Fracking floors energy giants

Independent: BHP Billiton is about to become the next victim of the latest asset bubble to burst – US shale gas, the rock-based hydrocarbon that is released via the controversial process of fracking. A fortnight after writing $2.84bn (£1.84bn) off the value of its Fayetteville shale gas business in Arkansas, BHP is poised to reveal on Wednesday that the charge helped push down its profits by a massive 40 per cent – to $14.2bn – in the year to June 30. The FTSE 100 mining giant was forced into the writedown...

URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/fracking-floors-energy-giants-8059727.html