UNCONVENTIONAL GAS RESOURCES IS ON THE RISE
Exploration and production of unconventional gas resources have been the focus of US authorities and industry for years already. This trend has started in Europe, where Germany, Italy, UK, Poland ?and other European countries have begun to focus on these resources. More attention has been given by the industry to explore for unconventional gas resources, like Gas Shales, Coal Bed Methane (CBM), tight Gas and potentially oil shale resources as well.
Indications of this spike in interest are the amount of conferences arranged and to be arranged around Europe in 2010.
This article will highlight some of the conferences/workshops held and planned to be held during this year as well as discuss some of the industry efforts planned and already started in Europe.
Interesting is the participation of major players from the US, and talks about their experience from exploring and producing of these unconventional resources.
Also worth noticing, is the absence of authorities from the US when it comes to environmental concerns, regulatory discussions and so on?
Technology enables utilization of these resources in manners not possible only few years ago. Rapid development of technology and understanding of these unconventional resources makes these resources a formidable untapped potential for oil and gas companies.
In the US alone, these resources are believed to supply over 50% of the US production of gas by 2020.
In Europe, international oil and gas companies have begun the race for acreage to explore for the unconventional resource potential. Countries like Poland, Boston Bruins Zdeno jerseys France and UK together with Germany have Boston Bruins Zdeno jerseys begun to focus more on these resources now. However, the understanding of the potential for these resources are not well understood as of yet in this region of the world.
ConocoPhillips together with 3Legs are planning to drill their first proof of concept well in Poland in the latter part of June this year.
ExxonMobil has secured significant acreage in Poland for exploring of shale gas and other unconventional production opportunities in Europe.
BNK has secured 2.4 million acres of net acreage in 3 basins within Saxony-Anhalt region in Germany for exploitation of unconventional resources. In addition the company has around 1.1 million net acres in Europe.
Total has acreage in Montelimar in the Southern France and is evaluating this acreage before making any decisions to follow up its efforts from the US gas shale campaign. They have indicated interest in Denmark and Germany.
The Polish oil company Orlen has made gas
Poland authorities have issued 58 licenses over the past 2 years to American companies for shale gas exploration within their territories.
Shell has drilled 2 out of three wells looking for gas shales in the southern part of Sweden, called Skane. Shell has indicated that these resources should cover the gas need for Sweden for at least 10 years to come.
Igas has drilled one of Europe's first wells for "unconventional" gas in the UK, extracted from source rocks traditionally rejected by the industry as uneconomic. ?Igas has taken leases on 300,000 acres of shale, a sedimentary rock, across north Wales and north-west England
Although exploration is concentrated on shale and coal bed gas in a corridor running from Poland through Germany to the UK, many other areas in Europe like the Paris Basin and the Pannonian Basin in Hungary are attracting interest. A large variety of unconventional exploration players are active, ranging from major companies like Chevron and ExxonMobil to the smaller more specialized companies like Lane Energy and local companies like Rhein Petroleum.
Gazprom has realized that this focus on the unconventional gas resource potential in Europe, could poses a serious risk for Gazprom and their energy export values. Therefore Russia has started a massive anti-shale propaganda to delay and stall any European Gas Shale efforts.
The industry's ability to deploy the right technologies and the authorities ability to govern the exploitation of these resources will be key success factors for these plays in Europe.
Some efforts have been made to look into the Gas Shale and CBM potential within Ukraine, as this could provide another dimension to the European Energy debate and energy security issues especially.
Since the potential in Ukraine can be massive, it deserves attention from Ukraine authorities as well as the industry players to develop a thorough understanding of its true potential and development potential.
?BOOK TO READ
The balance of need for Gas as a future energy source in Europe versus renewable energy campaign in Europe is essential for any project economics in Europe.
Gunter Oettinger, the new European Commissioner for energy, stresses the value of renewable energy. Forecasts indicate that EU is on course to meet its renewable goal for 2020. EU is tasked to ensure their member states to reach and go beyond the 20 percent target set out in their strategic plans.
The political pressure from EU political leaders to ensure a renewable energy part of their energy budgets, pressure the confidence in future demand for gas and there are risks it could choke off investments within Unconventional resource projects within Europe. This due to the fact that there are no guarantee for supply needs. It will also weigh against gas-fired power stations planned in Europe as other forms of energy could supply these power stations in the near future. It is therefore a need to look at project profitability beyond 2020 for any Unconventional Gas projects in Europe.
Some European Unconventional Oil and Gas Resource Conferences
GLOBAL UNCONVENTIONAL GAS
http://www.gastechnology.org/webroot/app/xn/xd.aspx?it=enweb&xd=3TrainingConfer/Conferences/gug2010.xml
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