Donwald Pressly
An inter-ministerial report on hydraulic fracturing in the Karoo has not yet been received by the cabinet, but all indications are that the controversial process of extracting shale gas from deep underground is likely to get the green light next month.
The government is remaining cautious, with Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Minister Collins Chabane telling a post cabinet briefing on Friday that “the report on fracking is not ready yet”.
However, last month Energy Minister Dipuo Peters described shale gas potential in the semi-desert region as a blessing from God. She told MPs: “It would be wrong for us to not use the resources that God left us with… It is my wish and prayer on a daily basis that when the report is tabled… it will say to us the gas is there and you can extract it safely for the benefit of the people of South Africa.”
When the report – ordered by Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu, and co-written by officials from the departments of Water and Environmental Affairs, Science and Technology, and Energy – was completed it would be put to the cabinet “and (to) stakeholders that are relevant to that subject”, Chabane said. Shabangu said it would be ready by next month.
Free State University professor Gerrit van Tonder, who said it looked like the government would back fracking, argued earlier this month that the process of extracting gas could result in one of the biggest water pollution problems in the world “if they use the nasty chemicals that they are using in the US”.
At Royal Dutch Shell’s hydraulic fracturing operations in Pinedale, Wyoming, Rob Wheeler, the completions and well intervention superintendent, reported on the slick water hydraulic fracturing fluids used in the fracking process.
They included guar gum or hydroxyethyl cellulose, ethylene glycol, sodium or potassium carbonate, sodium chloride, borate salts, citric acid N,n-dimethyl formamide, glutaraldehyde, acid, petroleum distillate, isopropanol, and potassium chloride.
Wheeler explained that the acids helped dissolve minerals and initiated fissures in rock. Their common application were as swimming pool cleaners. Glutaraldehyde eliminated bacteria in the water and its common application was as a disinfectant for medical and dental equipment.
Sodium chloride, like table salt, allowed a delayed breakdown of gel polymer chains, N,n-Dimethyl formamide prevented corrosion of the well pipe. It was used regularly in pharmaceuticals, acrylic fibres and plastics.
Borate salt maintained fluid viscosity as temperature increased. It was commonly used in laundry detergents, hand soaps and cosmetics, while polyacrylamide minimised friction between fluids and the pipes. Its regular application was for water treatment and soil conditioner. These were all used in tiny quantities.
Van Tonder said the Karoo geology was very similar to the Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania, US – where there had been examples of contamination of water – but the Karoo was also riddled with dolorite dykes and kimberlite pipes, which is the consequence of volcanic action in the area 180 million years ago. “That is the wild card.”
These dykes were a natural pathway for water to rise upwards at shallow depths. He cited US hydrogeologist Tom Meyers who argued that there had historically been a slow movement upwards of deep water. But this was speeded up by the intrusion of wells drilled for shale gas.
With the inevitable failing of well casings “either sooner or later but especially later as cement deteriorates with time”, he argued, leaks would occur.
This process was enhanced with corrosive chemicals being present. The risk would also be enhanced by large numbers of boreholes.
Danie Vermeulen, a colleague of Van Tonder at the Institute for Groundwater Studies at Free State University, who visited Shell fracking operations in Pinedale last month, noted that there was plenty of water in the area, in contrast to the Karoo.
“In the US they just discard (water), we will have to re-use every drop that we have. We (in South Africa) will have to clean up the water to re-frack again.”
He maintained that if South Africa explored the nuclear power option, it could mean that the fracking debate could stop. However, South Africa could not depend on renewable sources of fuel.
“Solar and wind can’t produce all the energy we need… coal is not there for ever. Our only other option is shale gas.”
Donwald Pressly was a guest of Royal Dutch Shell in Wyoming.