ConocoPhillips has announced that its subsidiary Lane Energy Poland had stopped shale gas exploration in Poland due to disappointing drilling results. Since 2009, the company has invested about US$220m in Poland, drilling seven wells over its three Western Baltic concessions. ConocoPhillips will leave the rest of the field to Polish state-owned companies, namely national gas company PGNiG and oil refining group PKN Orlen.
ConocoPhillips is the last global oil and gas company to exit the Polish shale gas sector, after Chevron withdrew in early 2015. Chevron's decision was a major blow to Poland's shale gas policy and follows a series of withdrawals, such as ExxonMobil in 2012, Marathon Oil and Talisman Energy in 2013, and Eni in 2014. Total decided not to renew its licence which expired in March 2014.
Many companies were attracted by shale gas reserve estimates published by the US EIA in 2011 (potential estimated at 5 300 bcm); hopes faded when national estimates scaled down potential reserves to a range of 346 bcm-768 bcm. Decreasing global oil prices in the second half of 2014 also contributed to threaten the Polish shale gas sector.