The Shale Gas Boom: Why Poland Is Not Ready
by Geoffrey Kemp, Corey Johnson, and Tim Boersma
Summary: In this essay, the authors first review the key elements of the shale gas revolution in the United States. This is followed by an examination of the case of Poland, a country that may be well endowed with shale gas but which faces major political, technical, and economic challenges in exploiting the untapped resources.
Introduction
Over the past few years, a revolution in shale gas and oil extraction in the United States has dramatically changed the outlook for U.S. fossil fuel production. Thousands of new gas wells have been drilled in Texas, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania while a boom in oil shale production is underway in North Dakota. None of these developments was anticipated in energy forecasts made in the early 2000s, when the prevailing expectation was that U.S. imports of both natural gas and petroleum would rise during the decade rather than fall.
The revolution occurred because of a combination of new technology, price signals, favorable state regulatory laws, and the fact that unlike most sovereign states, Americans who own land also have owners’ rights to minerals and other products of value beneath the surface. The new technologies include breakthroughs in horizontal, highly accurate drilling techniques and the development of hydraulic fracturing techniques (“fracking”) to inject under high pressure a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals into shale rocks to release the gas.
Of course, the United States is not monolithic on regulatory issues. In some states, especially those with long histories of drilling for oil and as, such as Oklahoma and Texas, the regulatory environment is generally more favorable to hydrocarbon development. In other states, local opinion is bitterly divided on the costs and benefits of drilling (e.g. Pennsylvania). And still more states — like some countries in Europe — have imposed outright bans on drilling until more evidence on the environmental impacts is known (e.g. New Jersey, New York, and Vermont).
Nonetheless, the conclusion would have to be that the economic benefits of producing low-cost gas and home-produced oil are so strong that the United States will remain the dominant player in the game for many years to come. And if history is any guide, the techniques and the safety records will improve. The real question is not whether shale fuels are good or bad, but whether their production will have a negative impact on the development of more sustainable, cleaner energy sources.
In this essay, we first review the key elements of the shale gas revolution in the United States. This is followed by an examination of the case of Poland, a country that may be well endowed with shale gas but which faces major political, technical, and economic challenges in exploiting the untapped resources.
Gas Markets in Motion
Domestic production of natural gas in the United States is booming. In 2010, roughly 150 billion cubic meters of gas were produced, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has predicted that this number will triple by 2035. Yet we have to be cautious with such estimates. Earlier this year, the EIA substantially downgraded its earlier predictions for recoverable natural gas reserves in the biggest shale deposit in the United States, the Marcellus shale (from 410 tcf to 141 tcf). In addition, roughly a decade ago, shale gas and the technologies to extract them were a phenomenon only known by a few insiders. We have to acknowledge that there are many things about shale gas we still do not know.
Despite these uncertainties, the impacts of the shale gas boom have been considerable. Domestically, well head prices for natural gas have dropped dramatically since July 2008. Industry investments are slowing down because of the lower revenues of natural gas on the market. This leaves an important question open for U.S. policymakers and business executives alike: what to do with all this gas?
One obvious option is electricity generation. Natural gas is believed to be cleaner than coal, and nuclear energy has an uncertain future. Both government agencies and academics have estimated that the number of gas-fired electricity plants will rise in the decades ahead, to roughly one-third of the total U.S. electricity production in 2035. In addition, some major chemical industries have recently decided to shift a part of their production process back to the United States, a move prompted by low gas prices. Other options for abundant natural gas are less clear or more controversial. Using natural gas in transport seems a rather distant scenario because of the large infrastructural investments that would be required, while exporting excess gas is being debated by policymakers in Washington, DC as a national security and price issue. To date, only one project has received an unrestricted license to export natural gas, while eight others have been put on hold.
Despite the many open questions that remain, the effects of U.S. shale gas on European markets are evident. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar, Eastern Siberia, and other regions that was intended to find its way to terminals in the United States is now shipped to Europe and Asia. It has had a moderating effect on natural gas spot market prices and has prompted some major consumers to attempt to renegotiate earlier long-term contracts signed with suppliers. This seems to confirm earlier predictions that shale gas production could undermine the leverage or market dominance of traditional major players such as Russia. Yet it is worth mentioning that the share of LNG in Europe is not expected to be more than 20 percent in the decade ahead, indicating that the bulk of natural gas will reach Europe through pipelines that are tied up in long-term contracts. Furthermore, prices are not exclusively determined by the market, but also by infrastructural limitations, available storage facilities, and reverse flow capacity. Even when these restrictions would not apply, it is questionable whether U.S. natural gas could be globally competitive. A study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2011 suggests that in a more integrated world gas market, most U.S. shale gas is expected to be more costly to produce than low-cost conventional resources from the Middle East and Russia.
