CLAMOROUS: Germans could rethink the ban on fracking in the midst of the energy crisis
Well for English fracking
In Germany, the debate has reignited over the possibility that the largest European economy, severely affected by the scarce gas supplies of Russian pipelines, will consider abolishing the fracking ban, as reported by The Globe and Mail.
Gas extraction by fracturing shale rocks in Germany has been banned since 2017.
Last month, Russia reduced the supply of natural gas through Nord Stream to just 20% of the pipeline's capacity. The further reduction in supplies began a few days after Gazprom restarted the pipeline at 40% capacity after regular 10-day maintenance. Previously, Russian supply had been reduced to 40 percent of Nord Stream's capacity after Gazprom said a turbine sent to Canada for repairs had been blocked by Western sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine. Canada sent the turbine to Germany, but it has not yet reached Russia.
Amid growing concerns over Germany's energy and gas supply this winter and potential spill-over effects on major industries, such as chemicals, German political parties are debating whether to waive the fracking ban and at least allow exploration and testing.
Left parties, including the ruling Social Democrats and the Greens, are opposed to the abolition of the fracking ban, while conservative parties are in favor of exploring ahead of the coming winter shortages.
"The significant expansion of national natural gas production will make us independent and restore our energy sovereignty," Claudia Scholz, spokeswoman for the liberal FDP party, told The Globe and Mail.
Germany is believed to have more than two trillion cubic meters of shale gas reserves, equivalent to 20 times the country's annual gas consumption , which is 100 billion cubic meters, according to data from the BVEG, the Association. Federal Government for Natural Gas, Oil and Geoenergy, cited by The Globe and Mail. Hence German energy independence, at least for a certain phase of its energy transition, is prohibited only by legal issues.
Germany is also debating whether to end nuclear power production at the end of 2022, as planned, in light of the gas crisis. Germany still has three nuclear power plants in operation, which are expected to be closed by the end of this year under the country's plan to stop using nuclear energy after the Fukushima disaster. Last week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned that it "might make sense" to keep nuclear power plants running.
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The CLAMOROUS article: Germans could rethink the ban on fracking in the midst of the energy crisis comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/clamoroso-i-tedeschi-potrebbero-ripensare-il-divieto-di-fracking-nel-mezzo-della-crisi-energetica/ on Wed, 10 Aug 2022 06:00:34 +0000.