Europe: Shale Gas Mining Three Camps

Representative country: France, Spain shale resource development resistance: large

Representative Country: Netherlands, Germany Shale Resource Development Resistance: Larger

Representative country: UK, Poland shale resource development resistance: smaller

United Kingdom Poland: Good political atmosphere paving shale gas development

The cooperation between political parties in Britain on shale gas has been well-known. At first, shale gas was only a vague, fuzzy, green energy strategic position of the Freedom Party. Later, the dominant Conservative Party of the coalition government began to actively embrace shale gas and treat shale gas as a solution to the British energy problem. The panacea.

The British prime minister and ministers have praised the potential of shale gas and jointly criticized shale gas opponents, emphasizing the need to create a favorable environment for the development of shale gas. To encourage potential developers and local governments to develop shale gas, the British government has promulgated a series of stimulus policies, including tax cuts, requiring local governments to maintain commercial interest rates, and vigorously supporting enterprises in all areas affected by shale gas development. The party provides prepayments and franchise fees.

At the same time, the British government is ready to actively revise a series of regulations to pave the way for the development of shale gas. Among them, for the shale gas exploration and development activities in the underground of the house, it is necessary to notify the homeowner to remove the article completely and modify the illegal intrusion clause so as to prevent the land owner from obstructing the shale gas development.

Government support will theoretically make Britain the best country in Europe for shale gas development. In reality, these favorable digestions are not ideal. On the one hand, the performance of local opponents continues. On the other hand, existing laws and regulations are too restrictive. Bailey Management Consulting issued a warning in an investigation that the revision of the law was too complex and time-consuming. The company estimates that it will take at least six to eight years for the UK to complete the overall shale gas planning and authorization.

The shale gas development in Poland is also limited by regulations and administrative factors. These unfavorable factors have greatly weakened the good political atmosphere. Poland could have become a leader in European shale gas development. Geological surveys show that the reserves of shale gas in Poland are extremely rich. At the same time, the public support rate for shale gas development in Poland reaches 78%. Both the government and the opposition have promised the development of shale gas. In addition, the development of shale gas can greatly reduce Poland's dependence on Russian natural gas and boost economic development.

However, in fact, shale gas development in Poland is thorny. The latest shale gas potential survey conducted in 2012 showed that shale gas reserves in the country were lower than expected and a series of exploration results was also disappointing. The unfavorable test results directly led to the departure of a large number of foreign exploration companies in the past one and a half years. Of course, the reason for the withdrawal of foreign investors is not unrelated to the complicated and difficult political and administrative restrictions.

The resources tax on shale gas imposed by the United Kingdom and Poland and the partial favor of domestic energy companies have caused foreign investors to lose the momentum of shale gas development. The two governments plan to set up national fossil energy operators and give them more fiscal, tax, and investment power. This scheme makes investors particularly chilling.

Paolo Scaroni, president of Eni, Italy, warned at the Shale Energy Summit last year that if Europe does not develop shale gas, it will further lose its comparative advantage to the United States in attracting investment in energy-intensive companies. He said that many investors have already withdrawn from Europe and transferred to the United States. "Energy-intensive companies do not go to Texas, do you still come to Europe? Texas is half the price of electricity in Europe, and natural gas prices are one-third of Europe." He said.

A series of administrative factors also hinder the development of shale gas. At the beginning of the year, the Polish National Auditing Office issued a report stating that shale gas faces a series of problems, mainly caused by “non-action”.

Since the end of 2013, the Polish government’s attitude toward shale gas seems to have changed. The slow progress of shale gas and the departure of a group of foreign companies made the country aware of the need to adopt some tilt measures for shale gas exploration and development. The government has appointed an environment minister to specialize in the shale gas field, which indicates a positive signal of policy change. The legislature reviewed and amended the laws and regulations restricting the development of shale gas and further clarified the fiscal and taxation regulations. It is expected that these revised results will be announced in the near future. Even so, the shale gas industry, which suffered repeated setbacks in recent years, wants to welcome the spring and it needs to wait patiently.

Netherlands, Germany: All parties opposed the development of voices over the voice of development

The shale gas exploration prospects in other European countries are even more uncertain. Bulgaria introduced a ban on shale gas exploration in 2012. Although some government officials continued to indicate that they should make amendments, the ban has not yet been cancelled. In Romania, the government also issued a ban on shale gas in 2012, but since the beginning of last year, it has allowed oil companies such as Chevron to carry out exploration. Of course, exploration began to encounter places**. Similarly, after Chevron decided to withdraw from Lithuania last fall, Lithuania began to discuss changing laws and fiscal policies.

