Poland: European Wide Regulation of Shales Not Required

Poland's Treasury Ministry has reiterated that the exploration and production of hydrocarbons from unconventional sources such as shale gas, is sufficiently regulated.

Reacting to comments by made last week by European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger, the Ministry said that the possibility of European Union wide regulation was not provided for in the Lisbon Treaty.

The Polish Treasury said the Lisbon Treaty and the Energy Treaty Charter explicitly recognize state sovereignty in the use of a country's own energy resources and don't foresee harmonization in this area at European level.

Oettinger intends to introduce community wide rules on the development of shale gas, saying that the move to standardize regulations was necessary in the face of environmental concerns related to the process of hydraulic fracturing used in the extraction of shale gas.

"There is no need to introduce new regulations," the ministry said. "What is necessary is taking care to ensure compliance with existing regulations and monitoring exploration work, so that it corresponds with existing standards and requirements."

Speaking at last week's Economic Forum in Krynica, Deputy Treasury Minister Mikolaj Budzanowski stated that EU legislation was already "very restrictive in environmental matters". He pointed to the fact that chemicals used in fracturing process were already approved for use in the EU.

"The use of the fracking technique to extract oil and gas on an industrial scale has been used globally for many decades and hasn't caused problems yet," the Treasury said.