EU Adviser Gives Nod to Shale Gas

Chief scientific adviser to the European Union, Anne Glover, has decided shale gas extraction should be permitted across Europe, after having studied data on risks and feasibility.

Speaking at a debate in Brussels earlier this month, Glover said: “We should not go into a denial phase. From my point of view the evidence will allow us to go ahead [with shale production]. But in terms of extraction and production there are non-scientific issues to be debated.

“As with all energy production, there will be risks involved whether that is wind or coal power,” she said at a debate on science and policy organised by think-tank the European Policy Centre, reported by European specialist media.

Last month the EU executive launched a green paper [a government report pre-figuring policy], setting out Europe's energy and climate aims for 2030. Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger has already taken a positive position on shale gas.

"I am in favour of producing shale gas, particularly for safety reasons, and to reduce gas prices," he said. "In the United States, which is a big producer of shale gas, the price of gas is four times less than in Europe."

Shale gas has triggered an industrial revival in the United States, which the International Energy Agency expects to become almost self-sufficient in oil and gas by 2035.

But Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard adopted a less favourable tone on shale gas, saying its extraction in Europe bears little comparison with the United States.

“We do not expect that it will be so easy in Europe: geological conditions are different, and so are environmental rules and the activity of soils,” she told reporters at the launch of the Commission green paper last month.

António Fernando Correia de Campos, the Portuguese MEP who chairs the Parliament’s science and technology options assessment panel, also endorsed shale during the think-tank debate. Although he said he was not speaking on behalf of any parliamentary group or committee, Correia de Campos said Europe was “in the denial phase” on shale gas.

He said it was clear that within five years Europe would be importing shale gas from the US because it cost a quarter to a fifth of current European gas imports. “We are basing our opinion on the denial paradigm, which is one step behind the precautionary principle,” Correia de Campos said.

Member states remain divided on their approach to shale. Last October, British Chancellor George Osborne announced potential tax breaks for domestic shale. The same month Poland declared its push for the gas, saying it would invest some €12.5 million to develop exploration by 2020. 

However subsequent exploration results from Poland have suggested its reserves might not be as large as previously anticipated.