South Africa will lift a long-standing moratorium on shale gas exploration as soon as new regulations, expected this month, are published, the petroleum resources minister said on Thursday.
A ban imposed in 2011 stopped the regulator from processing new applications for reconnaissance permits, as well as exploration and production rights in response to a public outcry and court action by environmental campaigners concerned about the impact of hydraulic fracking in the ecologically sensitive Karoo region.
Earlier on Thursday a post-cabinet statement said the country’s environment minister had finalised shale gas regulations and they would be published before the end of October.
“Once those regulations are gazetted, I lift the moratorium,” Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe told Reuters.
“The economy needs a growth trigger and oil and gas are those triggers.”
South Africa favours gas as it attempts to shift from more polluting coal-fired plants that supply the bulk of its electricity requirements.
The regulations on shale gas will provide a framework to control environmental and safety concerns, including water challenges, associated with fracking in the semi-arid Karoo region.
South Africa, the continent’s most
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