South Africa strikes gas in the Karoo

South Africa's mineral resources and energy minister Gwede Mantashe has announced the discovery of natural gas in the country's semi-desert Karoo region.

The country imports most of its gas from Mozambique and Mantashe told parliament two years ago that the country needed to make more of its own resources.

The government began drilling a 3,500-m stratigraphic well in the Karoo in September last year with the goal of finding and testing shale gas.

"I am pleased to share with this house that as of yesterday, we had drilled to a depth of 2,750-m," he said in an address to parliament on May 18. "The first pocket of gas was intercepted at 1,734 m with a further substantial amount intercepted at 2,467 m spanning a depth of 55 m. To date, a total of 34 gas samples have been bottled in canisters and taken to one of our laboratories for analysis."

The latest find comes after local developer Renergen reported making a "significant gas strike" at the Virginia gas project in the Karoo in March. Mantashe also pointed the Total's recent offshore discovery at the Luiperd prospect. Together, the two finds "are delivering positive signals that we will succeed in developing these resources in line with our ocean's economy agenda." He added that parliament had received a bill on amendments to gas law aimed at spurring investment in upstream and midstream development.

The minister also hit back against calls for a shift away from fossil fuels. The IEA just published a new report that concluded that no further investment in oil and gas production was needed as the world strives towards net-zero emissions by 2050.

"Even though South Africa and the rest of the world are increasingly under pressure to mitigate against climate change, South Africa’s energy capacity is largely dependent on fossil fuels," he said. "In an alternative universe, one would immediately eliminate fossil fuel-generated energy such as coal and petroleum. However, this is not our reality. Our reality is that we have vast reserves of coal and petroleum resources which we continue to exploit."

South Africa is nevertheless committed to a "just transition" from high to low carbon economy, he said, while ensuring security of energy supply.