The Voice of Russia: Shale gas extraction in EU will not greatly influence energy market
Slate gas extraction by the EU countries will not greatly influence the energy market, even if extractions begin in the near future, experts of the Cologne Institute of Energy Economics Studies say. Russian specialists also think that slate extraction won't lead to any significant breakthroughs. The reasons for this are ecological and social problems, as slate deposits might be situated in the densely populated territories.
Experts of the Cologne Institute of Energy Economics Studies foresee two scenarios of slate gas extraction in the EU till 2035. According to the first scenario, slate gas is extracted stage-by-stage, so the extraction rates will grow slowly. The second scenario presupposes that slate gas extraction won't begin at all. Russian experts lean more toward the second scenario. It will be hard for the Europeans to repeat the success of the American so-called "slate extraction revolution", Aleksey Knijnikov, director of the WWF oil and gas ecology policy schedule, said.
"Today, several European countries have prohibited slate gas extraction. The reasons are not only ecological, but social as well. Population density is much higher in Europe than in the US, at the same time European counties are more concerned with the safety of their landscapes. In France, for example, such extractions were prohibited because local communities refused to let boreholes speckle the historical landscapes, which were used for agriculture as well as tourism purposes.