Karoo, South Africa: image Wikipedia
The Karoo is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa with two main sub-regions – the Great Karoo in the north and the Little Karoo in the south. The region is known to contain shale-gas deposits some 4,000m below the surface but the extent of the deposits have yet to be fully investigated.
Now Econometrix has published a new report on the potential for growth that Karoo shale gas could provide. The report is supported by Shell who are planning to explore the deposits. A pdf version of the report is available from Shell here: Karoo Shale Gas Report – February 2012
To put quantitities in perspective the 485 trillion cubic feet of gas (14 trillion cubic metres) thought to be in the Karoo compares with 25 trillion cubic metres in China and about 13 trillion cubic metres in the US. (The Age of Gas: China has enough shale gas for 200 years).
IOL, South Africa reports:
South Africa is potentially blessed with a multibillion-rand treasure in shale gas buried underground in the vast Karoo, according to a study commissioned by one of the principal potential players in the industry, Royal Dutch Shell.
Speaking at the release of the study on Friday, Econometrix economist Tony Twine estimated that reserves of 485 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of shale gas could be lurking in the Karoo. He glowingly described this as the equivalent of 400 years of oil consumption in South Africa.
The report, which assesses the potential macroeconomic benefits of hydraulic fracturing, argues that if there was only 4 percent of the estimated reserve, or 20tcf, it would boost South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) by R80 billion and government revenue by R35bn a year. It would create 300 000 permanent jobs. …..
The economy was heavily reliant on its energy sector and such a large scale development of shale gas would ease the energy deficit, making it cheaper to turbo-charge economic growth and reduce imports of natural gas and electricity.
About 67 percent of current oil consumption was imported and 65 percent of natural gas was piped in from Mozambique, he pointed out.
Econometrix managing director Rob Jeffrey acknowledged environmental concerns around fracking in other parts of the world, including the US, but he believed that the risks would be taken into account. The purpose of the report was to quantify the potential worth of shale gas in the Karoo.
But there is strong opposition – from the usual suspects – to the exploitation of any shale gas that may exist and to the growth and alleviation of poverty that this might bring.
Tags: Karoo, Natural gas, Royal Dutch Shell, Shale gas, shale gas reserves, South Africa
The k2p blog 