The legal and regulatory framework for the EU’ shale gas exploration and production regulating public health and environmental impacts

Tawonezvi, Joseph

doi:10.1007/s40974-016-0044-5

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 19 publications

(9 reference statements)

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“…The Infrastructure Act 2015 simplifies the procedure for obtaining onshore oil and gas exploitation licence [43] and the DECC's [44] report on shale gas exploitation in the UK contains a comprehensive presentation on the regulation of UK shale gas along with best practice. These regulations are nonetheless inspired by the EU legislation that authorise the prospection and development of hydrocarbons in the Member States albeit the competence to find and exploit suitable energy sources rests with the Member States and not the EU [45]. There are varying amounts of potential shale gas reserves in the European Member States and members of the EU do not agree on the benefits and disbenefits and hence the approach to regulating shale gas exploitation in the Union [45].…”

Section: Brexit and Regulation Of Uk Frackingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These regulations are nonetheless inspired by the EU legislation that authorise the prospection and development of hydrocarbons in the Member States albeit the competence to find and exploit suitable energy sources rests with the Member States and not the EU [45]. There are varying amounts of potential shale gas reserves in the European Member States and members of the EU do not agree on the benefits and disbenefits and hence the approach to regulating shale gas exploitation in the Union [45]. Some members have thus cancelled and or banned fracking licences and operations, but others are still exploring for shale gas, the latter includes the UK.…”

Section: Brexit and Regulation Of Uk Frackingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is no evidence of a strong regulatory influence of the UK's fracking industry from the EU as much as there is of UK Government institutions including local authorities. The same EU laws that apply to exploration and exploitation of conventional hydrocarbons apply to fracking [45]. Perhaps the most crucial declaration and influence the EU's fracking policy may have on UK fracking is the requirement of fracking companies to declare the composition of fracking fluids to the public, but this is part of non-binding recommendations adopted by the European Commission in January 2014 for the development of shale gas [46].…”

Section: Brexit and Regulation Of Uk Frackingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Brexit and UK Energy Security: Perspectives from Unconventional Gas Investment and the Effects of Shale Gas on UK Energy Prices

2019

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Many aspects of the present and future effects on the UK economy, industry, and households, of Brexit have been researched. One thing which appears certain about Brexit is the shadow of uncertainty it casts on the future of business in the UK and its telling effects on the UK economy. It is believed that Brexit has negatively affected the level of investments in the UK, including investments in energy and crucially the upstream oil and gas, with the UK North Sea being starved of investments since 2014, leading already to increased energy bills. The UK is a net importer of natural gas—a major source of its energy, with some dependence on supplies from interconnectors from Europe. At the same time, UK energy companies participate in the common energy market which enables them to undertake arbitrage trading under the common market rules. However, both of these benefits could be lost under a Brexit scenario where the UK and EU come to a no-deal or hard border arrangement. Meanwhile, domestic production of energy in the UK has declined for nearly two decades now and import bills for natural gas are growing—they were £14.2 billion in 2017; £11.7 billion in 2016 and £13.4 billion in 2015—with Government projections indicating an upward trajectory for natural gas imports. It is however believed that the UK has great potential to exploit shale gas to her advantage in order to reduce her reliance on foreign energy which is: (1) less predictable in terms of supply and price affordability and (2) dependent on exchange rates—a primary means through which energy prices increased in 2016/17 post-Brexit referendum vote. The current study extends discussions on shale gas to cover a review of the potential of natural gas from shale formations to cushion UK households against further erratic gas prices due to Brexit and also assesses the potential effects Brexit may have had on the level of investments in shale gas, in order to suggest policy options for government consideration. Contrary to popular studies, we find evidence to suggest that shale gas has the potential to reduce energy prices for UK businesses and households at commercial extractions, under both hard and soft Brexit scenarios, but with more benefits under hard Brexit. Importantly, we find that from 2008 to 2017, average UK net export of natural gas was 5,191 GWh per year to the EU. We also find and argue that Brexit may have starved the nascent fracking industry of investments in a similar way it did to investments in conventional oil and gas and could have increased investor risk premium for shale gas development, the ultimate effect of which was a categorisation of fracking (company stock) as riskier asset for investors on the London Stock Exchange. We recommend that shale gas development be expedited to maximise its benefits to UK energy consumers post-Brexit or economic benefits from the resource could be diminished by rising operator costs due to delays and effects of the public’s perceived negative opinion of the method of extraction.

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Section: Brexit and Regulation Of Uk Frackingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Brexit and Regulation Of Uk Frackingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Brexit and Regulation Of Uk Frackingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Brexit and UK Energy Security: Perspectives from Unconventional Gas Investment and the Effects of Shale Gas on UK Energy Prices

2019

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“…EIA ranked Ukraine as the third shale gas resource owner in Europe (excluding Russia) as can be seen in Figure 4. The noteworthy point here is that while there are restricting rules and regulations in EU against shale gas activities (Tawonezvi, 2017), Ukraine is not an EU Member State and therefore can start production from unconventional resources without any legal bans. When it comes to the Crimean energy resources, no unanimously accepted prognoses are available, as the exploration of the reserves by ExxonMobil was stopped after the annexation.…”

Section: Ukraine's Role In Eu's Gas Demandmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Annexation of Crimea: A Realist Look from the Energy Resources Perspective

Keypour

Hendla

2019

Baltic Journal of European Studies

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The article studies the role of energy resources in the annexation of Crimea by the Russian government. Russian justification that this action was taken to protect Russian ethnicity, as declared with the “referendum”, can be challenged in the light of the realist balance of power concept. According to the research, Russia considered Ukraine’s improving relations with the West as a threat and tried to eliminate it with preemptive action, in order to reestablish regional balance of power with the West. The article finds that the energy factor had a significant role in this consideration but in a subtractive approach. More precisely, there were no major incentives for Russia to capture the Black Sea resources intrinsically, but these reserves were recognized as part of the main Ukrainian economic empowerment plan, particularly on the EU’s future energy market. Thus, Russia tried to block Ukraine’s access to them in line with a wedge strategy. Hence, the annexation can be considered as one part of Russian energy policy towards the EU and Russia’s goal to emasculate Ukraine’s natural gas transit role by constructing new pipelines such as Nord Stream and Turkish Stream, as the other part. The study exemplifies how Ukraine’s strategic position has been significantly diminished from the energy perspective.

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“…Some commentators refer to this standard of regulation as being "fi t for purpose" or "robust." ( Tawonezvi, 2017 ). The EU largely supports public participation in environmental decisionmaking and protest but the UK is not transparent or "encouraging" of the exercise of these civil rights, potentially undermining the right to protest 2 and effective public participation, particularly as a large part of the fracking debate concerns the need to obtain "social licence" ( Smith and Richards, 2015 ;Bradshaw and Waite, 2017 ).…”

Section: Gaps In Current Uk Regulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy, Resource Extraction and Society

Szołucha

2018

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The legal and regulatory framework for the EU’ shale gas exploration and production regulating public health and environmental impacts

Abstract: Shale gas has now become a major competing source of energy in the international energy mix scenario.

Cited by 10 publications

References 19 publications

Brexit and UK Energy Security: Perspectives from Unconventional Gas Investment and the Effects of Shale Gas on UK Energy Prices

Brexit and UK Energy Security: Perspectives from Unconventional Gas Investment and the Effects of Shale Gas on UK Energy Prices

The Annexation of Crimea: A Realist Look from the Energy Resources Perspective

Energy, Resource Extraction and Society

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