Tunisia’s tough energy choices: shale, imported gas or coal

The Tunisian people have hard choices before them as they consider whether future governments should allow hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to take place in the southern desert and, if not, how the country should supply its long-term energy needs. Among officials in the Ministry of Industry’s energy directorate and Entreprise Tunisienne d’Activités Pétrolières (Etap) there is a barely suppressed sense of urgency as they weigh the unrealised potential of shale resources against the cost of importing ever larger quantities of energy from Algeria or elsewhere. However, the Tunisian populace is no more ready to embrace fracking than, for instance, the people of France, where President François Hollande has banned the technology.