Globe & Mail: Europe’s shale gas backers are living in a fantasy world
The Ukraine crisis has come as a godsend to the shale gas cheerleaders in Europe.
Russian natural gas exports to Western and Central Europe, half of which flow through Ukraine, are unreliable, they argue; we need our own gas and – wouldn’t you know it – we’re sitting on an underground ocean of energy. Our policy should be drill, baby, drill and if we turn the continent into a pincushion, we will be energy independent and competitive with the Americans, who have so much gas they’re practically giving it away.
On paper, it’s a compelling argument. Parts of Europe, from England to Poland, are sitting on vast amounts of shale gas. On Monday, even Scotland, which may decide in September to break away from the United Kingdom, learned from the British Geological Survey that it has enough shale gas to supply all of Britain’s gas needs for 30 years. That’s good news for Scotland, whose North Sea oil and gas fields are running out of puff.