July 15, 2013
French President Francois Hollande ruled out the possibility of shale gas recovery in the country for as long as he holds power. This is reported by The Financial Times. The President stated his position in a conversation with the Minister of Industry Arnaud Montebur questioning whether there was a 'green' way to recover shale gas. Hollande said that the national economy was headed upward referring to the data on the growth of industrial production and private consumption in June. However, he stressed that in 2014 the budget expenditures will be reduced to trim the budget and slow growth of the national debt.
France banned shale gas recovery two years ago under the previous president, Nicolas Sarkozy. Due to the low concentration of the gas in the shale core the main technology of its extraction is the drilling of the dense drill hole spacing and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) which can damage the environment, subsurface, ground waters and human health.France became the first country to introduce a legislative ban on the shale gas extraction. It was followed by Bulgaria and several other states. At the same time, politicians have repeatedly put the question to begin shale gas production, as it can accelerate economic growth and reduce fuel prices. Now France is a net importer of gas buying fuel in Norway, the Netherlands, Algeria and the Russian Federation.
Shale gas refers to natural gas that is trapped within shale formations. Shales are fine-grained sedimentary rocks that can be rich sources of petroleum and natural gas. Over the past decade, the combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has allowed access to large volumes of shale gas that were previously uneconomical to produce. The production of natural gas from shale formations has rejuvenated the natural gas industry in the United States. Of the natural gas consumed in the United States in 2011, about 95 % was produced domestically; thus, the supply of natural gas is not as dependent on foreign producers as is the supply of crude oil, and the delivery system is less subject to interruption. The availability of large quantities of shale gas should enable the United States to consume a predominantly domestic supply of gas for many years and produce more natural gas than it consumes.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration's Annual Energy Outlook 2013 Early Release projects U.S. natural gas production to increase from 23.0 trillion cubic feet in 2011 to 33.1 trillion cubic feet in 2040, a 44% increase. Almost all of this increase in domestic natural gas production is due to projected growth in shale gas production, which grows from 7.8 trillion cubic feet in 2011 to 16.7 trillion cubic feet in 2040.
Among the countries covered in the U.S. Energy Information Agency study, the following hold the largest recoverable shale gas reserves:
#1 China 1,275 tcf
#2 United States 862 tcf
#3 Argentina 774 tcf
#4 Mexico 681 tcf
#5 South Africa 485 tcf
#6 Australia 396 tcf
#7 Canada 388 tcf
#8 Brazil 226 tcf
#9 Poland 187 tcf
#10 France 180 tcf
January 24, 2013 in Davos (Switzerland), a production sharing agreement was signed between the Government of Ukraine and the company "Royal Dutch Shell". According to it Yusovskoe shale gas field (Kharkiv and Donetsk region) is allocated for use by Royal Dutch Shell. In addition, the Government of Ukraine plans to sign a production sharing agreement with Chevron by August 24, 2013. Olesskaya shale gas field (Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk region) shall be granted to Chevron for exploration and production of gas. But protests of Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions residents against the exploration and development of that field have not been dying out.
http://www.eia.gov/energy_in_brief/article/about_shale_gas.cfm