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On the heels of groundbreaking developments last month with the announcement from the US Department of Energy that “shale won’t last beyond the next decade”, comes an article from the US (April 11) by Robert Weiner and Hannah Coombs, supporting views on the high rate of depletion of gas wells and pointing to the significant number of wells that must be drilled, at enormous cost, just to stay ahead of the decline curve. Stating that “We will be dancing to the joy of cheap oil prices until the wells are drilled dry — which could be as soon as five years — and could be facing earthquakes and drinking polluted ground water until then,” the authors reference various authoritative sources such as Drillinginfo and Prof. David Hughes, to support their viewpoint.

Robert Weiner is a former spokesman for the White House and House Government Operations Committee and was a Chief of Staff for Rep. Claude Pepper, among other senior positions that he held. Hannah Coombs is Policy Analyst at Robert Weiner Associates.

The article refers to new US regulations for the drilling industry that are expected to be implemented in June 2015.

TKAG leader, Jonathan Deal, remarked that he had observed a definite increase in scepticism amongst government officials, academia and the informed public when it came to accepting the figures of jobs, energy and money promised by the oil and gas industry. The industry has a well deserved reputation for overstating, actually lying, about benefits and simultaneously trivializing risk. “They do things like talking about fracking chemicals having some of the same ingredients as toothpaste and ice-cream – and while this is quite true, any informed person knows that fracking fluid is a potentially deadly concoction that no one would want in their toothpaste or their desert.”
“Since 2011 TKAG has pointed out the increasing number of independent and peer-reviewed reports that are exposing the ludicrous claims of the oil and gas industry. I think it also establishes cause for President Zuma to re-think his ‘game-changer, game-changer’ litany before he ends up in the same position as President Obama, who in 2012 stated that the US had 100 years of energy from natural (shale) gas.”

Meanwhile, newsworthy occurrences during the past two weeks include the horizontal oil well development (similar technology as shale gas) in Albania by Bankers Petroleum that caused unexpected gas explosions, geysers and flooding resulting in the evacuation of more than 60 families. Closer to home, Shell continue their effort to win hearts and minds with a donation of R5 million to assist with the development of a Seismology Reflection Centre at Wits University. It is expected that the money will be aimed at research and exploration of among others, the onshore Karoo basin.

Treasure Karoo Action Group