2013, to date there is just one well producing enough gas to be economically viable.

ExxonMobil, Talisman, Total and Marathon have all pulled out, while Chevron, Conoco Phillips and San Leon are persevering with the latter recently announcing it has a vertical that has proven to be encouraging enough that San Leon will proceed to horizontal drilling to further test the resource.
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