While Britain’s environmental activists protest fracking companies, and politicians the world over debate environmental and economic concerns, one country has welcomed the controversial technique with open arms. In Poland, fracking is the answer to everyone’s prayers.

For Polish politicians, environmental concerns are dwarfed by the opportunity to free the country from its dependance on Russian oil and gas, which has led to fracking companies being granted tax breaks to encourage the fracking of shale reserves.

However, after the initial excitement, fracking companies have reported a significantly lower volume of recoverable shale gas in Polish fields. This may mean that fracking is not profitable in the region, and could raise issues for fracking

A fracking nightmare for Poland? Is fracking profitable?

Despite the lower volumes of shale gas for fracking, Poland has become the first European country to establish a fracking industry, and is now becoming a centre for the development of fracking technology. Since fracking deals with oil and shale gas resources which are ‘technically recoverable,’ but not immediately accessible, it is likely that all fracking operations will be subject to a degree of uncertainty.

As fracking technology improves, and fracking companies are able to get to more previously inaccessible deposits, the amount of shale gas for fracking is expected to increase. We’ll bring you reports from the Polish fracking fields as soon as we get them, so you can keep track of this first major test of the viability and profitability of fracking.