Poland Needs Four Years to Know Shale Gas Profitability, Says Minister

Poland may need to wait for four years to know if the exploitation of shale gas is profitable, said the new Environment minister on Friday.

Maciej Grabowski, who formally replaced Marcin Korolec at the helm of the Environment Ministry, is considered the right man to lead Poland toward shale gas production.

"We know that shale gas is there, but we do not know at the moment whether its exploitation is profitable. There are not enough wells, there has to be at least five times more," said on Polish radio.

Last week, Grabowski said that a draft law on shale gas would be ready by the end of the year, “ to reduce the potential risk for investors.”

Afterwards, investors will be enabled to speed up the exploration process.

“If we get this number of wells in four years then we would be able to estimate whether we can achieve a production on an industrial scale," Environment Minister added.