BP is still desperately talking down the prospects for shale gas in the EU.
Europe has various problems: environmental concerns, outright bans on fracking, a lack of infrastructure and a long tradition of not minding so much having to import things.
If true, this is probably just as well for BP, who are pinning their hopes on bringing in gas to the UK from Russia. Frankly though, I find it hard to believe that any of these alleged problems need to be game changers. If shale gas starts to flow and the resource is as big as it looks it might be, the economics will start to look like an imperative.
Related news at Conservative Home:
“The relative price of coal and gas is crucial to the health of European utilities. At the beginning of November 2012, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a research firm, power utilities in Germany were set, on average, to lose €11.70 when they burned gas to make a megawatt of electricity, but to earn €14.22 per MW when they burned coal.”
Hmm. I wonder which route they will take?