Indigenous oil and gas developments and Western Europe's energy policy options

If Europe is not just a cluster of interrelated national and corporate interests, then must it not have a viable and progressive energy policy? Professor Odell argues that existing strategies are conventional and static. His critique presents another option for Western Europe, based on a dynamic evaluation of the potential of indigenous gas and oil. The geographical advantages of their location, substitution of oil by gas in industry, and above all the change in thinking about the role of these vast resources may lead, if systematically applied, to Western Europe being able to supply almost half its oil and gas requirements from domestic sources by the mid 1980s.