Germany’s federal environment agency Umweltbundesamt (UBA, Berlin; www.umweltbundesamt.de/en/) has thrown more cold water on the hopes of oil and gas companies that the government will give its blessing to widespread rules for shale gas exploration in parts of the country believed to hold considerable reserves any time soon.

In presenting the agency’s latest 600-page expert opinion on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking – which builds on an earlier paper presented in 2012 – UBA president Maria Krautzberger said “it is and remains a risk technology, and must be kept within narrow confines to protect human health and the environment. As long as the major risks associated are not predictable and thus manageable, fracking should not be allowed.”

Krautzberger urged that German economics minister Sigmar Gabriel and environment minister Barbara Hendricks, who have been drafting legislation to regulate fracking, quickly put rules on the table – see Plasteurope.com of 18.06.2014. A parliamentary discussion on the issue, however, will have to wait until the Bundestag reconvenes in September. Up to now, Germany has had only a moratorium on shale gas production. In UBA’s opinion, legislation should leverage water table regulations to restrict production of shale gas or coal seam gas as well as an environmental impact assessment and a ban on “any form of fracking” near water reserves.

Both the agency and the two Social Democratic ministers in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet are attempting to walk a thin line between the interests of politics, industry and environmental protection. As usual, industrial giants such as BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com) with its oil and gas subsidiary Wintershall (Kassel / Germany; www.wintershall.com) and major environmental groups such as Greenpeace and the German Friends of the Earth affiliate BUND stand at opposite ends of the discussion. The German public is largely sceptical. Addressing the subject at a Christian Democratic party conference earlier this year, BASF CEO Kurt Bock said he hoped “reason will prevail."

While in her remarks the UBA president did not seem to clearly distinguish between a wish to ban fracking altogether and restrictions so severe as to make the practice impossible, the signs point to the latter, especially as she expressed scepticism that an absolute ban could be pushed through. In any case, it appears that the Social Democratic ministers in the two-party coalition government, for the purpose of protecting drinking water supplies, will at least recommend banning fracking in layers of rock that contain veins of potable water, along with strict regulations for flowback water and a mandatory disclosure of fracking chemicals.

The Gabriel-Hendricks paper covering key issues of shale gas exploration, presented by the ministers in early July, recommends that at least until 2021 test drilling be limited to above 3,000 metres, while associated risks are assessed. The most valuable unconventional gas reserves are said to lie at 1,000-2,500 metres depth.