In western European continent, the resistance encountered by shale gas exploration is more direct and greater. The local people continue to exert pressure with the support of national environmental protection organizations and green parties. The government has to deal with shale gas with care, even without touching it.

People may think that the Dutch environment should be very beneficial to the development of shale gas. The Netherlands has many offshore gas blocks that have been developed for many years. For decades, these blocks have made significant contributions to energy development and fiscal revenue in the Netherlands. Some people think that the Netherlands has rich experience in exploring natural gas and can completely eliminate any resistance to shale gas exploration and development.

In fact, due to the consideration of declining conventional energy reserves, Dutch energy companies and some of them are indeed very keen to develop unconventional energy. However, in the actual operation, the development plan of shale gas encountered strong local opposition and legal restrictions. Local and national non-governmental organizations are usually composed of a number of interest communities, such as those in the brewing and water supply sectors, who are in a situation of non-competitive development with shale gas.

The disagreement over the development of shale gas is also very evident within the parliament and the government. In August last year, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs released a series of shale gas surveys, and stated that as long as it is handled according to law and strengthened management, the risk of shale gas development is relatively low. The Labour Party, one of the ruling coalition parties, strongly opposed the shale gas safety investigation.

However, if the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs intends to use this report to remove obstacles to the development of shale gas, I am afraid it can only be counterproductive. Because the country’s environmental assessment committee stated that each shale gas project must pass environmental impact assessments and that certain areas cannot be subject to fracturing. This led the government to postpone the development of shale gas. In September last year, the government announced an environmental impact assessment cost control analysis to determine the best areas for the establishment of shale gas development. It is estimated that the completion of this assessment will be completed by the end of 2014 or early 2015. In addition, the Dutch government's move to entrust environmental assessments to Arcadise has also caused criticism from opponents.

Germany is also very mature in the offshore shale gas development. Since the 1960s, Germany has started to use fracturing technology in the development of tight gas. Germany has issued many exploration and development licenses to enterprises. However, due to opposition, Germany has not issued new exploration licenses after 2012.

The German government planned last year to introduce a bill allowing fracturing in environmentally sensitive areas. At the same time, the revision of the national hydrology and minerals law prohibits fracturing in areas close to the aquifer and requires an environmental impact assessment. However, the formulation and revision of these laws were postponed because of the upcoming elections and the disagreement between the House of Commons.

The new government also seems to be Xiao Zheng Cao, still the same way as the previous government. The coalition government’s agreement emphasizes that fracturing poses potential risks and priority should be given to protecting public health and water safety. At the same time, the use of additives and fracturing fluids that are harmful to the environment is prohibited, and the drilling fluid recovery is strictly limited.

At the shale gas summit in Vienna, officials from the German Federal Ministry of Economy and Energy stated that the gates for the development of shale gas are still not closed, but it is clear that Germany cannot become a pioneer in European shale gas.

France, Spain: Trouble with political whirlpool bans

France is the country with the most obvious resistance to shale gas development in Europe. At the very beginning, the prospects for the development of shale gas in France seemed very positive, but the political attitudes of some organizations in the south had undergone a major change of 180 degrees, turning from supporting support to resolute opposition. The shale gas ban launched by the government as early as 2011 has now been strengthened.

Since François Hollande was elected president of France, he has been insisting on shale gas ban and does not allow any shale gas exploration and production activities. Last year, a decision by the members of the Constitutional Committee further strengthened Hollande’s attitude.

Although the ban has strong political support. However, this ban still incurs criticism from the exploration industry and some politicians. Minister of Production and Development, Arnold M. Montboro, publicly called this ban on many occasions. However, his opposition was nothing more than a superficial article. Because any reconsideration and modification of the shale gas ban may lead to the coalition government and arouse local opposition.

Another country struggling in the political vortex of shale gas should be Spain. Spain's shale gas reserves are considerable, and opposition to the sound waves is also extremely fierce. Until recently, from the overall political perspective, the strong opposition to the development of shale gas still prevailed. The Cantabria Autonomous Region of Spain has abundant shale gas resources, but in April last year, the region issued a law prohibiting shale gas exploration to avoid damage to landscapes and groundwater. The same law was submitted to the Parliament of the Autonomous Region of Catalonia in January this year for discussions. The region also intends to amend the law to prohibit shale gas exploration and development.

However, the Spanish central government has begun to challenge the local government's shale gas ban. Earlier this year, the Spanish Central announced that it would challenge the Cantabria Autonomous Region and receive support from the Constitutional Court. However, the adoption of this decision will also require a hearing this year. However, even if the hearing passes the decision of the central government to support shale gas, the development of shale gas is still quite difficult under the Spanish political environment.