Platts: France to keep watching brief on shale gas technology

France continues to evaluate technological developments regarding shale gas, despite having outlawed hydraulic fracturing, so far the only way of producing gas from shale rock, a spokesman for the industry redevelopment ministry said Tuesday.

Benjamin Gallezot told the 18th International Gas & Electricity Summit that France is "listening carefully" to the outside world, and seeing how new technology is being used to tackle the shale gas question, from an environmental point of view.

Monitoring the practise of shale gas production and the regulatory frameworks elsewhere in Europe, particularly the UK, and how effective they are, does take time, he warned, but he said France has the industrial base needed for shale gas production.  MORE