Polish shale

Poland could potentially have reserves of anywhere between 1.5 – 3 trillion m³ of unconventional gas locked in shale formations according to US consultancies. This speculative amount of shale gas could allow Poland to become energy sufficient and help them break their dependence on imported Russian gas.

So strong are they in their convictions that ahead of Presidential elections, Bronislaw Komorowski (the newly elected president), stated that, “If we find out that we have enough shale gas, we want to have the right to renegotiate the deal with Russia or maybe we will step aside from it”.

The ruling Civic platform government negotiated a gas deal with Russia, which provides for them to buy 10 billion m³ of gas a year to fill their annual shortfall. If they do have as much shale gas as some believe then this deal will be dead in the water.

However, Poland's deputy environment minister and chief geologist, Henryk Jezierski, has cautioned that the true amount of gas in Poland is still impossible to verify. US estimates come from comparing Poland's geology to that of parts of the US where shale gas deposits have been found. "The gas is probably there, but to say it with certainty I require documentation,” he said.

Poland has already issued 58 concessions to explore for shale gas, and the companies looking for shale gas include ConocoPhillips, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Marathon Oil. There are significant technical issues to overcome though. It’s only recently that the technology has been developed by which shale gas reserves can be exploited commercially, and there are also significant environmental hurdles to overcome.

There is still a big question mark over the environmental damage that shale gas could potentially cause, as the ‘fracking’ process requires them to pump large quantities of water and a mix of chemicals deep underground to break up the shale formations. The EU has much stricter environmental regulations than the US so this could potentially make it much harder to get approval.

On her current tour of the former soviet bloc to renew relations, the US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, has made a deal for Poland and the US to co-operate on shale gas research. Geopolitical reasoning notwithstanding, such help could accelerate Poland’s transition to becoming energy sufficient. "This is a very good sign of Polish leadership in the energy sector because energy security and independence is one of the most important aspects of national security," Clinton said.

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