Spo eczno-gospodarcze bariery potencjalnej produkcji gazu upkowego w Polsce

The last two decades witnessed a significant progress in understanding unconventional hydrocarbon systems, exploration and developments in technology, which led to substantial increase of tight gas and shale gas production. This progress occurred mainly in USA but recently Poland faces a shale rush. Shale gas is a unique hydrocarbon system in which the same rock formation is a source rock, reservoir rock and seal. Gas field often appears continuous at a regional scale and does not requires hydrocarbon trap. Gas is accumulated in isolated pores or adsorbed by organic matter. Gas exploitation requires dense grid of wells with horizontal intervals and multiple fracturing. American success in unconventional gas production led to intensive shale gas and tight gas exploration across the world, with Europe being one of the priorities. At the current stage, a couple of European sedimentary basins were selected as the major shale gas exploration targets. In Europe the most intense exploration for shale gas is currently being carried out in Poland. The major target in that exploration is the Lower Palaeozoic shale at the East European Craton (Baltic and Lublin-Podlasie Basin), mainly the Upper Ordovician and/or Lower Silurian graptolitic shale.