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Fracking in the US

A bonanza of shale oil and gas has put the swagger back into Texas, as new fracking technologies send the cost of extraction plummetting. But is a great opportunity being missed?

The US is in the grip of a new oil boom made possible by fracking. The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's Jonny Dymond reports on how new technologies have sent costs plummetting, and put the swagger back in West Texas.

But is a great opportunity being missed? Presenter Justin Rowlatt hears from the former head of one major oil firm about how the US authorities are failing to use the shale bonanza to wean the US off oil imports and carbon emissions.

Also in the programme, Lucy Kellaway on how the scandal of a drug-taking chairman of a British bank highlights a pressing question of corporate governance - is it worse to be run by a blockhead or a coke-head?

Available now

18 minutes

Last on

Mon 2 Dec 2013 08:32GMT

Broadcast

  • Mon 2 Dec 2013 08:32GMT

Podcast