France may cancel permits for oil and natural gas exploration in October due to the nation's new hydraulic fracturing ban. Companies that have been granted a permit to explore shale hydrocarbons will have until September 13 to inform the government if they're planning to use hydraulic fracturing in the course of their operations. The ban, the world's first, could lead to fines or imprisonment for those found using the technique, though some industry representatives have said that the method is the only one available to extract certain hydrocarbons.