Sunday Catholic Weekly: Poland's New Shale Hope
Wieslawa Lewandowska talks with dr. Piotr Naimski about legal regulations of extracting gas from shale, repairing mistakes and complicated tax provisions
WIESLAWA LEWANDOWSKA: – A few years ago we experienced great euphoria in Poland in relation to an alleged existence of big resources of gas in Polish shale rocks. There were brave plans, searching concessions were distributed, and after that there fell dead silence and skepticism. Now the government is reanimating the issue, gas from shale is again becoming our hope.
DR. PIOTR NAIMSKI: – Polish shale has really its history. When in 2007 in the United States gas extractions was started on the industrial scale, companies searching for hydrocarbons were also interested in Poland and also this year in our country the first searching-exploratory concessions of a few small companies were issued. After elections won by the Civic Platform party there was an unusual acceleration, over 100 concessions were distributed – according to the law obliging at that time, but without any idea or plan, in an ‘odd’ way.