The 2013 energy study – Reserves, Resources and the Availability of Energy Raw Materials, provides raw material economic advice to the Federal Ministry of economy and energy (BMWi) and for the German economy.

Excerpt from the BGR 2013 energy study regarding the energy resource of shale gas and shale oil:

"In comparison with the previous year, only slight alterations in the supply of energy resources are apparent, alterations that are conditional primarily upon the revaluation of non-conventional hydrocarbons. Exploration and development of possible deposits in Europe is, however, are only at an early stage. In principle, and based on current knowledge, all known European hydrocarbon provinces also have the potential for shale gas and shale oil. If this is so, than the quantities that would actually be recoverable, however, have not yet been sufficiently investigated. To date, details of possible resources are so vague, and often so heavily divergent, that they should generally be considered preliminary. According to the authors, the majority of current resource data comes from an initial incomplete study by the EIA (EIA, 2011). This study was significantly expanded upon in 2013 and now provides an extensive overview of all possible shale gas and shale oil resources worldwide (EIA, 2013). (…) On the part of the state geological services of Europe, however, only a limited number of separate potential valuations are available. Currently, we are aware of studies from Poland, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. (…)
Currently, the total declared shale gas resources for Europe amount to 14 Bill. m³, making them the biggest share of the 21 Bill. m³ of total European natural gas resources. Conventional resources stand at 5.2. Bill. m³, followed by coalbed methane at 1.6 Bill. m³ and tight gas at only 0.12 Bill. m³. European shale oil resources stand at 2.231 million tonnes; conventional oil resources far exceed this number and stand at 4,610 million tonnes."