Poland's Keystone Fixed

While the Obama administration is hostile to the Keystone pipeline, Poland has an official change of heart on shale.

As Exxon Mobil , Marathon Oil and Talisman Energy Inc. leave exploration in the shale fields, Poland is appealing to foreign energy explorers in a last-ditch attempt to secure investment for Europe's biggest shale-gas deposits.

According to the Poland Shale Coalition, newly appointed Environment Minister Maciej Grabowski, met with investors and said he'll remove regulatory hurdles in an effort to stem the exodus of Oil and Gas companies. “It's a definitive departure from the previous leadership, that was at best neutral and at worst hostile to foreign investors,” the head of the coalition said in an interview at a European gas conference in Vienna.

“He is very open to dialogue. Things are definitely getting more positive.”

Poland, ranked as Europe’s biggest holder of shale gas by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, has sought to revive exploration after foreign investors withdrew citing regulatory and tax concerns and poor test well results.

Two months ago Premier Donald Tusk fired the deputy minister in charge of drawing up shale regulations and nominated Grabowski to take over.

The prospects for the shale industry in Poland, where the number of wells drilled fell about 50 percent last year, may be getting brighter after San Leon Energy reported successful tests at a site last week and Poland could see its first commercial shale gas as early as this year.

In an effort to bring investors back, the government must speed up the environmental-approvals process and make sure historical well data is freely available instead of treating it like a “state secret”. Trust has been undermined and Grabowski is working hard to rebuild it and make the government a partner rather than adversary.