South African shale gas production gets Cabinet thumbs up

10th October 2013 By: Martin Creamer - Creamer Media Editor

South African shale gas production gets Cabinet thumbs up

Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu
Photo by: Duane Daws

PRETORIA (miningweekly.com) – The Cabinet had given the go-ahead for the gazetting of globally benchmarked technical regulations for the exploration for and production of shale gas in South Africa’s Karoo, Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu said on Thursday.

In a special post-Cabinet media briefing, Shabangu told journalists that the public would be given 30 days to comment on the regulations, which had been based on global best practice in international shale gas jurisdictions.

Applicable to both onshore and offshore activities, the regulations ensured that all petroleum exploration and exploitation met the highest global standards.

She said their gazetting had followed a comprehensive international benchmarking exercise by six government departments, including Water, Environmental Affairs, and Science and Technology, to ensure that hydraulic fracture did not impact fresh water resources, biodiversity and palaeontology and provided buffer zones to shield specific sites like the Square Kilometre Array project.
       
Fracture fluids and structures to be used in the hydraulic fracturing process had to be fully disclosed and closed well areas fully rehabilitated.

The decision of the Cabinet to open the way for shale gas production was based on government’s responsibility to ensure energy security and shale gas provided the country with a potential opportunity to reindustrialise the South African economy.

However, AfriForum has vowed to stop the production of shale gas in the Karoo.

“We are ready for a protracted battle on all fronts,” AfriForum environmental head Julius Kleynhans said in a media release.

Treasure the Karoo Action Group CEO Jonathan Deal also came out against the gazetting.

Deal asserted that at the very minimum, “the government must stop, consider, and openly involve various stakeholders in a comprehensive and far-reaching study of every aspect of this decision”.
 
However, Shabangu said that government was satisfied that it had acted in the best possible way, in the interests of the South African economy and its citizens.

“And we will continue to do so as we traverse this journey of hydraulic fracturing for the production of shale gas,” she added.