Energy supply: Gas shortage gives fracking fans a boost

Berlin According to a growing number of experts, fracking could be Germany’s chance for more independence in gas supply – but the majority of the traffic light coalition still rejects the production method. In Lower Saxony, the state with the greatest shale gas potential in Germany, the SPD, CDU and Greens are speaking out against the technology shortly before the state elections in October.

Andreas Hagedorn, Chairman of the Professional Association of German Geoscientists (BDG), advises reassessing the topic. “The volume of shale gas that can be technically extracted in Germany amounts to two trillion cubic meters” – about forty times as much gas as Russia last delivered to Germany annually. Experts also say that the criticism of the technology is often irrelevant: the frightening negative examples in the world would never have happened with German fracking standards.