The paper assesses the impact of the shale gas revolution, understood both as advances in the drilling technologies and globalisation of LNG markets, on the EU's energy security. It draws upon the example of the Eastern Baltic region and argues that although the shale gas revolution can not be a game-changer for the whole EU, it is however to have a major impact in selected regions, both in terms of improving external energy security as well as contributing to the development of a single energy market. The pressure for better inter-EU cooperation will come from purely economic reasons, such as a quest to maximise efficiency of capital-intensive infrastructure, but it will lead to shifts in the EU's energy policy decision-making, empowering the European Commission with new backing for its liberal policies.
