https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

WEC chief on SA's shale-gas opportunities and risks

WEC secretary-general Christoph Frei

WEC secretary-general Christoph Frei

Photo by Duane Daws

18th February 2014

By: Terence Creamer

Creamer Media Editor

  

Font size: - +

World Energy Council (WEC) secretary-general Christoph Frei says South Africa will have to weigh a number of complex factors when assessing how best to proceed in exploiting its shale-gas resources, with water management presenting the most significant risk.

Speaking at the global release, in Johannesburg, of the organisation’s latest ‘World Energy Issues Monitor’, Frei noted that unconventional oil and gas were top-of-mind considerations for global energy leaders, who have been monitoring their impact on the US’s energy and economic landscape.

The WEC’s survey of 800 energy leaders in 84 countries found that so-called ‘unconventionals’ had risen as an action priority, with strong interest emerging outside of North America, including in countries such as Argentina, Algeria, Poland, Ukraine and China.

South Africans surveyed, however, ranked unconventionals as being associated with high levels of uncertainty, owing to a lack of clarity over the size of the shale resource and the rules surrounding its possible exploitation.

It was estimated that the country had a sizeable resource base of as much as 485-trillion cubic feet, ranking the country as a possible top-ten shale-gas resource holder.

But Frei stressed that it was “one thing to say there is a theoretical, or technical, resource, but another to actually confirm that this is an economic resource”. It was, thus, still necessary to ascertain whether or not the reserves existed and could be extracted using the hydraulic-fracturing technique.

“How one deals with water is also going to be very important,” he added, noting that there had been relatively good water management in the US, where tens of thousands of wells had been drilled. But in the context of water scarcity, South Africa would need to be “careful” and would require a “solid framework” within which to manage the water-energy nexus.

However, Frei said mining the Karoo resource could also lower South Africa’s dependence on coal, reduce carbon emissions, stimulate economic growth and raise competitiveness.

Owing to the fact that gas was expensive to transport, he argued that unconventional gas was, by default, a resource that should be used locally, or possibly regionally. By consuming its unconventional energy domestically, the US had improved its competitiveness and “the same will have to be considered in the South African context.”

But the WEC also did not expect many other countries to “replicate the US success at the same speed and price for a number of reasons, including geological, the availability of equipment, logistical, legal, financial, as well as those related to the water nexus”.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

Comments

Showroom

Actom image
Actom

Your one-stop global energy-solution partner

VISIT SHOWROOM 
M and J Mining
M and J Mining

M and J Mining are leading suppliers of physical support systems as used by the underground mining industry. Our selection of products are not...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.143 0.205s - 183pq - 10rq
Subscribe Now