What happened to Polish shale?
Poor drilling results, weak gas prices and an expected supply onslaught have damaged Poland's unconventional hopes. Imports will rise
With 200 years' worth of domestic gas resources and a keen government, Poland was once Europe's most promising shale gas destination. Investors flocked to its upstream. 3Legs Resources drilled Poland's first fractured well in 2011. Other smaller players-Canada's BNK Petroleum and UK-based San Leon Energy-followed it, lured by big reserve estimates. The US Energy Information Administration pegged these at up to 187 trillion cubic feet-almost 57 times more than the conventional resources. ConocoPhillips, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Eni all jumped in. Five years after the land rush, things look very different. Difficult geology, confusing or inadequate regulations and an onslaught of conventional g
Also in this section
18 February 2026
With marketable supply unlikely to grow significantly and limited scope for pipeline imports, Brazil is expected to continue relying on LNG to cover supply shortfalls, Ieda Gomes, senior adviser of Brazilian thinktank FGV Energia,
tells Petroleum Economist
17 February 2026
The 25th WPC Energy Congress, taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 26–30 April 2026, will bring together leaders from the political, industrial, financial and technology sectors under the unifying theme “Pathways to an Energy Future for All”
17 February 2026
Siemens Energy has been active in the Kingdom for nearly a century, evolving over that time from a project-based foreign supplier to a locally operating multi-national company with its own domestic supply chain and workforce
17 February 2026
Eni’s chief operating officer for global natural resources, Guido Brusco, takes stock of the company’s key achievements over the past year, and what differentiates its strategy from those of its peers in the LNG sector and beyond
