Spain's Constitutional Court has thrown out a law against hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for shale gas and oil in the small northern region of Cantabria, saying the matter is up to the central government. The ban proposed by the governing People’s Party, which has an absolute majority, was implemented in April 2013 after it passed the regional parliament with the votes of all three represented parties. The country’s central government had contested the legislation in the Constitutional Court, arguing it has jurisdiction in the matter and that Cantabria's ban violates the national law on hydrocarbons.

Spain produces almost no oil and gas, importing about 76% of its energy needs. To reduce foreign dependence on oil, coal and gas, the government in Madrid hopes to develop a potential shale gas field stretching from Galicia to the Basque Country. This would pass through Cantabria, which is believed to be rich in shale gas.

The lobby group Shale Gas Europe has declared Spanish reserves to be among the biggest in the world. If these prove to be technically recoverable, this would transform the country, the group said. Spanish arm, Shale Gas Espana, said earlier it planned to invest more than EUR 100m in exploration projects in Cantabria.

Although estimates so far are said to have proved unreliable, some have placed Spain's shale gas reserves at as much as 1.4 tr cubic metres, enough to cover EU demand for around three years.

Elsewhere in Europe, the German government is due to publish a draft fracking bill before its summer recess (see Plasteurope.com of 18.06.2014), while a recent survey estimates that UK reserves could be as high as 4.4 bn barrels (see Plasteurope.com of 02.06.2014).