New Summary Report on Polish Shale Reserves Not on Horizon

An updated report on the extent of shale gas reserves in Poland will not be forthcoming in the near term.

Maciej Wozniak, advisor to the Head Geologist at Poland's Environment Ministry, said that a new summary report on shale gas deposits in Poland will be released when the number of exploratory wells reaches 100. 

This represents a significant change from the position taken by Head Geologist Piotr Wozniak last year, when he envisaged a more comprehensive report might be published in late 2013 based upon data compiled and presented to the ministry from a lesser number of wells drilled through to March of next year.

17 wells have been drilled this year in Poland, bringing the total number of exploratory wellbores in the country to 33 (3 horizontal, 10 fracturing operations). In the early 2012,  the ministry reported that it expected the number of wells to exceed 40 prior to the end of this year.

Although the government hopes that exploration activities will intensify next year, the new announcement indicates that more credible estimations should not be expected before 2014 at the earliest.  

The Environment Ministry expects new estimates to be higher than the last number of 346 -768 bcm. Speaking to the Natural Gas Europe in May, Wozniak stressed that the initial report of the Polish Geological Institute was based on archival data, obtained in the years 1950s to 1990s, while the incoming survey would instead be based on data collected from new exploratory wells.

According to the ministry, the companies have already spent around 3 bln zlotys (730 mln EUR, 950 mln USD) on exploration projects.  

The next exploratory well will be drilled in Zawada in the Eastern Poland, by Chevronwith operations expected to commence in the upcoming days.  Chevron has already completed two vertical holes Horodysko and Andrzejow in Lubelskie.