11 May — Riccardo Puliti, managing director of energy and natural resources for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), discusses European shale gas developments, the Nabucco pipeline and the impact of Japan’s nuclear crisis on European gas demand.

Is the EBRD considering financing any shale gas developments?

We have been looking at the issue of shale gas in detail but we are not investing in any shale gas at the moment. There is potential in countries like Poland, Ukraine, France and the Netherlands, but for the time being I do not see a quick development of these reserves and, in addition, we still need to understand the full impact of hydraulic fracturing. I know from the experience in the United States that hydraulic fracturing has worked in regions where the population is scarce, like Texas and the midwest in general, but when you move towards more populous regions, such as in some parts of the Appalachian Mountains, where there are important unconventional gas reserves, hydraulic fracturing is not welcome. Taking into account the population density in Europe, vis-a-vis certain regions in the US, the technique will need to be assessed further before large investments are made. There are also problems of transparency over what chemicals are used in the process and still questions over the additional ground transportation needed to take away used water. Once the environmental impact has been fully assessed, we think these reserves could be very precious to Europe…