South Africa to Give Final Approval for Shale Gas Exploration in June

South Africa is most likely to give a go ahead to final regulations for shale gas exploration next month, according to news agency Reuters.

“We have finalised the regulations. It would be gazetted in a month's time,” Ngoako Ramatlhodi, minister of mineral resources, told reporters before his budget speech to parliament.

The raft rules we released almost two years ago. The delay in final awarding of licences has resulted in companies having second thoughts about their investments. In March, Shell announced it was pulling out of South African shale gas space due to regulatory delays.

Shell had applied for an exploration license covering more than 95,000 sq km, almost a quarter of the Karoo region, which is believed to hold up to 390 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable reserves.

Besides Shell, Falcon Oil and Gas in partnership with Chevron, and Bundu Gas have applied for exploration licenses, Reuters said.

However, various groups have protested against exploring for shale by fracking in Karoo due to fear of environmental damage.

“We have taken into consideration the issues of water and regulations are going to address this sufficiently, providing proper guidance on how to undertake hydraulic fracturing,” Reuters quoted d Thibedi Ramontja, director general in the department of mineral resources as saying.

It would take companies about three years of exploration to determine if the Karoo reserves were commercially viable, before moving into possible production, he added.