Poland will speed up work on setting regulations for its nascent shale gas industry, officials said Wednesday after a London-listed operator hit reserves it described last month as being potentially commercially viable. Poland is one of the most promising exploration sites for shale gas in the European Union, with enough estimated reserves to allow for decades of consumption. So far only some 50 wells have been drilled, with mixed results and too few to evaluate Poland’s shale gas potential more precisely than in initial estimates. According to a report from the Polish Geological Institute in March 2012, the country has reserves of between 346 billion and 768 billion cubic meters of recoverable shale gas. Poland’s Environment Minister Maciej Grabowski said Wednesday he expects to see some 30 new shale gas drillings carried out this year as the government puts its new, more business-friendly regulations on a fast track. The […]