The Durban branch hosted Paulo de Sousa Gomes from Schneider Electric at its August Technology Evening held at the Durban Country Club. Paulo introduced the attentive audience to the ‘Shale Gas Revolution’ and the interest in the topic was evident from the large number of members and guests in attendance.
Paulo began by explaining the geological aspects of shale gas and shale oil storage.
Shale gas is natural gas, predominantly methane, which is found trapped within the shale layer formations found approximately two thousand metres underground. It has become an increasingly important source of natural gas in the United States since the start of this century, where it has transformed the economics due to the high profit margin available from the exported fuels. Interest has now spread to potential gas shale in the rest of the world with the area of particular relevance to South Africa being the Karoo basin. Data collected by the Energy Information Administration agency of the United States indicates South Africa as the eighth largest potential shale gas producer in terms of reserves. This is a possible game changer for South Africa which could transform our energy landscape, but it has also sparked widespread debate because of fear of contamination of the underground water supply.
The method used to mine shale gas is a process commonly called fracking. Induced hydraulic fracturing is a technique in which a liquid (in most cases water) is mixed with sand and chemicals and the resultant mixture is injected at high pressure into a wellbore. This creates small fractures in the deep rock formations along which gas, petroleum and brine migrate to the well. When hydraulic pressure is removed from the well, the small grains of proppant (sand or aluminium oxide) hold these fractures open as the rock achieves equilibrium.
Paulo explained that a key to efficient extraction is the use of horizontal drilling which enables the shale to be exploited over relatively long distances and in a variety of directions. He went on to discuss the automation and processes involved which require monitoring the vast quantity of information and managing the process to ensure optimum production while protecting the environment. Configuring the control and management system is a huge undertaking, so Schneider has come up with a ‘Shale Gas Factory’ approach for easy self configuration.
At the conclusion, there were many questions from the floor with several interesting points raised. Discussions about the economic benefits versus the potential for possible environmental damage continued over the delicious Durban Country Club dinner long after the formal closure of the meeting.
It was a highly successful evening at which several students from the Mangosuthu University of Technology attended for the first time and we hope that they will be able to attend regularly in future.
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