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Gold/Mining/Energy : Big Dog's Boom Boom Room -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (156942)	9/18/2011 2:11:33 PM
From: Dennis Roth	Respond to of 206092

Poland targets 2014 for shale gas debut (AFP) – 6 hours ago google.com WARSAW — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Sunday his country planned to begin commercial shale gas production from 2014, dismissing environmental concerns while insisting the technologies involved were safe. "Being a moderate optimistic, the commercial exploitation of shale gas will begin in 2014," the leader of Poland's governing Civic Platform (PO) liberals said while on the campaign trail ahead of an October 9 general election. Poland could achieved "gas security" by 2035, he added as he visited Lubocin, northern Poland, where shale gas exploration was underway. "After years of dependence on our large neighbour (Russia), today we can say that my generation will see the day when we will be independent in the area of natural gas and we will be setting terms," Tusk said. The prime minister also insisted he had been "assured that well conducted exploration and production would not pose a danger to the environment." "This is very important to us," he said. Earlier this month Brussels said it intended to draft European Union-wide rules on tapping shale-gas reserves in the face of environmental concerns. Moves to tap gas from shale -- sedimentary rock containing hydrocarbons -- have sown deep divisions in Europe amid concerns that hydraulic fracturing used in its extraction is environmentally risky. France, for example, has frozen extraction projects and slapped a legal ban on so-called "fracking". But Poland is pushing ahead with moves to exploit reserves thought to contain some 5.3 trillion cubic metres of natural gas. If the estimate proves right, it would allow Poland reduce its reliance on coal for electricity production and it reduce its dependence on Russian gas supplies, which cover 40 percent of its needs. Little known even five years ago, tapping shale-gas is seen as having the potential to change global energy markets, for example by doubling the estimated reserves of the United States. Poland has already granted over 90 shale gas exploration licences to international energy companies including ExxonMobil and Total in the hope of bringing its considerable reserves to market and ending its energy dependence on Soviet-era master Russia. Initial studies suggest the shale deposits run in a huge 650 kilometre-long (405 mile) diagonal belt across Poland, stretching from the Baltic Sea coast in the north to the eastern border with Belarus and Ukraine. Experts estimate the deposits could produce some 5.3 trillion cubic metres of natural gas, potentially covering Poland's estimated needs for up to 300 years. ==== Bulgarian PM: Stop Nagging Me on Shale Gas novinite.com by BGNES Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, is asking fellow citizens, who oppose the exploring for shale gas in northeastern Bulgaria, to stop irritating him otherwise he would sign the contract out of "stubbornness." Borisov spoke Sunday in the northeastern city of Dobrich where he opened the city's newly remodeled pedestrian area. The investment amount is BGN 5 M and construction works were completed in less than one year. Borisov congratulated Dobrich residents for their new acquisition and stressed the crucial importance of infrastructure which would attract both investors and emigrants to return to the country. Those gathered at the ceremony, however, were waiving a large number of signs in protest against plans for exploration and extraction of shale gas in the area. The PM reminded that just days ago he had talks on the issue with two ministers where everything had been explained, including safety guarantees. "Nothing will happen if you stop irritating me. About those holding the signs, I wish to tell that they are enticed by a particular political party. If this keeps going on, we will sign the contract just out of sheer stubbornness," Borisov declared. After cutting the ribbon, the PM went on a 20-minute walk on the bike path, took pictures with citizens, gave autographs and received a number of small token gifts. In June, the Bulgarian government gave US energy giant Chevron a permit to prospect for shale gas in a large section of Dobrudzha, in the north east of the country. Environmentalists and local residents fear that the technique, which involves pumping unspecified chemicals into the ground at high pressure - so-called hydraulic fracturing - might pollute soils and groundwater in Dobrudzha, one of the most fertile regions in Bulgaria. Shale gas extraction has been a controversial technique, after a number of wells in the US - the country that pioneered it - leaked, causing massive damage to drinking water. The US government is currently holding a massive survey of the method and the need to regulate it, while in July France became the first country in the world to impose an all-out ban on it, after protests from local residents.