Royal\u00a0Dutch Shell pushed SA on Wednesday to decide on its application, now nearly four years old, to explore for shale gas in the Karoo, a pristine semi-desert that may contain some of the world\u2019s largest reserves.<\/p>\n
Shell\u2019s application in early 2011 for an exploration licence in the Karoo, which the US Energy Information Administration says may hold up to 390-trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable reserves, caused an uproar from farmers and green groups, and an 18-month moratorium on the issuing of permits.<\/p>\n
A year ago, several ministers \u2014 including then-mining minister Susan Shabangu \u2014 suggested hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, exploration licences were about to be issued but none has been forthcoming.<\/p>\n
The mining ministry has failed to clarify reasons for the delay, either to Reuters or Shell.<\/p>\n
“Why it is taking so long is a conundrum that we are trying to figure out,” Shell SA chairman Bonang Mohale told a news conference.<\/p>\n
“We were hoping that by now we would have at least started the exploration process.”<\/p>\n
With energy firms chasing large natural gas finds in places such as Mozambique, Brazil and China, SA could ill-afford to carry on delaying much longer, he added.<\/p>\n
“Capital is moving,” he said. “My guess is that we are probably months away, not years away, from the issuing of exploration rights.”<\/p>\n
The US estimates give SA the world\u2019s eighth-biggest shale reserves, with nearly two-thirds the deposits estimated in the US.<\/p>\n
Shell says it is committed to investing $200m in gas exploration in the area, which lies at the underdeveloped heart of Africa\u2019s most advanced economy.<\/p>\n
A Shell-commissioned study by Cape Town-based consultancy Econometrix suggests extracting 50-trillion cubic feet of gas would add $20bn, or 0.5%, of gross domestic product annually for 25 years to an economy that has always been a major energy importer.<\/p>\n
The study also suggests it would create 700,000 jobs, a major draw for a government trying and failing to come up with answers to persistent 25% unemployment.<\/p>\n
Opponents of shale gas fracking say the government has failed to introduce a suitably robust regulatory framework to prevent damage to the delicate environment, ecosystems and water supplies of the Karoo.<\/p>\n
The spokeswoman for the mining ministry did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n
Source: Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Royal\u00a0Dutch Shell pushed SA on Wednesday to decide on its application, now nearly four years old, to explore for shale gas in the Karoo, a pristine semi-desert that may contain some of the world\u2019s largest reserves. Shell\u2019s application in early 2011 for an exploration licence in the Karoo, which the US Energy Information Administration says … Continue reading “Shell pushes SA for shale”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2961,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[10485,1206,373,1649,5956],"class_list":["post-16743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-south-africa","tag-dutch-oil-company","tag-fracking","tag-karoo","tag-shale-gas","tag-shell"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2961"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16743"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16744,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16743\/revisions\/16744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}