Fracking - Coming to a Karoo Near You

[leachy]

Mon Nov 21, 2011



here is something to put our efforts into ..

http://www.greenpeace.org/africa/en/New ... the-Karoo/

[Flutterby]

Arguing the case for Shale Gas

news24, 11 June 2012, 11:01

The more I read about the world's rapidly growing energy industry, and how much development is happening particularly on the shale gas front, the more I start to question why South Africa isn't jumping at the opportunity to develop the massive resource we have.
The estimates of the world's largest recoverable shale gas resources are as follows: (The Chemical Engineer, June 2012)

China: 1,275 tn ft3
Argentina: 774 tn ft3
Mexico: 681 tn ft3
South Africa: 485 tn ft3
USA: 482 tn ft3
Australia: 396 tn ft3
Canada: 388 tn ft3

In the US, where shale gas has been produced commercially for about a decade now, they have seen a complete transformation of the energy industry. Natural gas prices are around 20% of what they were four years ago (TCE, June-12).

We are being crippled by high fuel prices. Approximately, 67% of the oil we consume, is from imports. We currently do not have enough refining capacity to produce enough petrol and diesel for our own needs and in addition to importing crude oil, we import refined products. Judging from many of the comments on News24 when the petrol price is raised, many people believe it is the Government's fault, full-stop. However, despite your indignation, it's not just Government trying to rip you off and increases duties, but it is largely driven by international oil markets. As we are a net importer, don't anticipate any respite from the price at the pump.
Shale gas can be used as a substitute to natural gas, for gas-fired power stations as well as in GTL (gas-to-liquid) processes to produce petrol and diesel.

On the first point, most of South Africa's power (about 90% - source US EIA) is generated by coal-fired power plants. Coal, is a dirty form of power generation with high CO2 emissions. The Green Peace argument that we should abandon all coal and nuclear power, and build loads of wind-turbines and solar panels is quite simply not feasible to satisfy our energy demands. (To give you an idea of scale: Medupi Power Plant will produce 4,800 MW of power. This equates to about 2,400 wind turbines needed to match the capacity. Think of the amount of land needed for 2,400 wind turbines). Instead, we need to have a diversified slate of energy feedstocks, moving away from coal, and investing in locally available resources such as shale gas as well as renewables.

On the second point, shale gas can be used directly as feedstock in GTL plants. Both Sasol (probably considered the world leader on this subject) and PetroSA have this technology. This gives us the ability to produce fuels reducing our reliance on imported natural gas and crude oil imports.

For the existing crude oil refineries, energy costs account for a massive proportion of refinery processing costs. Cheaper energy will encourage expansion in refining capacity, and offer more economic incentive to projects such as the COEGA refinery in the Eastern Cape, reducing our reliance on imported refined products. While shale gas is not a substitute for crude oil, the significantly lower processing costs involved in refining crude oil, can be passed on to the cost of fuels produced by refineries.
People's concerns about the risks associated with shale gas are obviously understandable. By now, everyone has either watched or read about the Gasland documentary, and the famous scene where the tap-water is set alight. Whether this is sensationalisation, or the honest-to God truth, is anyone's guess.

What we need is for an unbiased Environmental Impact Assessment to be carried out, neither funded by Shell, nor by the Karoo Land Owners Assocation. In any event, if the risks are manageable and controllable, we cannot allow raw emotion to prevent development.

At the risk of sounding insensitive here, should we be holding back potential benefits to all the citizens of the country, at the concern of affecting the livelihood of a few hundred people? Furthermore, I am not advocating destroying the livelihood of those people, instead ensuring that sufficient risk-preventative measures are put in place and compensation for those who may be negatively affected.

There are massive potential benefits of shale gas. A shale gas boom in South Africa will result in job creation, a massive boost to the economy, reduction of our greenhouse-gas emissions (by replacing coal), cheaper fuel and electricity and offer opportunities to develop downstream industries, such as petrochemicals (where shale gas can be used as a feedstock), as being seen in the US.

The risks considered are ground-water contamination, high water requirements and waste-water treatment.

The pros and cons needs to be weighed up, but using the US as a case-study, and considering that other countries (e.g. Canada & Poland) will be following suit, the potential rewards to be reaped seem to outweigh the risks (which need to be effectively managed, none-the-less).

The time for acting and developing this massive natural resource and opportunity we have is now.

[Sprocky]

2012-06-11 22:52 Fracking can poison water

Pietermaritzburg - Some chemicals used for shale gas fracking could contaminate or poison water far from the original drilling site, an expert warned on Monday.

"Before any chemical company is granted a licence to frack it must prove that the chemicals used in fracking cocktails are safe," the Free State University ground water research unit's Prof Gerrit van Tonder said.

He said positive perceptions of fracking and the shale gas it could unlock needed to be balanced by the potential risks involved.

"Other more green options are available, even if fracking is considered," Van Tonder said in an interview.

The danger was that large, watery, underground caverns, which exist even in the arid Karoo, could be polluted by the chemicals used for fracking.

Noxious chemicals leaking into water at one drill site could spread the contamination by either lateral or upward movement of the water.

Aquifers - from the Latin words aqua, meaning water, and fer, meaning bearing - could be conduits for the spread of these pollutants.

