Study Calls for Halting of Oil Drilling in Okavango Delta

A study illustrating the threats that oil and gas exploration and production pose to water resources in Namibia and Botswana's target oil and gas has recommended that oil drilling in the Okavango Delta be halted. Canadian oil and gas company, Reconnaissance Energy Africa (ReconAfrica), plans to exploit potential oil reserves in the Cubango Okavango River Basin (CORB) in Namibia and Botswana, “where little is known about the local groundwater systems and how contamination and its effects could impact the region,” the study notes. [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type="show" ihc_mb_who="1,2,3,4" ihc_mb_template="3" ] Titled “Potential Groundwater Contamination from Oil Drilling in the Okavango,” the study was published this week. “Oil exploration activities in the region should ideally be halted until detailed risk assessment studies of the water resources are completed,” it states. “The governments of Botswana and Namibia should protect the communities, biodiversity, and the health of regional ecosystems during oil extraction by requiring rigorous EIAs before permitting any oil exploration.” Moratorium The study calls on the Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission (OKACOM) to consider imposing a moratorium on all oil and gas exploration and production within the Cubango-Okavango River Basin (CORB) until such a time as further studies are made. It says contaminated groundwater from the oil lease areas could take 3–23.5 years to reach the Okavango River system via the shallow sandy aquifer, and that in a worst-case scenario, contamination could reach the delta within four days via structures associated with dykes and faults that serve as primary flow paths. “Such contamination could adversely affect human health and the region's ecosystems and biodiversity,” it notes. “We recommend prohibiting oil exploration and production activities within the CORB until future studies can determine the impacts of hydrocarbon extraction with greater certainty.” According to the study, contamination from the West Kavango province in Namibia could infiltrate the river system along the Cubango River, moving towards the Okavango Delta. Contamination from the Botswana lease area could reach the Okavango River system's most sensitive area along the Okavango Delta's western flank. The most sensitive area “Contamination from the Site D area in East Kavango could take 1.2 years to reach the Okavango River and contaminated groundwater from Site E was calculated to take only 3.4 years to reach the most sensitive area of the Okavango River system,” the study says. It emphasises that the chances of surface and groundwater contamination within a local context are high, considering the geological structures that can serve as preferential flow paths. The study warns that geological structures could provide a pathway for possible contaminants to migrate to the Okavango Basin or the near-surface and the shallow aquifers within the basin. “Given a worst-case scenario where a single continuous fracture connects a contamination source to the Okavango Basin receptor, with a constant flow rate of 1 m/s and a distance of 320km, contaminants can reach the receptor in as little as four years,” it says. Fault movement It notes that the risk is not only limited to a structural pathway existing directly between the ReconAfrica lease areas; the effects of structures on the exploration wells are also significant. “Structures that intersect these features could allow for the migration of contaminants to the Kalahari sands and the shallow aquifers hosted within,” the study points out. “Structures that create pathways from the wells to the Okavango Graben, could exist. The seismic activity also poses a risk and fault movement can jeopardise the integrity of exploration wells, resulting in the possible escape of contaminants days.” It warns that extraction in the lease areas could present high risk to the health of the ecosystem, biodiversity, and human health and well-being in the region, given the detrimental effects of UOG contaminants on wetland ecosystems. [/ihc-hide-content]

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Study Calls for Halting of Oil Drilling in Okavango Delta

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