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Johannesburg - The discovery of natural gas in the Karoo will "create jobs on a level never seen before", said Philip Lloyd of the Energy Institute at Cape Peninsula University of Technology on Wednesday.
Despite the "emotional rantings" of environmental lobby groups about the disastrous impact of hydraulic fracking on the region, the introduction of the technology has the potential to "change the face of the nation".
Speaking at a debate on fracking hosted by the Johannesburg Press Club and EE Publishing, Lloyd said he believed the current moratorium on natural gas prospecting licences in the Karoo should be lifted because there is a need to identify whether the country's shale deposits are the size they have been estimated to be.
South African is potential shale reserves rank as the fifth largest shale gas deposits in the world after China, the US, Argentina and Mexico.
But his argument has been countered by Chris Hartnady, who believes policy has preceded adequate studies.
He believes there should be far more scientific studies done before the moratorium be maintained indefinitely pending the evidence of baseline studies, particularly of the geology of the Karoo.
According to Hartnady, while the world is reaching a predicament of peak energy and is sorely in need of alternative energy sources, it cannot rush into new technological methods without the necessary research.
Because of the geological structures in the Karoo, which he dubbed the Cape Stress Province, "poking and stressing holes in the Karoo is like poking a sleeping animal".
He said besides potentially polluting aquifers because of the failure of casings and cement that are meant to protect the water, fracking could trigger earthquakes due to the stress symptoms around the borehole.
What both Lloyd and Hartnady agreed on though was that South Africa was in the midst of an energy crisis and its dependence on coal had to be diversified.
But the question is whether the country should perhaps give serious consideration to other options such as the hydrogen economy, particularly given the country's platinum deposits.
Despite the "emotional rantings" of environmental lobby groups about the disastrous impact of hydraulic fracking on the region, the introduction of the technology has the potential to "change the face of the nation".
Speaking at a debate on fracking hosted by the Johannesburg Press Club and EE Publishing, Lloyd said he believed the current moratorium on natural gas prospecting licences in the Karoo should be lifted because there is a need to identify whether the country's shale deposits are the size they have been estimated to be.
South African is potential shale reserves rank as the fifth largest shale gas deposits in the world after China, the US, Argentina and Mexico.
But his argument has been countered by Chris Hartnady, who believes policy has preceded adequate studies.
He believes there should be far more scientific studies done before the moratorium be maintained indefinitely pending the evidence of baseline studies, particularly of the geology of the Karoo.
According to Hartnady, while the world is reaching a predicament of peak energy and is sorely in need of alternative energy sources, it cannot rush into new technological methods without the necessary research.
Because of the geological structures in the Karoo, which he dubbed the Cape Stress Province, "poking and stressing holes in the Karoo is like poking a sleeping animal".
He said besides potentially polluting aquifers because of the failure of casings and cement that are meant to protect the water, fracking could trigger earthquakes due to the stress symptoms around the borehole.
What both Lloyd and Hartnady agreed on though was that South Africa was in the midst of an energy crisis and its dependence on coal had to be diversified.
But the question is whether the country should perhaps give serious consideration to other options such as the hydrogen economy, particularly given the country's platinum deposits.
