Monday, March 14, 2011

Analysis: Dirty oil firms could wreck Karoo

Glenn Ashton


If you asked most South Africans around Christmas last year what fracking was, you would have been met with blank stares. Now, because of applications by Shell Exploration, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, for permission to explore for gas in the Karoo using fracking, the term is rapidly becoming more familiar.


The cracks in the rock created by fracking are maintained by injecting a mixture of solids, including sand, ceramics and other particles. These lodge in the cracks. When the pressure is released and the liquids are removed the gas, if present, can be extracted.


Shell South Africa has disingenuously claimed that fracking has at least a 60-year track record. While some hydraulic fracturing has historically been undertaken, modern fracking differs somewhat from “traditional” fracking. Initially oil, water and gas wells could only be drilled vertically or, at best, at an incline. Fracking in these circumstances had limited impact. However, recent technological advances have perfected cost-effective methods that enable fossil fuel wells to be drilled horizontally, through changing the direction of bore. This technology has enabled wells to intersect horizontal fossil fuel-bearing strata for long distances, up to several kilometres, greatly increasing the potential yields when used with fracking technology.




South Africa is an extremely water-scarce nation. The Karoo lies at the dry extreme of the scale, with an annual rainfall of about 300mm, less than half that of Cape Town or Johannesburg and a quarter of the KwaZulu-Natal coastal zone. Karoo groundwater is recharged through this meagre rainfall. Groundwater is generally found in shallow aquifers of less than 100m depth.

Most of the gas-bearing shale beds targeted by Shell and other exploration companies were discovered by Soekor, the then state oil exploration company, during the 1960s. These formations lie 1000m to 5000m below the surface. Shell insists there is little chance of cross-contamination of the shallow groundwater through fracking these deep shale layers.

The debate about fracking in the US was neatly encapsulated in the 2011 Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland, which shows numerous serious impacts on water sources, property values and the ecology. Whole families are alleged to have become ill through polluted water, the release of toxins and radioactive gases related to fracking activities. Given the extent of problems experienced in the US, reasons for local concern appear well founded.

South Africa has extensive problems with inadequate regulatory oversight, especially regarding extractive industries. Our record of managing acid mine drainage, both from old gold mines and more modern coal mines, has been tardy and inadequate. Conflicts between ministries like Minerals and Energy and Environment regarding environmental planning and oversight of extractive industries remain largely unresolved.


It is not only Shell that is involved in this new gas rush. Sasol, and Norway’s Statoil and US gas giant Chesapeake Energy Corporation, have jointly applied to prospect in the Free State, Eastern Cape, Karoo and KwaZulu-Natal.

Sasol recently bought a 50% share in Canadian gas shale extractor Talisman Energy’s Farrell Creek operation. Talisman and Sasol have agreed to collaborate on further projects, indicating Sasol’s intent to pursue shale gas extraction, which aligns with its expertise in the gas-to-liquid fuel business it pioneered at Mossgas and now pursues globally.

There have also been applications to explore the southern Cape area between Cape Aghulas and Mossel Bay by Advasol. The large offshore gas fields supplying Mossgas hint at shale gas in the area. Even if these lie beneath the ocean they can be exploited through horizontal drilling. Other smaller gas companies have prospecting rights around the country, such as Bundu Gas’s prospect near Graaff-Reinet.




As yet there remains no real solution to supply the millions of gallons of precious water needed for these operations, which will in turn be polluted by fracking. Suggestions to rail in seawater or brown industrial water are ill conceived given the sensitivity of the Karoo biome, there is also the real impact that any such activity would have on the sense of place. Drill rigs are visible, noisy, energy intensive and messy operations. If gas is found then pipelines, pump stations and other infrastructure will follow. As the scale of extraction increases, so do the risks.





Gas fracking is the newest kid on the block of an historically dirty and corrupt industry. It would be remiss to permit potentially catastrophic mistakes to be made in ecologically sensitive areas. It is a naïve hope that oil companies will compensate for damage, despite their promises. After all, how do you calculate the loss of something irreplaceable?

Glenn Ashton is a writer and researcher working in civil society. This is published here courtesy of

1 comment:

  1. thank you for such a clear explanation and understanding of the seriousness of this problem in our beautiful southern cape