Pressure grows on shale gas

By Rob Watts

 10 May 2012 22:59 GMT

ROMANIA’S new left-leaning government has pledged a moratorium on shale gas exploration while the Czech Republic is also considering a ban on issuing new licences, writes Robb Watts.

The new government in Bucharest, led by Prime Minister Victor Ponta, has set out plans to halt exploration until more information about the effects of the controversial fracturing extraction technique is available.

The government’s programme proposed “the immediate establishment of a moratorium on shale gas operation until the completion of studies that are in progress at European level on the environmental impacts of hydraulic fractionation process”.

The previous government, toppled in a confidence vote last week, awarded Chevron exploration rights for three blocks covering 670,000 acres in Constanta province by the Black Sea…

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