Essay by Eric Worrall
“… as a major energy producer, the United States will continue to post relatively solid growth rates … while the … euro area is significantly weaker. …”
Germany: growth halves as state drives investment
…‘The only reason the economy is growing at all this year is public spending,’ the chief economist makes clear. Household demand is weakening and companies have recently become more cautious. Rising government expenditure, for example through higher defence spending and the special fund, is instead propping up economic growth.
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Internationally, the DIW forecasts that, as a major energy producer, the United States will continue to post relatively solid growth rates of just over 2 percent, while the outlook for the euro area is significantly weaker.
…Europe does not produce enough energy itself and is therefore dependent on imports. Any price shocks associated with this weigh on the economy and erode purchasing power. The DIW does not expect a supply shock, arguing that security of supply for oil and gas is not at risk, particularly thanks to a diversified set-up.
But highly energy-intensive sectors such as chemicals, steel and paper are suffering from rising electricity and gas prices. On DIW assumptions, this means Germany is being hit harder than other European countries.
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Read more: https://www.euronews.com/business/2026/06/10/germany-growth-halves-as-state-drives-investment
I asked Claude.ai, my current favourite AI de jour “What frackable oil and gas deposits in Europe are currently not being exploited due to environmental regulations?”
The answer was worse than I expected.
Here’s a comprehensive overview of Europe’s untapped frackable deposits and the regulatory landscape blocking their exploitation:
Europe’s Unexploited Shale Oil & Gas Deposits
The Big Picture
Europe has more recoverable shale gas than the United States, according to estimates. However, the only major fracking activity on the continent is in Ukraine. Exploration and production of European shale gas reserves were broadly shelved after 2015, though by 2023 European leaders were debating whether to revisit shale gas policies. OilPrice.comglobalsecurity
According to a 2013 study by Germany’s Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, there are an estimated 14 trillion cubic meters of technically recoverable shale gas reserves in Europe. globalsecurity
Country-by-Country Breakdown
🇫🇷 France — Full ban France has the second-largest estimated shale gas resources in Europe, at approximately 3.9 trillion cubic meters. Public opposition led the French parliament to ban hydraulic fracturing outright. The deposits lie primarily in the Paris Basin and the south of France, and remain completely off-limits. globalsecurityThe Jamestown Foundation
🇵🇱 Poland — Commercially unviable / regulatory barriers Poland has the largest estimated shale gas resources in Europe at approximately 4.2 trillion cubic meters. However, the first exploration wells showed disappointing results, prompting some operators to leave. A punitive tax regime and insistence that foreign companies work with local partners did much to dampen enthusiasm, although the government has since made its regulatory regime more attractive to overseas investors. Known deposits are concentrated near Warsaw, Radom, and the Baltic coast. globalsecurity + 2
🇬🇧 United Kingdom — Moratorium (de facto ban) UK shale is estimated to hold 17,600 billion cubic meters of gas, of which 728 bcm is judged technically recoverable — enough to satisfy the UK’s gas needs for about a decade. In 2019, the government ended its support for fracking after the authority supervising the oil and gas industry determined that “it is not possible with current technology to accurately predict the probability of tremors associated with fracking.” The main plays are in Lancashire (Bowland Shale) and Yorkshire. Scientific AmericanOilPrice.com
🇩🇪 Germany — Moratorium / effective ban Germany has previously banned fracking. The North German Basin and parts of North Rhine-Westphalia have identified shale potential, but the regional parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia pledged a moratorium pending more information. OilPrice.comThe Jamestown Foundation
🇧🇬 Bulgaria — Indefinite ban Under pressure from environmental groups, the Bulgarian parliament adopted an indefinite moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, and the government revoked a shale gas exploration permit granted to US company Chevron for deposits in northeastern Bulgaria. The Jamestown Foundation
🇪🇸 Spain — Regional bans Most shale gas reserves are located in the Basque-Cantabrian basin in the north of Spain. In 2013, the region of Cantabria banned fracking, but the Spanish constitutional court declared the ban unconstitutional. Regional politics remain a major obstacle despite federal-level ambiguity. European Parliament
🇳🇱 Netherlands — Suspended Shale gas exploration in the Netherlands has been suspended pending a study on its environmental and social effects. European Parliament
🇷🇴 Romania — Abandoned after protests Major petroleum companies pulled out of nascent shale drilling efforts in Romania, usually citing disappointing geological results and significant public opposition. Scientific American
Why It’s Not Being Exploited
The barriers are a mix of outright legal bans and practical/commercial deterrents:
- Seismic risk — induced earthquakes from fracking operations have been a repeated trigger for moratoria (UK, Germany).
