The minister of forestry, fisheries and environment, Ms Barbara Creecy, has in terms of the National Environmental Management Act, published for public consultation proposed regulations related to the exploration and production of onshore oil and gas using hydraulic fracturing.
In addition, the minister has published for consultation the intention to prescribe minimum requirements for the submission of a raft of applications for authorisation. These include authorisation for the right, permit, or licence for the onshore exploration of oil and gas that rely on hydraulic fracturing.
Controversial subject
Fracking is a vexed subject in South Africa as over a decade ago farmers, conservationists and a range of other interest groups forced government to shelve its plans to frack in the water-scarce Karoo region. Since then government has been trying to introduce new regulations and measures related to water use as it attempts to strike a balance between deriving economic value by allowing fracking by the oil and gas industry and the need to protect the environment.
Standards and guidelines
The publication of the proposed regulations comes four years after the Supreme Court of Appeal set aside the ‘Regulations for Petroleum Exploration and Production’. The regulations were intended to set standards and guidelines for the use of hydraulic fracturing technology including helping manage the impact fracking would have on the environment. In addition, it was stipulated that only the minister for the environment was empowered to make regulations on environmental matters.
Prohibited activities and geographic areas
According to the department, the regulations also identify prohibited activities and prohibited geographic areas for the use of hydraulic fracturing technology. These include the use of potable water for hydraulic fracturing activities and the use of municipal water treatment facilities for the disposal of wastes from hydraulic fracturing operations.
An environmental authorisation is required for each phase of the process including seismic survey without hydraulic fracturing, hydraulic fracturing and the production phase, added the department. “This step-wise approach allows for information to be generated to support each phase of the process and will facilitate the consideration of cumulative impacts of the operation” said the department’s statement.
Monitoring and co-ordination
General and specific requirements are set for on-going environmental monitoring of hydraulic fracturing and production operations. Furthermore, measures would be put in place to ensure:
- co-ordination between decision-making authorities in relation to monitoring,
- environmental assessments
- timeframes for the consideration of applications
- conditions of approval and
- the decision-making process.
Minimum information requirements
The Hydraulic Fracturing Regulations will be supported by two Minimum Information Requirements (MIR) documents whose objectives are:
- to identify and consolidate the authorisation requirements of all decision-making authorities into one guidance document for the information of the applicant;
- to facilitate the combination of the information prepared in line with the Minimum Requirements into one consolidated impact assessment report and base line monitoring plan;
- to facilitate the process of simultaneous application submission for the authorisation, permits or licences required for the onshore exploration of oil and gas intending to utilise hydraulic fracturing; and
- to facilitate the process of simultaneous decision making.
Environmental requirements for fracturing
The first MIR document will consider the environmental requirements for exploration anticipating the use of hydraulic fracturing. The second one will consider the environmental requirements for exploration and production utilising hydraulic fracturing technology.
The first MIR: “The Minimum Requirements for the Submission of Applications for an Authorisation, Right, Permit or Licence for the Onshore Exploration of Oil and Gas Intending to Utilise Hydraulic Fracturing, Revision 0 May 2022”, has already been developed and is available for public comment.
A second MIR document dealing with the actual impacts of hydraulic fracturing entitled: “The Minimum Information Requirement for the Submission of Applications for the Authorisation, Right, Permit or Licence for Onshore Exploration and Production of Oil and Gas Utilising Hydraulic Fracturing” will be prepared in the near future. These documents are intended to provide guidance to developers on the requirements of authorisation for all decision-making and will also facilitate a “one stop authorisation process”.
