Financial Times: S Africa lifts fracking ban

South Africa on Friday lifted a 2011 ban on shale gas exploration in its semi-arid Karoo region, allowing oil majors resume the scramble for exploration licences.

The country’s estimated 485tn cubic feet of technically-recoverable shale gas resources are the fifth largest in the world, placing it just behind China, which has 1,275tn cubic feet, the US, Argentina and Mexico.

The bulk of South Africa’s reserves are in the Karoo basin where Royal Dutch Shell, Falcon Oil & Gas,  Anglo American and Australia’s Challenger Energy were among the companies seeking licences before April 2011, when the ban was imposed.  MORE