What shale gas could mean for Southern Africa
Image by Henk Aartsma The shale gas debate rages on across Europe, Asia, and North America, but one ponders how the already resource rich Southern Africa fits into this equation. What is there, what is the potential and what could it mean from an economic and geopolitical standpoint? One country already known to possess great potential that can be released by fracking is the economic powerhouse of the region South Africa. Estimates from the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) in 2011 ranked South Africa as 5th out of the top 12 countries with technically recoverable shale gas resources. Primarily large local coal deposits drive South Africa’s energy sector at the moment, with almost 70 percent of South Africa’s energy being supplied by coal. With minimal deposits of conventional oil and natural gas, oil is imported primarily from the Middle East and West Africa and refined locally. South Africa’s strong synthetic fuels industry has allowed it to diversify its e...