THERE IS NO CEMENT THAT WILL SEAL A FRACKED HOLE FOREVER – AND IT’S THE LEAKY GAS THAT IS THE PROBLEM FOREVER THEREAFTER

At the International Groundwater Conference held at Spier Estate, Stellenbosch, in 2017, Dr John Cherry of Canada, who was the key guest speaker and is one of the World leaders in groundwater and pollution issues, noted that one fracks with extreme caution – and preferably not in any region where little research on the hydrogeological system has been undertaken first.

There is no cement that will “forever” seal a fracked hole – and it’s the “leaky gas” that is the problem forever thereafter.

In the Karoo, where Soekor did some relatively shallow drilling for oil and gas in the 1960s and ‘70s, they found very minor poor oil, and some gas. Today some of those gas wells are leaking methane into the groundwater of the Karoo. Farmers report setting alight the water at their boreholes as the methane is so strong.

A paper was presented on this issue at the 2017 groundwater conference.

The Okavango region has historically had seismic shift and there is research thought that the region is the terminus of the East African Rift System.

Any deep fracking in this area is fraught with potential problems and impacts.

The world needs clean energy – and in Africa the sun has plenty of that.

It’s often standard practice for junior exploration companies to hype their press releases in the hope of attracting investors and boosting their stock price. This may be the case here. Given Covid-induced economic slowdowns worldwide, reductions in oil/gas demand, costs of exploration, and the apparent lack of due EIA process, let’s hope this won’t materialise.