Indaba told to develop SA’s gas market

South Africa’s energy sector should focus on developing a market for gas, despite speculation on whether the country has shale or off-shore gas within its own borders or not.

This is according to the gas industry experts speaking at the Africa Energy Indaba in Sandton yesterday.

South African Oil and Gas Alliance (Saoga) CEO Ebrahim Takolia said: “Currently, the primary energy demand from gas in South Africa is 2%.

“Even if there is no gas in South Africa, the gas market should still be developed.”

Takolia said in the case that South Africa does not have shale or offshore gas, the resource will still be available through possible infrastructure development and liquefied natural gas imported from elsewhere in Africa.

He said importing liquefied natural gas could be the first step in developing market demand and moving industries over to gas.

“South Africa also needs to consider an increase in carbon taxes.”

He said that South Africa should look at what the rest of the world is doing amid the trends in gas uptake and efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

He said that coal, which has long been used in South Africa as its primary source of “cheap” electricity, will soon cost more to utilise, merely due to the cost of carbon taxes on carbon emissions.

iGAS chief operating director, Mike de Pontes said: “There is reasonable evidence that there is gas in South Africa, but we do not know if there is enough for it to be economically viable to extract.”

Takolia said: “For power, the biggest game changer is shale gas and the opportunity of generating power from this resource in the Karoo.”

He said that the only way South Africa can find out whether or not it had an economically viable amount of gas was to explore.

Chairperson of Africa at communications agency Edelman, Francois Baird said: “It is key to engage the communities and stakeholders in the planning stage of the projects rather than after.”