THERE is no silver pipelining. The UK鈥檚 new environment secretary, Owen Paterson, wants to fast-track the country鈥檚 exploitation of shale gas to reduce reliance on imports 鈥� but a study pours cold water on the idea.
It had been hoped that the controversial fracking technique could allow Europe to match the US鈥檚 success in extracting natural gas from shale rocks. Now the European Commission鈥檚 Joint Research Centre (JRC) says that, at best, Europe鈥檚 shale gas will only compensate for its slowing production of conventional gas. Europe will still have to import 60 per cent of its needs, says the JRC鈥檚 report.
聯At best, Europe鈥檚 shale gas will only compensate for its slowing production of conventional gas聰
Advertisement
The message is in line with a recent paper by , the foreign affairs think tank in London, UK. He claims Europe鈥檚 geology makes fracking more difficult, and says the effort faces major regulatory hurdles,
