Sechaba ka’Nkosi
THE GOVERNMENT has announced the setting up of a team that will lead the strategic environmental assessment of shale gas development in the country and regulations that will govern the exploration process in the clearest indication yet that fracking would take place in South Africa.
Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa yesterday announced that cabinet had agreed on the appointment of Wits ecologist Professor Bob Scholes to head a project team that would include scientists from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the SA National Biodiversity Institute and the Council for Geosciences.
Molewa also announced that the Department of Mineral Resources would publish regulations that would govern the exploration of shale gas processes within two weeks.
Milestone
“This strategic environmental study for shale gas will run over a 24 months duration,” said Molewa. “The process of exploration will, however, not stop. This is due to another milestone we have already registered regarding the successful conclusion of the necessary regulations by the Department of Mineral Resources which will be published soon.”
In his budget speech in February, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said that the government would put aside R108 million in preparation for shale gas mining. The government said its assessments had shown a potential of nearly 500 trillion cubit feet of shale gas deposits in the country.
But yesterday deputy Minerals Affairs Minister Godfrey Oliphant said the potential could range between 18 and 72 trillion cubic feet, which would lead to an explosion of economic growth.
“We should emphasise the exciting growth prospects of this initiative of shale gas in our country,” he said. “We have examples where this has turned around the economies of certain countries.”
The ministers said the team, which will investigate the possibilities of shell fracking in the Western Cape, the Eastern Cape and Northern Cape will be assisted by specialists from the departments of environmental affairs, water and sanitation, science and technology as well as mineral resources.
Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor said the assessment would consider both the exploration and the production related activities and impacts of shale gas development, including the process of hydraulic fracturing.
“We believe this will assist government to create a framework and guiding principles to inform responsible decision-making”.
The Treasure Karoo Action Group, one of the environmental organisations who have been opposed to shell fracking welcomed the establishment of the assessment team.
Its director, Jonathan Deal, said the group wanted to be involved in discussions of all aspect of the assessment from defining its terms of reference to providing specific data to ensure that the government policy was informed by science.
“Provided that this absolutely critical step is holistically managed in an inclusive and scientific manner and that the outcome of the process is permitted to precede government decisions to commit or not to shale gas, we look forward to tender our resources and energy to contribute in a positive manner,” he said.
In March, Shell said it was pulling back from its shale projects in South Africa due to lower energy prices and delays in obtaining an exploration licence for the onshore Karoo basin. The company said a rise in crude oil prices by more than half since June had put high cost projects such as shale gas exploration in jeopardy around the globe, and Shell South Africa said waiting six years for a licence had not helped.
Yesterday Molewa made it clear that while the government had no proof that there were significant deposits of lower carbon shale gas in the provinces, the government was willing to go ahead with the exploration in order to provide affordable and safe energy and would also be a potential source of job creation, foreign exchange and investment.