The hurdles ahead of the shale gas bounty

ON ENERGY

Britain came a mere six hours from running out of gas in March, according to recently released documents.

The causes were a mixture of the unavoidable (an unseasonable cold-snap and a heavy reliance on imported liquid gas) and the avoidable (insufficient storage capabilities).  This is a startling development, especially given that the country was self-sufficient in gas only nine years ago.  It is also why IGas’s recent announcement that the UK could be looking forward to a shale gas bonanza was all the more timely.  It believes its licensed areas could yield between 15 trillion and 172 trillion cubic feet of gas.  By way of comparison, Britain currently produces 1.5 trillion cubic feet a...