Numbers game

Just a few weeks ago there was a frenzy of activity leading up to the release of long-awaited resource estimates for shale gas in the north of England. The event placed geology right in the centre of the debate about what shale gas might mean for Britain. Suddenly geology really mattered to the ordinary man in the street. The question in many minds was: is there enough of this gas to make a difference to Britain? Or are we making a big fuss about nothing? Previous gas company resource or ‘gas-in-place’ estimates had been on the large side, but other institutions (for example the American Energy Information Administration, EIA) put the figures lower. Some large oil and gas companies had basically written Britain off as a shale gas player. Environmentalists and industrialists alike complained: how could the figures vary so much? Confusion reigned. What we needed were reliable numbers.