For some time there has been various reports in the media about the resources of the unconventional gas in our country. They differ from each other quite significantly, but the involvement of companies such as ExxonMobil and Chevron suggests that these figures are closer to the upper than the lower limits of the range.

Estimates developed by the American consulting firms by comparing Polish and American geological conditions claim that shale gas resources in Poland range from 1.4-3 trillion cubic meters. But as of today 140 billion cubic meters of such deposits is confirmed - environmental deputy minister and chief country geologist Henryk Jezierski stresses.

In turn, San Leon Energy company which already has two concessions in the northern part of the country and is in the process of receiving the third one, estimates the resources in these three deposits to be 113 billion cubic meters. Majority share in the San Leon's concessions has been bought by the well known American mining company Talisman.

Ministry of the Environment has issued 44 licenses (valid for 5 year) for the exploration of unconventional natural gas in Poland, including to ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Marathon. If the estimates are right, Poland may have an unconventional gas reservoir sufficient for even 100-200 years.

The fact that the shale gas could change the status quo in the gas market is also known by Russians. Gasprom acknowledged that the growth of gas extraction from unconventional deposits in the United States could radically change the entire global market for gas and strategic projects that threaten the Russian company, such as the management of giant deposits of gas Shtokman, in the Barents Sea. The company has prepared a special report on this matter which says that the shale gas has changed the US gas market from deficit into self-sufficient, and that an excess of liquefied natural gas (LNG), hits the competitiveness of Russian raw materials in the European Union.