A study commissioned by Royal Dutch
Shell Plc (RDSA) about the potential of shale gas in South Africa
doesn’t consider the risks related to developing the deposits,
according to an environmental group.
“The findings are lacking in balance to the extent that
one must call the objectivity and credibility of the analysis
into question,” Jonathan Deal, chairman of Treasure the Karoo
Action Group, said in an e-mailed statement today. The study
doesn’t include costs related to “damaged road infrastructure,
health remediation costs, pollution remediation and
environmental monitoring and enforcement of standards.”
The government has stopped shale licensing as it studies
the impact of allowing companies including Shell, Falcon Oil
Gas Ltd. (FO) and Bundu Oil and Gas (Pty) Ltd. to drill in the area.
Exploration companies pump chemically-treated water and sand
underground to release oil or gas trapped in rock, a process
known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Development of about 10 percent of South Africa’s shale gas
reserves would add as much as 200 billion rand ($27 billion)
annually to the economy, Johannesburg-based consultant
Econometrix (Pty) Ltd. said in a report released yesterday.
Treasure Karoo Action Group and residents of the arid Karoo
region of South Africa went to court to force the Department of
Mineral Resources to release a report on the impact of fracking
on the environment. The department will finish the report this
month, according to court filings.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Andres R. Martinez in Johannesburg at
amartinez28@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Andrew J. Barden at
barden@bloomberg.net
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Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-03/shell-commissioned-report-on-south-africa-gas-flawed-group-says.html