Johannesburg - The government firmly opened the door yesterday to the eventual extraction of natural gas from the shale rock deep underground in the Karoo.
The draft technical regulations for petroleum exploration and exploitation were gazetted by Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu.
The regulations would “augment gaps identified in the regulatory framework” that will police the process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
The minister invited members of the public “and interested and affected parties” to submit written input and comments to her within 30 days.
A year after lifting a moratorium on fracking, Shabangu issued a general notice of the regulations which will be applied when companies tap as much as 485 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that is estimated to lie in the area.
Bloomberg reported that Jonathan Deal, the chief executive of anti-fracking lobby group Treasure the Karoo Action Group, as saying that “an expensive taxpayer-funded court case is unavoidable”.
He described as “indefensible” the mineral resources ministry’s plans to allow the exploitation of shale gas reserves deep underground in the semi-arid Karoo region of the Western, Northern and Eastern Cape and the Free State.
DA mineral resources spokesman James Lorimer said: “At first glance it appears the regulations address many of the areas that we are concerned about. It is, however, too early to say yet whether they are sufficiently rigorous to address all concerns.”
The regulations will police such matters as site assessment, selection and preparation, well design and construction, operation, management and also well suspension and abandonment.
Shabangu said the regulations would prescribe “good international petroleum industry practices and standards that will enhance safe exploration and production of petroleum”.
The department appears to be taking its cue from the American Petroleum Institute’s guidelines on hydraulic fracturing, which is defined in the regulations as “injecting fracturing fluids into the target [shale] formation at a force exceeding the parting pressure of the rock to induce fractures through which petroleum can flow to the wellbore”.
A holder of an exploration or production right must assess the geology of the affected area “prior to well design using available data and submit a geological overview report”.
An environmental impact assessment procedure is also provided in the regulations. It includes a section on “hydraulic fracturing fluid disclosure”.
A holder will have to submit information to a yet to be designated agency on “fluids and their status as hazardous… substances”. Opponents of fracking say the process will contaminate ground water.
The regulations say that if a well is abandoned, it must be “plugged and abandoned in accordance with an abandonment plan approved by the designated agency”.
This agency would be appointed by the department. “Any abandoned well must be clear of all obstructions and equipment and cemented for the full length and diameter of the wellbore to surface,” the regulations state.
Dineo Pooe of Shell South Africa, which is among the prospective explorers, said last night: “We welcome progress on the regulations and we are also happy to see ongoing consultation about the possible exploration for shale gas in South Africa.” - Business Report