Extracting Europe’s shale gas and oil will be a slow and difficult business

In recent months I have covered quite a few stories on the ''fracking gas'' issue (two in the links - use search on the blog for more).  In this weeks economist article - the author like me feels that Europe is not going to see a quick and easy gas win as has been the US example.  Indeed only a few weeks back even the oil giants admitted it would be a slow European journey.  In the UK the maximum gas exploration MIGHT supply 15% of our countries gas needs in many years time. 

Any way here's the conclusion hop to the link for the full story.

''Oil companies will send people and equipment where the ride is easiest and the deals are tastiest, which explains why drilling rigs are scarce in Europe. Nearly 1,200 of them scoot around America’s shale beds; in Poland they number only half a dozen. But even if the welcome mat is rolled out now, it will be a long time before Europe can catch up with America. It may take five years to assess whether shale gas exists in commercial quantities, another five before production starts and then a few more before shale could provide a significant addition to supplies: in short, a fracking long time.''