Influence of shale gas development in Europe on gas market trends

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2011 im Fachbereich Energiewissenschaften, Note: 1,9, Universität Leipzig (Institut für Infrastruktur und Ressourcenmanagement), Veranstaltung: Energy System Modelling, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: In Europe, a 'new' unconventional energy resource begins to be explored. The so called shale gas isn't a new discovery, but its production has been too complex and expensive for a long time. Since rough quantities of shale gas have been exploited in North America, the global gas markets are changing. The European gas market is also affected by these changes which are characterized by an increasing gas supply and declining prices. Since Europe also has shale gas resources, the production of this unconventional gas might be attractive now. The present report investigates and evaluates the shale gas potentials in Europe. Against the background of energy policy targets like supply security and carbon emissions reduction, the option of shale gas as solution approach for these targets has to be evaluated. Although the production is meanwhile mostly profitable, active exploitation in Europe is not yet carried out because environmental concerns and the 'green' lobby are countering. Nonetheless, shale gas is most likely to take a significant share of the future energy mix.