Shale Gas In France: Still A "Viable" Option?

Originally viewed as one of the most promising countries in Europe for shale gas development, France recently affirmed its decision to ban hydraulic fracturing.

By way of background, the 2011 French law—which was found to be constitutional by the French Constitutional Court in 2013—banned hydraulic fracturing and annulled exploration permits that several energy companies had already received, thus prohibiting even exploratory projects to assess the resources and determine whether shale gas exploration should be taken into consideration.

To date, the sole technique for extracting shale oil and gas is hydraulic fracturing, also known as "fracking." Fracking is a well stimulation technique whereby the gas-bearing rock along the well bore is fractured by high-pressured water, chemicals, and sand, and the sand or similar media is used to keep the cracks open once made so that trapped gas can flow out to the head of the well.