NMMU undertakes Karoo shale gas research project
IN anticipation of the “game-changing” potential of shale gas extraction in South Africa, the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) has started with an ambitious project to do baseline studies in the Karoo.
Addressing delegates at an information session on NMMU’s shale gas project in the Karoo, NMMU’s Earth Stewardship Science Research Institute head, Professor Maarten de Wit, said the university had started with baseline studies to do water and chemical analysis testing at the hundreds of thousands of existing drill holes in the province in order to monitor the water quality before any hydraulic fracturing takes place.
De Wit said it was expected that President Jacob Zuma, who had on more than one occasion said shale gas would be a game-changer for the country’s energy mix, would lift the moratorium on exploration for shale gas in the Karoo by the end of the year.
“This gives us a five-year window of opportunity to complete the baseline studies. It is the university’s obligation to get involved in a monitoring role. Companies are always taking shortcuts and we need to monitor them. We want to say to the companies that we know what we are doing – they cannot pull the wool over our eyes . . . It is almost like testing for doping in competitive sport – we are ahead of things and anticipate them,” he said.
NMMU Business School head Professor Steve Burgess, who hosted the information session at the Business School, said these baseline studies conducted by the NMMU shale gas project would not only protect the community from large corporate companies, but would also protect the corporates from interest groups.
The information session, which was organised by the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber, was well-attended by high-level representatives from the Coega Development Corporation, Industrial Development Corporation, business community and even Shell South Africa’s upstream general manager Jan Willem Eggink. Both the Business Chamber and NMMU yesterday emphasised the neutral stance they were taking in the debate.
De Wit acknowledged that there were fierce debates on shale gas extraction and said the two polarised scenarios could be defined as either the “gas and energy utopia” or “an ecological holocaust in which environmental resources are permanently destroyed”.
“The debates did not start out on the right footing in South Africa. These fierce debates are driven by a lack of knowledge. As a university we are not interested in taking sides, we are interested in providing data,” he stressed.
De Wit said shale gas had the potential to solve the energy crisis in the world as it burns 40% to 50% cleaner than coal and 30% cleaner than oil. About 28% of the US’s electricity is now coming from natural gas. However, he said that shale gas extraction was a “multiple, complex issue” that could potentially impact on water security and quality in the country.
“Unconventional gas in the Karoo might yield up to a trillion rand return on investment. In the absence of reliable baseline information it is easy to blame environmental and groundwater pollution incidents on gas extraction activities but, without it, litigation will be near impossible.
“It is critical to establish baseline conditions before drilling and to use multiple lines of evidence to better understand gas migration.”
The NMMU baseline research is funded by the Eastern Cape Department of Finance and Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism and is worth R16-million. De Wit said along with NMMU students the project would also make use of small women’s groups, which he calls citizen scientists, who will be trained to do the initial baseline studies that will be sent to the university for further research and analysis.
Once the fracking and gas extraction has taken place, possibly after 2018, the NMMU wants to establish a drilling college in the Karoo where the baseline research can be continuously monitored and compared.
De Wit said even though at this stage no one knew how much shale gas was trapped in the rock formations of the Karoo basin, preliminary studies by NMMU, done close to Jansenville, showed that there could be significant shale gas reserves.
However, he said fracking might not happen at all, depending on international interest in offshore gas sites. “The jury is still out on whether it is going to happen or not,” De Wit said.