North America’s success in drilling shale oil and gas has aroused the interest of other countries looking to develop their shale reserves for greater economic prosperity.

Some European nations have followed the example of the US and Canada that are spearheading the world`s shale revolution. African countries also are joining the shale oil and gas race.

The African Development Bank (AfDB), described as the largest clean energy financier on the African continent, is showing the way forward for Africa’s shale oil and gas development. Details of a study, titled Shale Gas and its Implications for Africa and the African Development Bank, by the bank showed that a number of African countries already have been identified as possessing possible viable shale gas deposits which could be developed for big economic benefits.

“The additional supplies of gas from such sources have the potential to lower international gas prices and to increase the consumption of natural gas, partly at the expense of coal, thus slowing down the growth of greenhouse gas emission from power generation while conferring substantial economic benefits to the countries producing the gas,” Donald Kaberuka, president of the AfDB, said in the study.

Production of gas from shale deposits is accompanied by a number of difficulties, particularly concerning the amount of water that is required, Kaberuka said. Good environmental planning and management of shale gas production can reduce these costs associated with its production, he explained.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) produced a study in 2011 estimating global technically recoverable shale gas reserves, but geological data was available for only 32 countries, according to the AfDB.

Some African countries were omitted from the study mostly due to lack of adequate public data, but estimates could be made for six countries – Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania, South Africa, and the Western Sahara, the AfDB study said.

Other oil and gas sources said major oil shale deposits are located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Madagascar, Botswana, and Nigeria. The deposits are likely to be found in more African countries in the future.

AfDB said a study by Advanced Resources International (ARI), an energy consulting firm, estimated that total shale gas-in-place in South Africa amounts to 55 Tcm (1,834 Tcf), and recoverable reserves are 15 Tcm (485 Tcf). This places South Africa among the most important sources of shale gas in the world, with recoverable reserves almost as large as the total of proven conventional gas reserves for the whole of Africa.

The South African government imposed a shale gas exploration moratorium in April 2011, following protests by opponents of hydraulic fracturing. However, in September 2012 the government lifted the moratorium in its onshore Karoo basin, a huge but sparsely populated mid-arid area stretching over much of South Africa. The area could hold one of the world’s largest reserves of the gas.

International oil companies including Shell, Total, Chevron, and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. have applied for exploration permits in the Karoo basin, and the first exploration well is targeted to be drilled in 2014.

Studies have found that the country has between 9 Tcm (300 Tcf) and 15 Tcm (500 Tcf) of tight oil and more than 21 Tcm (700 Tcf) of shale gas, Algeria’s Energy and Mines Minister Youcef Yusfi told The Africa Report in October.

Prospects also are high for Algeria.

“Algeria is a likely key place for shale gas production to develop. First, although the country is currently a major gas exporter, local demand is growing to the extent that conventional gas exports are likely to decrease,” said the AfDB study. “Because Algeria is heavily dependent on gas for export revenue (90% of which comes from hydrocarbons), extra gas reserves would enable exports to keep fueling the country`s development.”

The report added that secondly, Algeria is a longtime major gas producer. It has a regional natural gas pipeline, as well as international export pipelines and an LNG terminal, demonstrating the established nature of its domestic and export markets.

“Algeria, with its lengthy history of gas production and export, is likely to be regarded as an attractive environment by potential investors, and this is reflected in the interest major companies are already showing in its shale gas reserves,” the AfDB study continued.

The bank stated that a number of companies – including Eni, Shell, and Talisman – already have signed exploration agreements. Eni has started exploration, while the Algerian national oil company, Sonatrach, drilled its first shale wells in 2011. It could take another six to seven years before Algeria produces commercial shale gas.

As for Libya, the ARI study estimated that gas-in-place is 34 Tcm (1,147 Tcf), while the recoverable reserves are about 9 Tcm (290 Tcf). The latter is more than five times larger than the country’s proven conventional reserves. Of the gas-in-place, about 2 Tcm (75 Tcf) are in the Ghadames basin and 33 Tcm (1,090 Tcf) in the Sirt basin.

The long-term prospects for shale gas production in Libya seem to be highly promising based on such large reserves.

The ARI study estimates the shale gas-in-place in Tunisia at about 1.8 Tcm (61 Tcf) and the technically recoverable reserves at 509 Bcm (18 Tcf). These, it said, are substantially smaller amounts than Libya and Algeria, but nevertheless are a substantial increase over the small proven conventional gas reserves of less than 85 Bcm (3 Tcf).

The first shale gas well was drilled with fracturing in 2010 in Tunisia, and in mid-2012 Shell submitted to the government a request for an exploration permit for shale gas, the AfDB study pointed out.

The area known as Western Sahara was estimated to contain about 1 Tcm (37 Tcf) gas-in-place, of which 198 Bcm (7 Tcf) would be recoverable. At present, there is no prospect of this being actively developed.

In Botswana, controversy is brewing over the opening of vast tracks of the Kalahari Desert to shale gas prospectors, and the impact this has on the region’s indigenous people, particularly their access to water, EurActiv.com said in a report.

AfDB said shale gas discoveries in Africa “represent an important challenge” for the continent. “On the one hand, reserves, if confirmed, may be substantial enough in some countries to bring major economic benefits. On the other hand, the environmental risks could in some circumstances prove so severe that it would be better for the government to ban the production of shale gas,” the bank said.

But the AfDB, the study added, could act as an “honest broker” by working to ensure that governments with possible shale gas reserves are better informed, with access to the best information on possible environmental dangers, their possible remedies, and the legislation and regulations that would be needed to minimize the risks.