Digging deep: geopolitics of shale resources
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Published: Wednesday, 03 September 2014
Owing to recent political events in Ukraine, and indirectly those in the Middle East, concerns have mounted in relation to oil and gas delivery to Europe, with some analysts suggesting that North American shale resources may need to be called upon. However, due to basic economic factors, a more realistic solution would be for the EU and Ukraine to develop their own shale resources but, so far, with the exception of the UK, and to a lesser extent Poland and Spain, no large-scale efforts are being undertaken, finds Vasili Nicoletopoulos.*
For many, the move towards shale oil and gas recovery in the
EU seems obvious since in the US, a boom in this market (Fig.1)
has transformed the country’s annual energy outlook,
ending a long decline in oil production, cutting natural gas
prices by two thirds from their 2008 peak...