LONDON — Eni, the Italian oil giant, is giving up on producing natural gas from shale rock in Poland, not long ago considered the most promising country in Europe for the new fuel source.
Eni has allowed two of its three shale gas exploration licenses in Poland to expire and is likely to allow the third to lapse, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who spoke only on the condition of anonymity. The acreage, acquired in 2010, had not produced enough gas to be commercially viable, the person said.
Other companies have made similar comments about their initial drilling efforts. Exxon Mobil ended its Polish shale gas exploration efforts in 2012; Marathon Oil said it was leaving last year. Chevron is one of the few major players still interested in Poland.
“The geology has not worked out,” said Paul Stevens, an oil analyst at Chatham House, a research institute based in London.
The experience in Poland shows how difficult it will be to replicate the United States shale gas boom in Europe or elsewhere. Mr. Stevens said European governments had not been willing to make the necessary investment in research and development that helped companies figure out how to extract natural gas and oil from impermeable rock formations in the United States.
The major oil companies have rushed to lock up resources in Europe and elsewhere, having missed out on the early stages of the United States shale gas rush. The shale gas and oil bonanza in the United States has been led mainly by smaller companies.
In Europe, the commitments were relatively small compared with the tens of billions of dollars that major oil companies spend each year. As initial results proved disappointing, oil companies have swiftly shifted their focus to places like Russia, where Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil have shale prospects with state partners.
The hot country for shale gas exploration in Eastern Europe is now Ukraine; Chevron, Eni and Shell have all acquired acreage there. In Western Europe, Britain is now in the forefront; Total just agreed to explore for shale gas there. But little, if any, shale gas is being produced in these countries so far.
Three years ago, Poland was considered among the most promising of European countries outside Russia for replicating the American shale gas boom. A study in 2011 by the United States Energy Information Administration ranked Poland first among European countries in terms of technically recoverable reserves, with enough to cover domestic demand for about three hundred years. A subsequent paper by the Polish Geological Institute, a research organization in Warsaw, cut the estimate of recoverable gas but still said there could be enough to supply 35 to 65 years of domestic consumption at current levels.
Poland was also favorably disposed toward development of shale gas, unlike Western European countries like France and Germany. Although there have been some demonstrations against hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, polls have shown that much of the public supports it.
In part, the country hoped to lessen its dependence on Russia. Poland consumes about four times as much gas as it produces, and most of this comes from Russia. A thriving domestic gas industry might also reduce Polish industry’s reliance on coal, a far more polluting source of power than natural gas.
Poland has had extensive shale gas exploration. Katarzyna Pliszcz, a Polish government official, said in December that 51 wells had been drilled, 24 of them by hydraulic fracturing. But none of them are in production — and now, with Eni retreating, prospects are dimming.