Environmental Concerns
Potential environmental risks that have been linked to shale gas extraction could play a decisive role regarding the future development of European shale gas. While in North America, policymakers and regulators were seemingly caught off guard by this gas revolution, this is not expected to happen in Europe. Private companies are currently investigating cores from Polish soils in their laboratories in the United States and Canada, and legislators in Brussels are examining whether existing environmental frameworks are sufficient to have companies extract shale gas without severe effects on water and air quality. This section provides an overview of the most controversial environmental concerns that have been linked to shale gas and hydraulic fracturing.
Fugitive methane is gas that is leaked somewhere during the cycle from extraction to combustion. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is over 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, though it stays in the lower atmosphere for a much shorter time span. Most of these methane emissions are process related and come during field production, e.g. from wells, gathering pipelines, or gas-treatment operations. Production-related methane leakage is not limited to unconventional gas, but the general consensus in the scientific community appears to be that current rates of leakage for shale gas are higher than for conventional gas. With the academic debate ongoing, there is little evidence to make a convincing argument that shale gas is an ideal fuel for the transition to a low-carbon economy. In order to prevent excessive emissions from occurring, in 2012 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adopted federal rules to regulate emissions from drilling activities. From 2015 onward, gas companies are required to apply so-called “green completions,” e.g. capture technology to keep volatile organic compounds or methane from reaching the air. Until then, gas companies are obliged to flare these emissions, instead of letting them out in the open air (venting). What is unknown is the extent to which technological fixes in the drilling and extraction processes can in fact reduce unintended methane emissions.
Also heavily debated is the presumed relationship between hydraulic fracturing and seismic activity. Recently, several cases have suggested that human influence almost certainly contributed to increased seismic activity in parts of the United States. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources investigated a series of 12 seismic events last year in that state, varying from 2.1 to 4.0 on the Richter scale. The report concluded that it is probable that the events were human-induced. So far it appears that this anthropogenic seismicity can most likely be linked to the reinjection of flow back water into the well, and not to the technology of hydraulic fracturing itself. Some evidence for this has been found in Oklahoma and Arkansas. In the United Kingdom, two small earthquakes halted shale gas development for a substantial amount of time. In April, industry activities were continued, with the provision that a traffic light system be operated to govern operations. Future seismic activity above 0.5 on the Richter scale will require production to halt while further tests are conducted.
Another contentious issue linked to shale gas extraction is the contamination of drinking water. So far, two cases have been reported in the United States where this contamination was likely. In Wyoming, the EPA began investigating private water wells three years ago and found that ground water contained compounds likely associated with natural gas production. Another case stems from Pennsylvania, where in 2011 EPA reported that four domestic water wells contained inorganic hazardous substances that are known to be used in hydraulic fracturing. Next to fluids contaminating drinking water, leaking natural gas itself is also a potential problem. In Pennsylvania, substantial evidence was found for methane contamination of shallow drinking water reservoirs.
The Case of Poland
Not a single molecule of natural gas from shale has been produced in Poland, yet enthusiasm about the potential reserves is widespread. In particular, Polish policymakers have the explicit desire to extract the reserves that have been mapped, for reasons of lower prices, high rents, and energy independence from Russia. There are however several arguments why future commercial shale gas extraction in Poland may be difficult to achieve.
It is unclear how much gas there is in Poland. While in 2011, the EIA estimated that Polish shale formations contained nearly 900 times Poland’s annually gas consumption in technically recoverable reserves (or 5.3 tcm), in 2012 the Polish Geological Institute released figures that were much more moderate (between 346 bcm to 768 bcm). Moreover, private companies that have been active in local exploratory drillings have generated mixed results. Geochemists in the United States and Canada are currently examining these cores in laboratories and have reported that the preliminary findings are promising, but Exxon at an earlier stage declared that the two wells they had drilled were underperforming.
