Relief for brewers, concern for Exxon? New German government would keep fracking ban

Relief for brewers, concern for Exxon? New German government would keep fracking ban by Claudia Assis, November 8, 2013, Market Watch
Germany’s conservatives and the center-left Social Democrats, in coalition talks to form a new government, would keep a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, a presumed relief for German brewers and more headache for Exxon Mobil Corp. German beer makers have fretted over fracking, as the technique is commonly known, concerned fracking would pollute waters and taint the country’s beer, subject to a 500-year-old purity law. Exxon XOM -0.01% has been discussing fracking with German regulators and other stakeholders for the better part of a year now, and recently said those talks have continued. The company is Germany’s largest natural-gas producer, with Exxon-operated fields responsible for about 70% of Germany’s natural gas. Exxon had nine exploration licenses in Germany, covering 2.8 million acres that hold shale gas, “tight” natural gas liquids, and coalbed methane, according to its 2012 financial and operational review released in late March. … France and the Netherlands have banned it, while it has been cautiously started in the U.K. [Emphasis added]