Exxon to Proceed with Hydraulic Fracturing in Poland

Speaking at The European Unconventional Gas Summit currently being held in Krakow, Jim Johnston, board member of ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Poland. said that the supermajor plans to start hydraulic fracturing next week on its second test well in Poland, near the eastern town of Siennica.

Johnston was discussing ExxonMobil's experiences with community relations from their time working within unconventional gas projects in Poland. ExxonMobil has six licenses to explore for shale gas in Poland.

In July, Jack Williams, head of Exxon's unconventional unit, XTO Energy, said that the company has drilled a handful of exploration wells in Poland and is preparing to use fracturing techniques to assist in releasing natural gas from dense shale rock.

Exxon engineers have been evaluating pressure data and other geological characteristics from well logs.  Hydraulic fracturing of the wells in Poland, will enable engineers to estimate the size of the discovery.

"The log results look fine, they look encouraging," Williams said. "Until you get in there and frack and get some performance results, you don’t know" how much gas is present.

Total SA join ExxonMobil in May of this year in assessing the potential for shale gas in the Lublin Basin of southeastern Poland, farming into the Chelm and Werbkowice exploration concessions with a 49% interest.

In August, Hutton Energy Plc., the London based unconventional resource explorer,  announced an agreement with Exxon to farm into 1.1 million acres comprised of four licenses in the Podlasie Basin in Poland.

Exxon’s prospects for unconventional gas in places such as Poland and Germany may turn out to be as profitable as North Texas' Barnett Shale, which has wells with some of the biggest returns in the company’s worldwide portfolio, Williams said.