Environmental Concerns Remain Hurdle for Shale Gas Shale gas continues to make the headlines in the energy industry at the moment, with continual reports of new drillings and deals between companies looking to strengthen their position in the sector. A recent report by Wood Mackenzie found that the energy market staged a strong recovery over the course of 2009, with increased mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity taking place through the year, from record lows in the first quarter to near-record highs by the end. M&A Boosted by Shale Gas Global M&A spend for 2009 topped $150 billion (£98.5 billion), up by over 35 per cent year-on-year and only 15 percent below the record investment levels of 2006. The outlook for 2010 also suggests that healthy transaction levels will continue over the coming year. "Provided that tentative global economic recovery remains on track and commodity prices are relatively stable, the market is likely to hold at its current level through 2010," said Wood Mackenzie's M&A service manager, Luke Parker. The report identified that unconventional resources, such as shale gas, remained an important theme within M&A during 2009. This included the largest upstream deal in nearly a decade—ExxonMobil's $41 billion acquisition of shale gas specialist XTO. However, the potential stumbling block for shale gas is concerns over the environmental impact of drilling for the resource. Alexander Medvedev, head of exports at Gazprom, recently claimed that shale gas could be a threat to drinking water. "Every American housewife is aware of shale gas, but not every housewife is aware of the environmental consequences of the use of shale gas. I don't know who would take the risk of endangering drinking water reservoirs," he said. Medvedev said that the possibility of Europe exploiting the shale gas evolution was "almost unimaginable." US Government Investigation This month, the US House of Representatives' energy and commerce committee has been investigating the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing... To read the fulll article, visit the Shale Gas Drilling & Completions Download Centre: http://bit.ly/fJXM05 The Shale Gas Drilling and Completions 2011 event will be hosted from 20th – 21st June in Houston, Texas. For more details, please visit the website: www.shalegassummit.com, call freephone: 0800 652 2363 or email: enquire@iqpc.co.uk.