Science action plan for shale gas exploration in the Karoo Basin

Abstract

This document presents the response of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and the South African Academy of Engineering (SAAE) to a request submitted by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) for a Science Action Plan (SAP) in support of an emerging shale gas industry in South Africa. As proposed in the DSI Concept Note, a researcher was engaged to develop the draft document, which was compiled jointly by ASSAf and SAAE. The report has clustered the SAP proposals into three groups:

- Proposals that focus on fundamental research that will lead to knowledge generation

- Proposals that focus on the application of current knowledge to new circumstances associated with a shale gas industry

- Proposals that relate to enabling interventions to assist in the implementation of the SAP

It is important that this document be read in the context of the ASSAf report “South Africa’s Technical Readiness to support the Shale Gas Industry”, submitted to DSI in June 2015 and published in October 2016, since the Science Action Plan is a direct outcome of that study.