Challenges for Sustainable Development: The Case of Shale Gas Exploitation in Poland

In the current century, natural gas has become the most important fossil energy resource and also important energy fuel in general. And these are both due to significant resources, especially of unconventional natural gas, and ease of transport or transmission, use but also the level of carbon dioxide emissions from burning natural gas.

Significant increase in gas consumption, in all regions, will be marked in the energy sector. Northern America and Western and Central Europe consume most of the gas on electricity and heat production. The exploration of unconventional gas reservoirs has been discussed recently in several scientific fields. Technical, organizational and economic challenges related to sustainable exploration, documentation of reserves, exploitation and development of shale gas technology have been addressed in this paper. Activities oriented to acceleration of prospecting and investment activities as well as difficulties with introducing pro-ecological procedures and technical modifications caused by minimization of influence of the drilling and environmental simulation of production wells have been presented. This study explains some ecological aspects of the extraction technology.

The pace of technological development in Poland may be considerably delayed by the new requirements set by geological and mining law, slowing down of exploration works and recognition of most important gaseous horizons. The scope of investments spent on infrastructure for treating, transport and distribution of gas may have an impact on the rate of realizing energy investment. The rate of development of industry will be conditioned by properly defined economic objectives and the feasible development of gaseous energy industry, being an element supporting the classic coal energy, now mainly a regulation of energy sales in peak seasons.

Probable scenarios (based upon business, legal and geological situation) have been discussed.