Unconventional deposits are to strengthen energy security and the position of Poland
Politicians discussed the hopes related with the exploration and exploitation of shale gas deposits in Poland and experts the costly investments. That was at the yesterday’s conference organised in Warsaw jointly by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the US Embassy. Minister for European Affairs, Mr. Mikołaj Dowgielewicz, convinced those present that in the context of the EU climate policy shale gas represents only benefits. “with respect to the CO2 emissions reduction, gas is not only the transitional technology which we will be using until we find clean energy technology but it may turn out that it will be with us for many years”, he added. The representative of the US Department of State, Mr. Richard Morningstar, slightly dampened Polish optimism, reminding everyone that it was still not known how large were shale gas deposits in Poland and that additional tests were needed.
The existing forecasts performed by Americans are exceptionally good for Poland. They estimate that in Poland there are over 5 trillion cubic meters of shale gas which makes us the European leader. The Chief National Geologist, Mr. Henryk Jezierski, stated that more accurate analyses would be known not until September but they would not mean that the gas is good for exploitation. “In three to four years it will be known how much gas there is, and the transfer from the exploration to the phase of industrial production is possible in 10 to 15 years”, he added.
At present, the Minister of Environment issued 86 concessions for unconventional gas exploration. Over 20 companies received them, Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG) dominates as well as US corporations, among them the largest ones: Chevron, Marthon Oil, ExxonMobil, Talisman. “Poland has very good perspectives of shale gas mining. If it turns out that there is an appropriate level of deposits, then the mining process could start very quickly”, stated Patrick Blough, one of the heads of Chevron Global Gas. However, he observed that the basic condition of the exploitation is profitability. “The company will not invest where they do not expect profit”, he added. Also, he admitted that the expenses for exploration work would be high. Polish experts estimate the costs of one complete well (i.e. made vertically and horizontally) at PLN 40 - 50 million. “If we talk about developing the entire plot covered by the concession, then outlays come to billion US dollars”, stated Vice President Patrick Blough. If each company performed its obligations, making two, three wells on each site covered by the concession, then expenses would reach 3 billion US dollars. For the time being, a few trial wells made in Poland confirmed that there is gas.
Source: Rzeczpospolita B, on page: 1, 2011-05-19, by: Agnieszka Łakoma
About the same subject matter also in:
Gazeta Wyborcza, page 23, Shales – Hopes and Concerns
In addition to Mr. Henryk Jezierski, Undersecretary of State, Polish Ministry of the Environment, Patrick Blough, Vice President, Gas Commercialization, Chevron Global Gas and Bogdan Marcinkiewicz, Member of the European Parliament, also the President of ORLEN Upstream, Mr. Wiesław Prugar, participated in the second panel of the conference entitled “Shale Gas in Europe – Development Strategies ".