Nuenergy Gas Limited (NGY), an
Australian power-development company, said it’s optimistic of making
significant shale-gas finds in eastern Africa, where it has begun exploration.
The company is starting to search
for shale gas in Malawi, has applied for permits in Tanzania and is looking to
explore in Zambia, Mozambique and other eastern African nations, Chairman
Graeme Robertson said in a phone interview on June 18.
While there has been a boom in
shale-gas production worldwide in nations including the US and Australia, only
a handful of countries in Africa are working to develop reserves.
South Africa, which has the world’s
fifth-biggest reserves, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt are among
the countries on the continent with the most shale-gas potential, according to
the US Energy Information Administration.
“If you look at maps of shale gas
resources in the world, there is a big blank south of the Sahara,” Robertson
said. “We are quite optimistic that we will be able to find some good shale-gas
resources.”
The industry standard for obtaining
shale gas is through hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,” which is a drilling
process where large volumes of water, mixed with chemicals and sand, are
injected into the ground under high pressure to crack open shale and release
the reserves, according to the International Energy Agency.
NuEnergy conducted an aeromagnetic
survey of a 346 square kilometers (134 square miles) of land in southern Malawi
in May to determine which sites are best to start exploratory drilling.
The survey was the first of its kind
in the country and results are expected in about three weeks, Robertson said.
The company already has one drill rig operating in the country.
NuEnergy also applied for two
exploration permits in southwestern Tanzania, where there may be “large
potential shale resources,” he said.
The country has 40 trillion cubic
feet of natural-gas reserves, Energy Minister Sospeter Muhongo said in April.
The Tanzanian government has held
off granting the permits because it is currently drafting a gas policy after
recent discoveries of offshore gas reserves.
The country plans to auction
licenses for seven offshore blocks and one section in Lake Tanganyika in
October.
NuEnergy envisions that East African
shale reserves will be sent to micro-liquid-natural-gas plants to be used
domestically as transport fuel rather than for export. Smaller LNG facilities
cost about $20m to $30m, compared with several billion dollars for larger LNG
facilities, Robertson said.
Shale-gas exploration has raised
controversy globally over concerns that include water contamination from the
chemicals used in the drilling process.
In South Africa, environmental
groups have opposed drilling in the semi-desert Karoo basin. The government
lifted a moratorium on fracking in September 2012. Other countries, including
France, have banned fracking.
SOURCE: http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=56200
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