By: Terence Creamer

19th July 2011

Questions have again been raised as to whether any possible future shale gas exploration licences for the Karoo could explicitly prevent so-called "test fracking" in favour of less "invasive" techniques to understand the subsurface of the area ahead of any government decision to allow, or prevent, unconventional gas production.

But industry practitioners attending an IRR shale gas conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday stressed that such preproduction hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is required to prove that the gas will indeed flow and, thus, needs to be included as part of the exploration and development phase.

South Africa has instituted a moratorium on the issuance of exploration licences to allow time for the country to gain scientific insight into the practice of fracking, which is relatively new internationally but has grown exponentially in North America over the past two decades and is likely to grow elsewhere over the coming years.

This growth is predicated on the belief that unconventional natural gas resources were vast and widely dispersed geographically, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) reporting recently that unconventional gas resources were currently estimated to be as large as conventional resources.

Therefore, Stellenbosch University sedimentary geologist Dr Daniel Mikes argued in favour of further exploration of South Africa's shale gas resource, saying that it was necessary to understand whether the gas existed and in what quantities. This could provide the information necessary for government to make a decision on the costs and benefits of allowing the industry to proceed towards commercial production.

However, he questioned whether it was necessary to included fracking as part of the process, saying that noninvasive techniques could suffice in providing critical subsurface information.

However, NT Energy MD Chris Mumby, together with representatives from Shell, explained that, besides the extraction of core samples and the use of seismic techniques, test fracking over the course of months would also be needed to finalise the design of the production facility and to inform any eventual investment decision.

Proponents stress that this test fracking would be small in scale relative to a commercial facility.

Nevertheless, anti-fracking lobby groups, as well as Karoo residents and farmers, are deeply concerned about the implications for water supply and quality, as well as for air quality. They are also anxious about direct and indirect surface invasion, particularly in the form of trucks carrying either the water used in fracking, or the final product itself.

The opponents believe that any issuance of exploration licences should, thus, not proceed before there was greater scientific certainty about the possible environmental effects and also not before the regulations were in place to govern the nascent sector.

But industry practitioners stressed that the licences were needed to confirm the resource base, which the US Department of Energy estimated could be as large as 485-trillion cubic feet, or the fifth largest shale resource in the world.

The Central Energy Fund’s Dr Mike de Pontes said it was important to confirm whether or not this gas resource truly existed so that an analysis could be made as to the cost and benefits of exploiting the gas either directly, or in the form of electricity.

He noted that gas only accounted for 3% of South Africa’s current energy use and that material infrastructure planning was required should the country decide to add unconventional gas sources into its energy mix.

Such planning should take account of the fact that the shale gas resource covered a large surface area and that it could require either a network of pipelines, roads or rail to serve markets practically and cost effectively.

Further, water sources and treatment would need to be considered, particularly given the lack of water in the Karoo, as well as the possible future national shortfalls.

But De Pontes also argued that there could be economic and environmental benefits from the discovery and exploitation of domestic natural gas, with potential to further diversify the electricity mix with the addition of more than the 2 370 MW of gas-based production by 2030.

But the carbon dioxide reduction relative to coal would be less than in the case of conventional gas, with the IEA indicating that unconventional gas had 3.5% higher “well-to-burner” emissions.

“But we still do not have definitive information and we need to do the drilling and the exploration to firm that up,” he concluded.

http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/test-fracking-needed-during-shale-exploration-phase-industry-2011-07-19