SHALE GALE--Sasol, Chesapeake, Statoil applying to explore for shale gas in Karoo

摘要

South Africa's Sasol is taking steps to join the global search for shale gas. Shale has for long been considered a rock too difficult to drill, but the breakthrough of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has opened up shale along with the gas that it harbours. Shale gas is a natural gas in sedimentary shale rock formations, the shale acting as both the source of the gas and the gas's reservoir. Sasol has let it be known that its exploration arm, Sasol Petroleum International, has submitted a joint application with Statoil ASA, of Norway, and Chesapeake Energy Corporation, of the US, for onshore petroleum exploration rights in the Karoo Basin.