Why the debate over British shale gas extraction is for high stakes

Shale Quake Shakes Up Britain’s Energy Policy

By Guest Column Dr. Benny Peiser (Bio and Archives)  Wednesday, April 18, 2012 | Print friendly | Subscribe | Email Us

The U.K. government’s decision to allow shale gas exploration to proceed sets up a battle for the future of Britain’s energy policy.—James Herron, The Wall Street Journal, 17 April 2012

Britain’s looming shale revolution is a clear victory for those of us who have argued that renewable energy is economically unsustainable and that the exploration of shale gas can provide a huge potential boost to both UK industry and British households. The government’s endorsement of shale gas, together with its gradual rollback of unpopular green schemes and expensive renewables subsidies, comes as a massive blow to the green lobby, which is suffering the longest losing streak for a generation.—Benny Peiser, City A.M. 18 April 2012

Britain may have enough offshore shale gas to catapult it into the top ranks of global producers, energy experts now believe. UK offshore reserves of shale gas could exceed one thousand trillion cubic feet (tcf), compared to current rates of UK gas consumption of 3.5 tcf a year, or five times the latest estimate of onshore shale gas of 200 trillion cubic feet. “There will be a lot more offshore shale gas and oil resources than onshore,” Nigel Smith, subsurface geologist and geophysicist at the British Geological Survey (BGS) said. UK offshore reserves could be five to 10 times as high as onshore, he said.—Henning Gloystein and Christopher Johnson, Reuters, 17 April 2012

The campaign to stop shale gas proving its case in the market is political, not scientific. Behind it lies vested interests. The Russian gas industry, which is alarmed at losing its impending near-monopoly on European gas supplies, has been vocal in its criticism of shale gas. The coal and nuclear industries too would like to see this baby strangled at birth, but have been less high-profile. Most of the opposition, though, has come from those with a vested interest in renewable energy, including the big environmental pressure groups, which are alarmed that the rich subsidies paid to wind, biomass and solar may be under threat if gas gets too cheap and cuts carbon emissions too effectively. –Matt Ridley, The Times, 18 April 2012

BBC Headline: ‘Fracking’ for gas to carry on, leaving people angry—BBC Newsround (for Children), 18 April 2012

The British shale debate could turn out to have an international twist, and one that makes it edgier than most. My understanding is that senior British officials were recently asked to pull together a briefing for the prime minister, David Cameron, on the potential of British shale oil and gas reserves. Those same officials take the view that shale gas could be pretty important. And that makes them worry about what some big cheeses in Whitehall see as an irrational European nervousness about science, technology and the environment.—Bagehot, The Economist, 17 April 2012