-- 80% of French people familiar with shale gas say they would be in favor of experimenting with an alternative technology to hydraulic fracturing

PARIS, March 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- While the French debate on the energy transition is in full swing and controversy lingers over the extraction of shale gas, a new IFOP poll reveals that 80% of those who are aware of shale gas would be in favor of experimenting with an alternative technology to hydraulic fracturing that does not require water or chemicals.

Carried out by IFOP institute for ecorpStim, the new poll on 'the French and shale gas' shows that public awareness of shale gas has considerably increased since the last IFOP poll conducted in September 2012. No less than 53% of French citizens declare they have heard of shale gas and know what it is (compared to 44% in 2012).

Public opinion on the issue of shale gas has also evolved over the past few months. Although the environmental damage caused by hydraulic fracturing is still mentioned, the positive outcomes of the use of shale gas appear to be more clearly understood. 71% of respondents felt that it would enable significant jobs creation, while 59% thought it would help to contain the increase in gas prices for the consumer.

While an increasing number of French people agree that shale gas could have a positive effect on the economy, 80% of respondents say they were aware of the issue, and are in favor of experimenting with an alternative technology that would not require water or chemicals. According to the large majority of those interviewed, the solution would enable France to benefit from the advantages of shale resources without harming the environment.

The company ecorpStim (eCORP Stimulation Technologies, LLC) was created in 2012 to provide European countries, as well as those with limited water resources, with alternatives to hydraulic fracturing, based on pure natural propane and without the use of chemicals.
Pure home-use quality propane stimulation is the first clean and functional truly Green technology that can be used to extract shale gas with such a low impact on the environment.

ecorpStim successfully performed its first stimulation operation using pure propane in Eagle Ford, USA. This experiment is part of a series of efforts made by ecorpStim to develop the use of shale gas in a sustainable manner with minimal impact on the environment.

Survey methodology

The poll was conducted on behalf of ecorpStim.
The sample was made up of 1,508 individuals, representative of the French population aged 18 and over.
This representative sample was guaranteed by the use of quotas (sex, age, profession) further to stratification per region and category of urban area.
The interviews were conducted as self-administered online questionnaires (i.e. CAWI, or Computer Assisted Web Interviewing).
The interviews were held on 28 February to 1 March 2013.

SOURCE ecorpStim