Saturday 1 September 2012

A shale gas alliance against the EUs "green energy" madness?

A shale gas alliance between the US and such European countries as the UK and Poland would be a step in the right direction, according to conservative economist Przemek Skwirczynski. Not a bad idea! 
Greater still, the BBC quotes another source of information in claiming that the UK has at least 200 trillion cubic metres of shale gas. This would be sufficient for the UK to sell its gas to other countries and not just cover internal demand.
Just one of the potential exploration sites in Lancashire could create some 5,500 jobs with an average salary of GBP 55,000, which seems like just the ticket for the otherwise "lost decade".
Interestingly, Poland also sits on a considerable shale gas field of ca. 22.45 trillion cubic metres with 5.3 trillion available for immediate extraction. Exploration in Poland would create an estimated 155,000 jobs over 10 years and turn Poland into a net gas exporter.
At the moment, similarly to the UK, Poland relies heavily on importing its gas from the very temperamental Russia and, given the historic relationship between these two countries, it would be in Poland's strategic interest to free itself from that marriage of inconvenience. 
Given the potential for a change of guard in Washington, it might be a good time to develop an alliance of shale gas producing countries, in order to rebuild the special relationship on additional economic, as opposed to solely military, principles.
Working with Poland, which seems to be on the Republicans' "friendlies" list, and in any case has been a traditional ally of both UK and USA, could provide a common front to push through gas exploration-friendly policies in Brussels.
Both the United Kingdom and Poland will have to fight their corner in the face of the growing demands from the euro-bloc whose members still largely stick by the economically unviable green energy policies.
Importantly, when it comes to the duumvirate ruling the European Union, France officially suspended its exploration efforts in May 2012 and Germany can be considered Russian Gazprom's man in the EU when it comes to energy.
Hence, both are stumbling blocks on way to shale gas exploration on our continent. After all, despite all the popular sentiment, it is unlikely that we will fully leave, or repatriate powers from the EU, and so the best course of action would be to create alliances to push through our interests.
Read the entire article here

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