- Water contamination fears — high population density in Europe means aquifers are far more politically sensitive than in the US.
- EU environmental law — the European Commission issued a recommendation requiring that member states undertaking fracking implement proper safety and environmental safeguards, given that risks can extend across borders. EUR-Lex
- Commercial viability — geology across much of Europe has proven less favourable than initially hoped, and tighter well-spacing requirements due to population density raise costs significantly.
- Energy transition policy — with the EU committed to net-zero goals and phasing out Russian gas via LNG and renewables, political will to invest in new fossil fuel infrastructure is very limited.
The overall picture is that Europe has the resource but has made a largely deliberate (if contested) choice not to exploit it.
Source: https://claude.ai/share/a5b0ed47-42b4-47fe-b081-0fc74aeb2af6
This Eurozone disaster is entirely self inflicted. President Trump warned Europe back in 2018 they faced economic disaster and geopolitical blackmail if they continued relying on imported energy from Russia instead of developing their own resources.
If Germany had elected a chancellor in 2021 who was as enthusiastic about fossil fuel extraction as President Trump, the gas fields in the North Rhine-Westphalia and North German Basin would right now be bringing price relief to ordinary people and invigorating the German economy.
But Germany instead chose economic stagnation and poverty. They chose a government which is borrowing money and will soon be printing money to prop up their green fantasy, rather than politicians who might have set this disaster right.
Most of Europe now allows assisted suicide. This is unassisted suicide.
A to Z suicide, assisted/drug-induced or otherwise.
The otherwise pertains to the unpopular Elites and their idiotic policies
HIGH COST OF OFFSHORE WIND ELECTRICITY PER kWh.
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/high-cost-of-offshore-wind-electricity-per-kwh
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The reason costs are ballooning is because the focus has been on the cost of offshore wind electricity, say 15 c/kWh, after the equivalent of 50% federal and state subsidies. Then there is the A-to-Z cost (windmill to land fill) almost all folks are ignorant about.
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Hidden Costs: At a future 25-30% W/S annual penetration on the grid, based on UK and German experience:
– Onshore grid expansion/reinforcement to connect far-flung W/S systems, about 2 c/kWh
– A fleet of traditional power plants to quickly counteract W/S variable output, on a less than minute-by-minute basis, 24/7/365, which means more Btu/kWh, more CO2/kWh, more cost of about 2 c/kWh
– A fleet of traditional power plants to provide electricity during 1) low-wind periods, 2) high-wind periods, when rotors are locked in place, and 3) low solar periods during mornings, evenings, at night, snow/ice on panels, which means more Btu/kWh, more CO2/kWh, more cost of about 2 c/kWh
– Pay W/S system Owners for electricity they could have produced, if no curtailment, about 1 c/kWh
– Importing electricity at high prices, when W/S output is low, 1 c/kWh
– Exporting electricity at low prices, when W/S output is high, 1 c/kWh
– Disassembly on land and at sea, reprocessing and storing at hazardous waste sites, about 2 c/kWh
Total: 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 11 c/kWh
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1) The European elites have screwed themselves by going hog-wild for wind, solar, batteries, etc.
They closed their near-zero-CO2 nuclear plants and their coal plants and refuse to frack for gas.
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2) Because of grossly too many rules and regulations emanating from Brussels, and a lack of nuclear plant building experience, all recent nuclear plants cost more than $10,000+/installed kW and take 10+ years to build; China and Russia build such plants for about 6,000/kW and take about 5-6 years
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3) These elites are encouraging the displacement of native populations. A total of 64.2 million unvetted, uneducated, untrained, non-citizens were in Europe at end 2025 (not counting their children and grandchildren born in Europe). They are the dregs from mostly Islamic Third World countries. The A-to-Z cost was about $160 billion for 2025. How will Europe ever get rid of these people, before its rapidly growing population is greater than the shrinking population of natives?
