Britain's Great Shale Rush

A shale oil revolution could add up to £800 to each person’s economic output in the UK, according to a report from accountants PwC. The boost would be due to significantly lower oil prices as the world taps into the energy held in shale rock, cutting costs faced by businesses and consumers, it said. As a result, UK gross domestic product (GDP) could increase by an extra 2pc to 3.3pc by 2035, it estimated, or around £30bn to £50bn at today’s values. --Emma Rowley, The Daily Telegraph, 14 February 2013

Shale gas deposits in Northern Ireland could be worth about £80bn according to a new report by consulting firm PwC. It is believed most of the reserves are in the north west and Fermanagh. Sinn Féin have claimed the report was “one-sided” and “sensationalist”. The issue of fracking has divided the community in Fermanagh in recent years. --BBC News, 14 February 2013

Shale gas reserves in Lancashire could have a market value of £136bn, the firm applying to extract gas from the area estimates. Cuadrilla Resources chief executive Francis Egan said the valuation of gas in Lancashire's Bowland basin was not "over optimistic". --BBC News, 1 February 2013

Shale oil production could boost the world economy by up to $2.7tn (£1.7tn) by 2035, according to a report. The extra supply could reach up to 12% of global oil production, or 14 million barrels a day, and push global oil prices down by up to 40%, PricewaterhouseCoopers said. --BBC News, 14 February 2013

Total SA, Europe’s third-largest oil company, may invest in shale gas exploration in the U.K., Chief Executive Officer Christophe de Margerie said. The U.K. is examining whether shale gas can compensate for the dwindling supplies from the North Sea, he said. Total, based in Paris, is looking to explore for shale outside of France, where hydraulic fracturing, the extraction method that’s raised the U.S. to the top spot in natural-gas production, is banned. The company is in “advanced talks” with a Chinese partner to explore in that country and expects to start drilling in Denmark later this year. It’s also investing in projects in Poland. --Nidaa Bakhsh & Will Kennedy, Bloomberg, 14 February 2013

A worldwide expansion of relatively cheap shale oil could put investment in renewable energy and global emissions targets under threat, as well as posing other environmental risks. The shale oil industry is still in its infancy, but has the potential to reach up to 12 per cent of global production, potentially pushing down oil prices by as much as $50 per barrel by 2035, according to a new report by consultancy firm PwC. Lower oil prices are more likely to extend production rather than simply increase it, but this could make alternative low carbon technologies less attractive. --The Guardian, 14 February 2013

Nuclear power stations in Canada and the United States are closing because they cannot compete with cheap power being produced from shale gas. This revolution in the way North America produces its electricity is sending shock waves through the nuclear industry in Europe too. New nuclear build will be spectacularly uneconomic if a fracking industry is successful in the United Kingdom. Gas prices would tumble as they have across the Atlantic. Even the existing nuclear stations in France, Belgium and the UK would find themselves struggling to compete, especially if they need investment to achieve modern safety standards. --Paul Brown, Responding to Climate Change, 13 February 2013

Sir Mervyn King yesterday accused the Government of scoring an embarrassing ‘own goal’ by pushing up inflation through green taxes and tuition fees. In a coded attack on ministers, he said much of the pain was ‘self-inflicted’ because it stemmed from big increases in energy bills and tuition fees. ‘Whether it’s on financing education, green policies or other policies, what they have done is push up prices and that clearly makes our job in the short-run more difficult,’ Sir Mervyn said. --Daily Mail, 14 February 2013