Revisiting China – 10 Thoughts
I had the pleasure of participating recently as a panelist in the Bits 1st Frontier Industrial Forum in Qingdao, China where I spoke about the Polish legal framework for shale gas operations and the lessons that other countries looking to develop their shale gas law could learn from Poland. Here are my loose – subjective – thoughts from my visit to China. “He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who […] read more
The draft of the new Shale Gas Act in Poland to be announced at a later date
Yesterday (13.06.2012), a governmental press conference was scheduled to take place, where the Ministry of Environment was supposed to publish the first draft of the Shale Gas Act for Poland – a piece of legislation specifically related to shale gas operations in this country. Since December 2011, the government is working on this new Act. It is not certain when the first draft will now be released. If the government would manage to publish […] read more
Learning from the mistakes of others – Poland and other EU member states should appoint expert groups to examine the impact of shale gas operations on the environment in the US and to formulate and adjust their laws and policy accordingly
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Poland appears to hold some of the geologically most favorable shale gas formations in Europe – around 187 Tcf of technically recoverable resource. Many foresee that if these predictions come true and the production of the gas commences, Poland will be able to free its economy from the energy dependence on Russia. Regardless of the economic benefits resulting from the mass production of shale gas, the process […] read more
New Energy Law to be adopted in Poland– Act on Renewable Energy Sources Comments
At the end of December, 2011, the Ministry of Economy in Poland finally presented a package of three draft acts aimed at complex regulation of the energy sector: the new Energy Law, the Gas Law and the Act on Renewable Energy Sources. All drafts are at the initial stage of legislative process and it is certain that the final wording of the acts will differ from the wording of the drafts presented in December. The […] read more
Shale Rush in Poland
The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection in Poland granted her consents to the creation of four companies by ExxonMobil and Hutton Energy. The two firms are heavily involved in the exploration of shale gas in Poland. These joint ventures are aimed at optimizing the firms’ economic potential and increasing the efficiency of use of the concessions they hold. Currently, also other major mining companies from U.S., Canada and U.K. are drilling […] read more