Shale Gas: Total Chief Says France Should Show "Courage"
The Chief Executive Officer of Total SA said today France should have the “courage” to explore for shale gas.
“When we are in a difficult economic situation like today and we have the possibility to maybe find gas, which is cleaner than oil and coal, and as we are questioning nuclear, it would be too bad not to develop gas,” said Christophe de Margerie in an radio interiew with RTL.
de Margerie continued that concerns about environmental issues related to the extraction of the unconventional resources “would have to be addressed as we go along.”
The comments by Total's CEO came as French government ministers re-committed to the stance against hydraulic fracturing.
In an interview with Les Echos, French Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg said that France will not proceed with the exploitation of it shale gas and shale oil resource potentional until the development of alternative extraction techologies to hydraulic fracturing.
Montebourg said that technical advances with a less invasive environmental impact, were likely in the future ,as have occurred on other sectors.
Speaking to RMC Radio, Environment and Energy Minister Delphine Batho also said that France will maintain the ban on fracking,
Hydraulic fracturing is and will remain banned and currently it’s the only way to produce shale gas,” Batho said. “Debate is now centered on a technology that doesn’t exist right now to my knowledge. A new technique hasn’t yet been demonstrated.”
Opponents of shale gas drilling were also cheered by a statement from the French environmental health association ASEF.
The group, which comprises 2,500 medical doctors, said that shale gas drilling poses risks to human health, highlighting the use of chemicals which are pumped underground in hydraulic fracturing.
Earlier this month Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the debate about exploitation "was not settled" but new ways of getting the gas out of the rock had still to be found.
Ayrault said the banned hydraulic fracturing (fracking) technique - the only known way to extract the gas from the rock - had "devastating effects" on the environment and the countryside but if another method was found they would have to look at it.
Fracking and unconventional resource development will be on the agenda at a conference on France's energy future on September 14-15.
The French parliament passed a law last year banning the process of fracking citing possible implications on the environment. The move impacted shale gas and shale oil development plans by companies including Total and Hess Corp.