Shale gas powering up for South Africa

By IAIN ESAU Cape Town

 12 November 2010 01:16 GMT

South Africa’s shale gas potential could have a major impact on the country’s economy as it struggles with power shortages and out­ages.

Mthomazi Xiphu, chief executive of Petroleum Agency of South 
Africa (Pasa), the nation’s regulatory body, said this unconventional resource “may have the potential to change the energy profile of the country”.

Studies are being carried out in the Great Karoo basin in central South Africa by a number of 
companies, big and small, under technical co-operation permits.

Anglo-Dutch supermajor Shell is close to completing work under its TCP, said Xiphu, while Denver-based Falcon Oil & Gas has seen enough in its initial desktop studies to apply for exploration rights over 30,350 square kilometres.

If…

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