NYTimes: Europe Struggles in Shale Gas Race

IN eastern Poland, politicians are still hoping to join the shale gas energy revolution, but lately they have had to curb their enthusiasm.

Large reserves of the gas discovered two years ago were initially projected to meet Poland’s energy needs for 300 years, but estimates have since been slashed by more than 80 percent. International energy giants like Exxon Mobil and Talisman Energy of Canada have scaled back their investments after disappointing early attempts at extraction. And competition from other fossil fuels, like abundant coal supplies, has made it unprofitable to tap many of the country’s new energy fields.

“Poland is certainly not Texas,” said Kash Burchett, a European energy analyst at the consulting firm IHS in London. “Shale gas in Europe is unlikely to revolutionize the energy industry like it has done in the U.S.”

Across the Continent, both policy makers and the public remain wary of the potential environmental impact of technologies like hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, used to extract shale gas. The fact that Europe is much more densely populated than the United States also makes it difficult to win government approval to tap the new energy deposits, which are often near major cities. Further complicating matters are shortages of technical expertise and drilling rigs, and regulations that differ widely among countries.  MORE