Resumen de Digging deep: : geopolitics of shale resources

Industrial Minerals

• On 18 July this year, oilfield service provider Schlumberger Ltd, which drills with Rosneft, Russia's largest oil producer, on the island of Sakhalin, said there was no "real impact" on its business in Russia, two days after the US slapped sanctions on Rosneft and Novatek, the country's second-largest gas producer, over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis. Schlumberger had signed an agreement with Russia and Gazprom Neft earlier in 2014 to collaborate on technology for the planned Bazhenov shale development project in the Priobskoe oilfield in Western Siberia.

  In the words of legal firm Baker McKenzie, "Both Poland's infrastructure and public opinion largely support the country's development of its shale resources. However, its shale industry is still at an exploratory, pre-commercial phase with shale gas operations slowing following the discontinuance of some international oil companies' shale explorations in Poland. Possible investors in Poland's shale resources are carefully watching the government's draft law on shale gas exploration and extraction."