A battle has been won, but the war is far from over

Now that a moratorium has been placed on licence applications by various oil companies to extract Karoo shale gas, South Africa’s anti-fracking movement should remain vigilant if it wants to keep this country free of hydraulic fracturing equipment.

There is still a real chance that Shell, Falcon Oil and others could be given the go-ahead after all.

“The Cabinet has endorsed the decision by the Department of Minerals to invoke a moratorium on licences in the Karoo where fracking is proposed,” said government spokesperson Jimmy Manyi in a statement on a Cabinet meeting that took place on 20 April 2011.

“The Department of Mineral Resources will lead a multidisciplinary team – including the departments of Trade and Industry, Science and Technology, among others – to fully research the full implications of the proposed hydraulic fracturing.

“Cabinet has made it very clear that a clean environment, together with all the ecological aspects, will not be compromised,” he said.

Shell, which has applied for a licence to drill for shale gas in an area of 90 000 square kilometres, has stated it would seek more information from the Department of Mineral Resources on the moratorium and what the new developments could mean for the company.

“Shell also supports local research efforts into hydraulic fracturing, as this will provide clarity and an improved understanding of the technology of hydraulic fracturing,” said Elton Fortuin, communications manager at Shell South Africa.

“We are fully committed to support the development of best-in-class regulatory standards for hydraulic fracturing in South Africa. This is confirmed in its Environmental Management Plan, which was submitted to the Petroleum Agency of South Africa as part of the company’s exploration licence application,” he noted, without wanting to answer specific questions on the value of the fracking project that Shell has in mind (24 wells), thus the amount the oil giant will miss out on if it is not granted a licence.

In short, hydraulic fracturing or fracking is a drilling technique used by gas and oil companies to extract shale gas from the deep underground.

The process works more or less as follows: After a well is drilled – a narrow hole that can reach depths of 4 000 metres – a mixture of millions of litres of water, sand and chemicals (1% of the concoction) is pumped at high pressure in the shale formations. While the water and chemicals serve to make fractures in the shale and to cool the drill bit, the function of the sand is to keep the cracks open so that the gas can flow freely to the surface where it is captured and stored.

One of the major concerns with regard to fracking in the Karoo is linked to the environment and water quality. While oil companies such as Shell claim the technique is safe, numerous records and media reports have pointed out the opposite. In the United States in particular, fracking operations have caused quite a bit of damage to both the environment and people’s health.

In 2008, Newsweek magazine published a feature about an American woman who almost lost her life after fracking fluids contaminated the drinking water resources of the town where she lived.

In September 2009, fracking fluids leaked from broken pipes and hoses into a wetland and creek in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, causing major environmental problems.

Last year, dangerous gases linked to fracking activities seeped into the drinking water of another Pennsylvania town, leaving scores of people sick.

“In the US, more than a thousand individual cases have been recorded of water contamination as a result of fracking,” said Jonathan Deal, chairperson of the Treasure the Karoo Action Group (TKAG), South Africa’s most prominent anti-fracking organisation. “There have been at least seven cases of large-scale drinking water contamination – we do not want that in the Karoo.”

The fact that companies in most American states as well as in countries such as Australia are not obliged to disclose the chemicals they use, intensifies the environmental and safety debate around fracking.

However, the Australian counterpart of the TKAG – Lock The Gate Alliance – has conducted research on the matter and has drawn up a list of hundreds of common fracking chemicals.

The database includes butoxyethanol (may cause all sorts of liver and kidney problems), acetic acid (a very corrosive chemical that may cause severe chemical burns to eyes and skin), ammonium persulfate (also used in hair bleach and which may irritate eyes, nose, lungs, throat and skin upon contact), boric oxide (also used to produce alloys and ceramics, and may cause irritation of the upper respiratory system), and hydrochloric acid (a very corrosive chemical that may be fatal when ingested and lethal to fish and other aquatic organisms).

“That is why some parts of the US and other developing countries including France and the [United Kingdom] have imposed moratoriums on fracking operations until they know exactly what implications the technique has on the environment, water resources and public health,” said Luke Havemann, director of Havemann Inc.

In April, this Cape Town-based law firm issued a critical review report on the environmental, health and social impact of hydraulic fracking specifically in the Karoo.

One of the main conclusions of the report was that fracking in the Karoo would be unconstitutional: “The South African Constitution guarantees the rights to a clean environment, to health and to clean water,” Havemann said. “And to sufficient water. Fracking goes against this.”

Apart from potentially threatening the environment and the quality of the Karoo’s scarce water resources, fracking sucks up enormous amounts of water.

“One vertical well requires between 300 000 and 900 000 litres of water,” said Kim Bye Bruun, Shell’s upstream communications manager. ”A horizontal well, which starts vertically and bends horizontally when the drill bit reaches the gas deposit, requires between 1.1 million and six million litres of water.”

This amount of water may be a small percentage of South Africa’s total water consumption, but it is an enormous amount for the Karoo, where some areas receive less than 150 millimetres of rain per annum.

Shell has promised it will not compete with the communities’ need for freshwater supplies. “We are looking at suitable options and will respect the fragile water balance of fresh/potable water in the Karoo,” Bye Bruun explained. “We are looking at dedicated water wells to access deep formation water or import water from other locations, including sourcing sea water. We can use brackish, seawater or grey water.”

The problem is not merely that other parts of South Africa, from where the water would be imported, struggle with a water shortage or that salty water in an arid region such as the Karoo could be, in case of spillage, bad news for the delicate and fragile ecosystem.

“We have no rail network, so water will have to be imported with trucks,” Deal explained. “Can you imagine what potentially thousands of water trucks will do to our roads, of which many are already in bad shape? Will Shell come fix them up first? Will they fix them afterward?”

For a single six-million-litre horizontal drill well, three hundred 20 000-litre water trucks would be required – resulting in 600 truck trips per well between water source and fracking site.

It seems the South African government has heard the pleas of Deal and sympathisers and, as expected, it has welcomed the authorities’ decision with open arms.

The battle, however, is far from over. A moratorium is nothing more than a temporary halt, not a permanent full stop.

The TKAG and followers should remain firmly on their guard and should use the coming months to lobby, recruit troops, sharpen their swords and keep the debate around fracking alive and kicking.

Why? So that they can strike back swiftly and efficiently in case the moratorium is lifted.

That is a strong possibility – thanks to our country’s chronic electricity problems.

South Africa needs energy – a great deal of it – and it needs it fast.

According to the 2010 Integrated Resource Plan for Electricity (IRPE), South Africa has to expand its power grid by 52 gigawatts over the next 20 years to meet the country’s electricity demand.

The shale gas reserves in the Karoo Basin are estimated at 3 000 to 5 000 trillion cubic feet – a substantial amount, which technically could help fill the gap.

In addition, the IRPE aims to reduce South Africa’s carbon emissions rate by 30% over the next two decades. This is critical, as our nation – where the bulk of the electricity is generated from coal – is the world’s seventh largest producer of greenhouse gas.

As the combustion of gas is said to be cleaner than oil or coal, exploiting shale gas from the Karoo would not only help secure South Africa’s energy, but reduce its carbon footprint as well.

Fixing South Africa’s electricity problem is undeniably crucial to stimulate the economy, create jobs and to improve lives.

Downsizing the national carbon footprint is, for various reasons, equally important.

Drilling for Karoo gas, however, is not the answer. There is simply too much at stake.

Miriam Mannak