Wel I’ll be damned! Shell now regrets going for shale gas
The little successful entrance of Shell’s exploration of American shale gas is one of the things that Peter Voser , the outgoing chief executive of Shell , is not very happy about, as he said in an interview with the Financial Times this Sunday .
Shell has invested at least $ 24 billion in the exploration of so-called “unconventional” oil and gas resources , writes Financial Times . But the investment has so far produced little result . ” The unconventional sources have not yielded what was planned ,” said Voser .
The oil company announced last August to a depreciation of $ 2.1 billion on operations in the U.S. and announced the U.S. shale gas portfolio to be evaluated.
Warning for too much optimism
Voser warned on for too much optimism about the exploration of shale gas elsewhere in the world . The idea that the size of the finds in the U.S. can be equaled elsewhere, Voser called ’ hype ’ . In China 22 wells have been drilled by Shell but the outcomes are still uncertain . The cost of exploration in China , according to voser are higher than in the U.S..Furthermore Voser said the problems in Alaska were a great personal disappointment for him . Shell has encountered many problems with the technology, with environmental and other regulations since the past few years. According to the CEO , it is uncertain whether there will still be any drilling in the problem area in Alaska ” in 2014 or 2015 ‘.
Voser departs Shell at the end of this year as CEO. He is succeeded by Ben van Beurden , who was responsible for the division Downstream ( refining and marketing ) .
Well I’ll be damned. Only a hint of the environmental problems in this bulletin. All that’s important is the result shale gas drilling will give. And things are not looking well. Let’s hope the other companies will take heed and see where this is going. Shale gas is a road to nowhere.
Translated from an article in the Dutch newspaper Volkskrant.