Durban - The first methane gas drilling project in KwaZulu-Natal that could involve fracking has been launched by the Gauteng-based Sungu Sungu empowerment group.
Sungu Sungu, whose directors include entrepreneur Thabang Khomo and former PetroSA geophysicist Solomon Lepotho, has applied for environmental permission to drill at least five coal bed methane exploration wells outside the town of Dannhauser, in the coal-rich triangle south of Newcastle and Vryheid.
“Fracking” is a term used to describe the deliberate fracturing of underground rock formations by injecting a high-pressure cocktail of chemicals, sand and water in order to extract buried deposits of natural fuel gas.
This has sparked concerns in several parts of the world about pollution of underground water and soils with toxic chemicals that can poison people, animals and the environment.
An independent report from South Africa’s Water Research Commission in 2012 cautioned the government about the potential risks of allowing groundwater, rivers and lakes to be polluted by a variety of cancer-causing compounds and “highly toxic” pollutants such as benzene, hydrochloric acid and isopropanol.
In the Dannhauser project, the proposed extraction technology is known as “coal bed methane” recovery.
Although this technology is different from conventional shale gas “fracking”, anti-fracking groups note that conventional fracking techniques are also often used to stimulate the coal bed methane extraction process.
Last year, an independent expert scientific panel appointed by the Scottish government reported that in many cases the permeability of coal bed methane seams was found to be low and in these cases it was necessary to “stimulate” gas flows either by hydraulic fracking, by drilling more boreholes or by injecting carbon dioxide underground.
Some groups believe that coal bed methane extraction is potentially as serious as, or even more risky than, conventional fracking – since it involves draining large volumes of water from underground and then discharging it into local rivers and watercourses or pumping it back underground.
The UK-based “Frack Off” group notes that much of the water removed from coal bed methane sites has been “marinating in coal for thousands of years” and therefore contains high levels of salts and other contaminants.
Sungu Sungu spokesperson Lepotho has not responded to requests for comment and for clarity on what methods could be used if viable gas reserves were found at Dannhauser.
The company also has gas exploration options in two other parts of the province – near the town of Bergville and in the area around the Tembe Elephant Park, close to the Mozambique border.
According to documents presented at a public meeting in Dannhauser on June 27, Sungu Sungu’s environmental consultants said the company had identified 11 farms covering 7 700 hectares where exploratory drilling would be considered following desktop studies and 2D seismic tests.
The environmental consultants’ background information document does not provide details of how deep the company hopes to drill.
However, the Midlands Conservancies Forum said the farms were close to the Ntshingwayo (Chelmsford) Dam and rivers that supplied water to Newcastle and irrigation for farmers downstream.
Strategic
“This catchment is strategic to the province and with the drought strangling the economy already, I am sure that sense will prevail and the Department of Water and Sanitation will take action to prevent this harmful activity,” said Judy Bell, head of the forum’s fracking awareness sub-committee.
Bell said the methane extraction area was also part of the uThukela River catchment.
“This river catchment is of strategic importance for the province, which is in the grip of a crippling drought and increasing water rationing.”
Bell said the area was already polluted by the legacy of previous coal mines and the next phase of coal bed methane extraction was unlikely to be different.
“Without clean water, there will be no development, no rates, nothing! The miners will be long gone with the money in their pockets. We have the opportunity to have our say and we must comment, as if approved this will be the first of many such applications.”
Although the deadline for public comments expired officially on Sunday, consultants had indicated that this deadline could be extended to Friday.
The Jomela environmental consultancy can be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected].
The Mercury