SA could be forced to write-off chunk of shale gas-rich Karoo if safe fracking impossible
That there is lots of shale gas in the Karoo is unquestioned. The apparently conservative update by the US's EIA puts the deposit at the equivalent of more than 300 years of the country's current annual crude oil consumption. But can it be commercially fracked, brought to the surface at the kind of costs the Americans have achieved? Or will all that gas need to just stay where it is? The SA Government took the first step towards finding out by giving the green light for Exploration Wells. UFS professor Gerrit van Tonder says he supports this ("I'm not a caveman") but in this interview he calls for more safeguards before any fracking can happen. His view, off air, was that the country might just have to write off a chunk of the Karoo because fracking the aluvial deposit is certain to contaminate the surrounding water. Fascinating subject. We've added an interesting video at the bottom of the transcript. Produced by Shell, it features farmers expressing their concerns and some of those who believe exploiting shale gas will change their lives. – AH
ALEC HOGG: Cabinet has approved the gazetting of draft technical regulations on petroleum exploration and exploitation – in other words, fracking – primarily in the Karoo. Gerrit van Tonder is a professor at the University of the Free State. He joins us now. Gerrit, being at the University of the Free State, and being involved in the Agricultural Sciences, there's no doubt that fracking – just on your backdoor – is something that you've paid a lot of attention to. It was interesting, seeing your comments on the draft regulations of what has been gazetted. You think that we could learn from the United States?
GERRIT VAN TONDER: Yes, it's nice to be on your show, Alec, and giving me the chance to speak about it. There is just one thing I want to sort out. Our gas plain in the Karoo is something quite different to all the other gas places. Firstly, the Karoo basin is an artesian basin and the meaning of artesian… Say you're at Graaff-Reinet and you drill a borehole that is three thousand metres deep, I promise you: the water will free-flow from that borehole, so that's what 'artesian' means. That is my main problem with it. We also have a lot of preferential flow pass in the Karoo. If you just look…dolerite: it's full of dolerite sills and dolerite dykes. No other gas plain in the world has dolerite dykes and sills, so that is another pathway. After a gas well, if they fill it with cement they coat it with cement afterwards and you know what cement is like. It will fail, so this cement failure in the Karoo basin, which is artesian, will create many problems. You're asking about the rules. I'm not happy about the fracking rules that were gazetted. Far too soft on gas companies.
ALEC HOGG: It's interesting that you show there are very distinct differences between this wonderful discovery – potentially – that the country does have, and those that have been fracked thus far. Do you have any ideas or any suggestions on what can be done to make things safer so that we as a country can reap the benefit of this wonderful resource?
GERRIT VAN TONDER: Yes, I must state that I'm not a cave man. I like my energy. I like my lights and there's a lot of gas locked up in the Karoo. I know that you will see it. What we don't know at this stage is the amount of the fracking that can flow out, so that's an unknown. I'm pro-exploration. I say 'please go ahead. Drill the exploration boreholes, but before you do it there must be specific things you must do first'. You must change the gazetted rules. The farmers will not find out if their water has been polluted. What needs to be done before the gas companies… They need to drill three shallow boreholes in close proximity to a gas well or a well pad. That is your minimum requirement. There is no other way to discover whether there is pollution or not.
ALEC HOGG: Right, so you have to check that the water is going to be okay.
GERRIT VAN TONDER: Before the time… You see, 300 metres before the planned gas well: go in a triangle and drill shallow boreholes – say 100 metres. It costs nothing.
ALEC HOGG: Gerrit, what you're proposing is not a whole lot of additional work that needs to be done.
GERRIT VAN TONDER: No.
ALEC HOGG: Why was this not gazetted in the first place? It does seem like sensible ideas and it will calm a lot of the controversy.
GERRIT VAN TONDER: Don't ask me. I have no idea. There seems to be a snake in the grass. It's so easy. I'm for limited fracking because we can say… I've spoken to a professor in Germany – Professor Wolfgang Kinzelbach – and if you tell him the Karoo basin is artesian, he'll say 'Gerrit, it will be polluted'. What you need to decide as a precautionary principle…part of the Karoo – a small part, say a million hectares…write it off. Say it will be polluted and go ahead. We need the energy, so I'm not against the gas mining but the way they are doing it is not correct at the moment and another thing I can tell you: the three boreholes – they're not doing it there and they are not putting in pressure measurement gauges after abandonment of a well. They will therefore not know when the well starts leaking and we cannot allow that in South Africa.
GUGULETHU MFUPHI: Gerrit, do you believe that the oil and the gas companies who will undertake the fracking exploration are keen on hearing some of your suggestions and taking them on?
GERRIT VAN TONDER: That's always my problem. I'm speaking to Shell and we are actually friends. They don't like me, but we are friends. I don't know if they will listen because if they do this, they're serious. They have water. They want to do fracking sites.
ALEC HOGG: I'm sorry. You say you have spoken to Shell. At what level, Gerrit?
GERRIT VAN TONDER: At a very high level… I'm reviewing all the Shell documents on water because they have a company – Stefan Robertson [inaudible 5:23] – that is doing their groundwater studies, and I'm reviewing that and it's very open. There's nothing I can't say that I want to say. They are very open to me – they are listening.