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And more recently:
4) These elites imposed a ban on Russian low-cost fossil fuels and other natural resources much needed by Europe, so Russia cannot profit from them; the sanctions backfired on Europe.
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5) After NATO was established in 1949, European elites, dependent for defense on the US, saved themselves $trillions by spending only 0.5 to 1.5% of GDP on their own defense, while the US spent about 4 to 5% to keep the peace in the world. How can you claim to be sovereign and not be able to defend yourself?
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That grossly inequitable situation came to a screeching halt in 2025, when Trump required Europe to spend up to 5% of GDP for their own defense, because the US was “busy elsewhere”.
For MAGA, Trump 1) imposed tariffs on European imports to reduce the US trade deficit, 2) will reduce US troops and their costs in Europe, 3) requires Europe pay for its own defense, 4) no longer wants to pay for Ukraine, but 5) will provide US weaponry, if Europe pays for them.
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Net Zero is a mental illness for these people.
They can’t see the train wreck coming.
Just seems there should be a massive revolt by now, it has gone too far!
But the general populace don’t know any of this, the MSM don’t report it.
You have to read between the power lines-
‘Bad to worse’: Productivity sinks to post-pandemic low
Waiting for the trolls to “mansplain” “reality” to us.
Just a bit of catnip.
Did you mean “Transplain”?
That is better considering they are Trans-Reality Idiots.
Claude.ai gave two initial ‘technical’ reasons why the European shales are not being fracked. Both are false, and show the limitations of ai being ‘unintelligently’ trained on internet materials.
The Marxists gained control of Europe decades ago. The EU is a good example. Their primary goal is to quietly dissolve Capitalism. And Not A Shot Is Fired (1957) explains their methodology and it fits with the EU today.
The problem with the notion that government spending can drive economic growth, is the fact that before government can spend anything, it first has to take the money from somebody.
Or go massively into debt, which is its own kind of alarm clock.
The thing holding Europe back is crappy government starting with the EU.
Worrall continues to lie. Deniers are dishonest
Everything Eric Worral posted is truth based on fact.
The “denier” here, is Flesch… he has produce nothing to counter those facts.
Don’t feed the troll.
Again, stated without any reference to the “lies”. You are so consistent.
I think you’re a bot – you never actually detail what lies you think I told.
Flesch continues to lie.. Climate shills are dishonest.
Europe can’t even make it with slave labor providing the coal power generated renewable energy components from western China. It’s a throwback to WW2 synthetic fuel plants and slave labor powering the German war machine.
The equivalent of dropping a watermelon from should height
Be scared, be very scared
I would like to see a dystopian novel (and an ensuing movie) about a world in which oil and gas drilling were banned at the very beginning out of environmental concerns. If one has been written I cannot find it.
I think if people fully understood the tragic state we would be in today without that industry, including far, far worse environmental problems, some opinions about the industry would change for the better.
Solar panels are the future. Germany is an energy superpower utopia.
/s.
Oh, I bet UK is jealous.
No we is gunna be the superpower-
$45.5 million to supercharge Australian solar manufacturing – Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)
Suffice it to say, Europe is having the vapors over natural gas.
But fickles are cheaper from Gaia-
EU steps in to shield households from energy price spikes ahead of new carbon costs
It is even getting worse: The Netherlands had lots of “conventional” gas in the north (Groningen), but that was closed, still with an enormous quantity of gas in it, because of earthquackes that damaged houses, despite the injection of water as compensation of the gas removal.
While the damage did cost the gas company a lot of money, the earnings still were a manyfold of the damage.
What hapened recently: the new boss of Gasunie, the owner (a mix of the state and oil companies) of all gas infrastructure in The Netherlands, is Diederik Samson, former Greenpeace activist and the man behind the “Green Deal”, that was voted in the European Parliament to make Europe “greener” with renewables and a ban on any fossil fuel use at last in 2050.
First work today: destroying all gas infastructure at the former wells, to make it extremely difficult and expensive to start again with the gas exploration…
Result: now importing expensive gas from everywhere else, making that the chemical and other industries are at the edge of collapse…