Even if shale gas could at some point be extracted, several hurdles would remain. First, the political debate on the European stage seems to have done the Polish case more harm than good until now. This is rooted in deep distrust of Russia in Poland, and also of some of Poland’s European Union partners. Yet despite its complex history vis-à-vis Europe, the reality is that Russia has been a stable supplier of both oil and natural gas to the continent for several decades. To give an example, the often-quoted supply disruptions in 2009 were not felt by consumers in Germany and Poland because Russia was able to bypass Ukraine and increase gas exports through Belarus. The inauguration of the Nord Stream pipeline, linking Russia directly with Germany and bypassing Poland, has also been portrayed as a betrayal of sorts. Yet it is questionable why, if dependence on Russia is the existential threat as is often portrayed, Polish investments in recent years have not aimed to reduce this dependency, by for instance developing the country’s gas market and connecting it to northwestern Europe. Polish officials have suggested that actors outside of Poland are actively seeking to prevent the country from developing
its shale gas reserves. Evidence for this view is thin, and we would argue that the exploitation of energy resources has traditionally been treated as the purview of the individual member states. There is no reason to assume that this would be different in the case of shale gas. The real obstacles to the development of shale gas in Poland lie not in geopolitical intrigue, but rather in infrastructural limitations and potential environmental consequences examined below.
Second, Poland historically has not been much of a gas country. Given its enormous coal reserves, natural gas comprises only a minor share of primary energy consumption. It is therefore no surprise that gas infrastructure is not well developed. Only about half of Polish households are currently connected to gas distribution networks, and without significant investments in domestic gas infrastructure, it is improbable that household usage of natural gas would increase by much. Furthermore, most pipelines have been constructed in the southwest of the country, while the shale gas reserves are likely limited to the north, eastcentral, and southeast. The Polish transmission system operator is, with substantial support from the European Commission, making significant investments to develop the Polish market for natural gas, for instance in additional interconnection capacity to link the market with neighboring Germany and Czech Republic. Several other projects are also being studied. In addition, other resources may in time reach the Polish market through an LNG terminal that is being constructed in the north or a Baltic pipeline that is intended to connect Poland with Scandinavia. Yet as with most infrastructure projects, these investments may well occupy the larger part of this decade. Exploitation of shale gas in the short term is not likely.
Third, Poland has regulatory hurdles to overcome. Though a preliminary study carried out for the European Commission concluded that for the current state of exploration existing regulations are sufficient, it is not clear whether this would also apply to large-scale commercial extraction. There are, for instance, no requirements regarding the prevention of the contamination of ground water or specific disclosure procedures for fracking fluids. Furthermore, the Polish government has the challenge to implement all existing energy legislation. Given its modest history
when it comes to natural gas, it is no surprise that this is a substantial task. Even though the market was opened in 2007, 97 percent of natural gas sales in the country are still represented by state-owned PGNiG, as are all distribution networks in the country.
Conclusions
Even if the geologic and market conditions in Poland prove to be ripe for shale gas development, there are still substantial political, infrastructural, and regulatory hurdles to be overcome. In the meantime, and for the foreseeable future, Russian gas, domestic coal, and oil will continue to be the hydrocarbons of choice.
This article was originally published by the Transatlantic Academy. Republished with permission.
About the Authors
Geoffrey Kemp is the director of regional security programs at the Center for the National Interest. Corey Johnson is an assistant professor of geography at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Tim Boersma is a Ph.D. student at Groningen University in the Netherlands. All are 2011-2012 Transatlantic Academy Fellows.
About the Transatlantic Academy
The Transatlantic Academy is a research institution devoted to creating common approaches to the long-term challenges facing Europe and North America. The Academy does this by each year bringing together scholars, policy experts, and authors from both sides of the Atlantic and from different disciplinary perspectives to research and analyze a distinct policy theme of transatlantic interest. The Academy was created in 2007 as a partnership between the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) and the ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius. The Robert Bosch Stiftung and the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation joined as full partners beginning in 2008, and the Fritz Thyssen Foundation joined as a full partner in 2011. The Compagnia di San Paolo joined in providing additional support in May 2009, as did the Joachim Herz Stiftung and the Volkswagen Stifung in 2011.