Ample evidence indicated that, in some circumstances, water welled up from deep sources, such as in the case of hot water springs. Van Tonder said the impacts and risks of fracking fluid reaching fresh water aquifers depended on the number of well pads.

17 300 boreholes

One company had indicated it would need one such pad for every 260 hectares, with up to 10 boreholes per pad.

This meant that if only half of the nine million hectares, as per licence applications, were developed, there would be 17 300 boreholes.

"The integrity of just one borehole failing can be disastrous for surrounding borehole users and the environment within a year," he said.

It was possible that the contaminants could move slowly, spreading to other boreholes over decades, or within a matter of days along dolerite sills and faults.

These included annuli, the ring of material round fracking cement or grouting seals, he said.

Such events had been found to be major contributors of groundwater pollution in the United States and Australia.

- SAPA

[Dzombo]

There is a big anti-fracking lobby in the UK too:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18611647

[Flutterby]

Shell all set to spend R1.6bn on fracking

Jul 19 2012 12:05

Johannesburg - Shell has indicated it is likely to spend about R1.6bn on the exploration of shale gas in the Karoo as cabinet looks set to give the green light to the removal of the fracking moratorium, according to an article in Business Report.

Shell SA general manager Jan Willem Eggink reportedly told the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry that the company would spend R1.6bn should cabinet give the go-ahead.

But cabinet spokesperson Jimmy Manyi said a report by the department of mineral resources had not been discussed by the cabinet on Tuesday.

Energy Minister Dipuo Peters has repeatedly voiced support for fracking. Last month, Peters said concerns about fracking needed to be overcome through research and technology.

"We cannot allow a blessing to lie fallow... If shale gas is one of the blessings, we are going to go for it," Peters said.

Cape Town Chamber of Commerce president Michael Bagraim said in the report that the government needed to allow for more time to consider the pros and cons of fracking.

“We don’t want to get into the green versus the big business debate,” Bagraim said.

Fracking involves pumping a mixture of water, sand and chemicals at high pressure down a borehole into the rock strata containing the shale gas.

The process releases the gas, which flows out of the borehole to the surface, where it is captured.

- Fin24

[Lisbeth]

Where in the Karoo is this?

[Flutterby]

Not sure Lis.

[Sprocky]

Jul 19 2012 12:05

Johannesburg - Shell has indicated it is likely to spend about R1.6bn on the exploration of shale gas in the Karoo as cabinet looks set to give the green light to the removal of the fracking moratorium, according to an article in Business Report.

Shell SA general manager Jan Willem Eggink reportedly told the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry that the company would spend R1.6bn should cabinet give the go-ahead.

But cabinet spokesperson Jimmy Manyi said a report by the department of mineral resources had not been discussed by the cabinet on Tuesday.

Energy Minister Dipuo Peters has repeatedly voiced support for fracking. Last month, Peters said concerns about fracking needed to be overcome through research and technology.

"We cannot allow a blessing to lie fallow... If shale gas is one of the blessings, we are going to go for it," Peters said.

Cape Town Chamber of Commerce president Michael Bagraim said in the report that the government needed to allow for more time to consider the pros and cons of fracking.

“We don’t want to get into the green versus the big business debate,” Bagraim said.

Fracking involves pumping a mixture of water, sand and chemicals at high pressure down a borehole into the rock strata containing the shale gas.

The process releases the gas, which flows out of the borehole to the surface, where it is captured.

- Fin24

[Amoli]

Die kabinet het die moratorium op hidroliese breking (fracking) in die Karoo opgehef.
Minister in die Presidensie, Collins Chabane, het Vrydagoggend bekend gemaak die moratorium, wat in April verlede jaar ingestel is, word opgehef.
Omgewingsaktiviste en natuurbewaringsgroepe is sterk gekant teen hidroliese breking.

Earthlife Africa sê wetenskaplike navorsing wys sonder enige twyfel dat die proses ‘n ernstige gevaar van grondwaterbesoedeling inhou.
Ander groepe voel dat daar eerder meer belegging in alternatiewe energie moet wees in plaas van om skaliegas-bronne te ontgin. - News24

TRANSLATED :
Cape Town - South Africa has lifted a moratorium on shale gas exploration in the semi-arid Karoo region, where the extraction technique of “fracking” might be used to tap into some of the world’s largest stocks of the energy source
Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane said on Friday the cabinet has decided to lift a moratorium imposed in April of last year.
“Cabinet endorsed a recommendation of the report on the lifting of the afore-stated moratorium,” Chabane told reporters.
According to an initial study commissioned by the US energy information administration, South Africa has 485 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable shale gas resources, most of which are located in the vast Karoo Basin.
The amount is the fifth largest of 32 countries included in the study and is pitched as a long-term solution for the energy problems of Africa’s largest economy.
The area is home to gas reserves now being investigated by energy company Royal Dutch Shell and petrochemical group Sasol [JSE:SOL].
South Africa last year imposed a fracking moratorium on oil and gas exploration licences in the semi-arid region to gain time to examine the concerns of environmentalists who say the process would ruin the area and to study the potential gains

[Lisbeth]

The concerns of environment are obviously less concerning than the one of gains