Exploratory Shale Drilling in Denmark

The GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences together with the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) are commencing a scientific drilling project to investigate natural gas in shale rock on the Danish island of Bornholm.

The project will involved shallow drilling of 40 meters into the Alum Shale of the island. The drilling will take about three days.

In order to validate the results, a second core will be drilled close to the first bore hole, which will remain with the GEUS in Denmark. Finally, the drilling will be followed by geophysical examinations using 3-D seismics and water samples.

The drilling at Bornholm is one of eleven individual projects implemented in the GASH research project, undertaken by research partners GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ and several European universities and research institutions. The GASH project will run over a three-year period (2009 to 2012) and is coordinated by the GFZ.

Scientists at GFZ investigate processes and potential deposits in Europe, as the geological conditions that lead to the shale gas formation and preservation in Europe have as yet not been explored in a significant manner.

In addition, GASH is developing a European-wide black shale database that for the first time combines all the available geological information on black shales in Europe.