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Cape Town - The Department of Mineral Resources was expected to publish regulations which will govern the exploration process for shale gas in the Karoo, senior Cabinet ministers reported on Tuesday.
At a briefing at Parliament, Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa reported that the Mineral Resources Minister would make an announcement on the regulations shortly.
Mineral Resources Deputy Minister Godfrey Oliphant emphasised that the government was "serious about environmental protection", but was also excited "about growth prospects of shale gas" - to be extracted through a process of hydraulic fracturing.
Noting that the existing Mossgas plant had fed on just one trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas, he said there was a huge potential for shale gas.
"We should emphasise the exciting growth prospects of this initiative of shale gas in our country... we have examples where this has turned around the economies of certain countries."
It was now anticipated that there could be anything from 18 tcf and 72 tcf, which had exciting possibilities for exploitation in terms of economic growth.
This was an indication that the government has revised its figure of expected shale gas resources considerably from nearly 500 tcf anticipated in previous shale gas briefings.
Pandor said a buffer zone of 25km would surround sensitive sites such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). "Having considered the vital importance of the SKA for our country and the world, the interdepartmental task team has made a decision to ensure that the shale gas initiative must never impact negatively on the SKA."
The government announced at the media briefing - also beamed to Pretoria - a 24 month strategic environmental assessment (SEA) for shale gas development.
Pandor said the SEA would be "a science-based assessment to improve our (government's) understanding of the risks and opportunities of shale gas development. We believe this will assist government to create a framework and guiding principles to inform responsible decision-making".
The SEA would consider both exploration and production related activities and impacts of shale gas development, including the process of hydraulic fracturing, and would include an assessment of all material, social, economic and biophysical risks and opportunities presented.
A project team had been appointed under the guidance of "systems ecologist" Professor Bob Scholes of the University of the Witwatersrand, who is also a research associate at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). His project team would include the CSIR, the South African National Biodiversity Institute and the Council for Geosciences. It would carry out the SEA.
Pandor noted that "people are at the heart of all development". She said: "It is the people of South Africa who will benefit most if it is found that viable deposits of lower carbon shale gas exist - enabling exploitation, extraction and development.
"Equally it is people who will be most affected by potential environmental impacts that may arise as a result of this exploitation if we do not proactively undertake this investigation thoroughly."
