South Africa will lift its moratorium on shale gas exploration in October, ending a ban that has been in place since 2011. The prohibition will be removed once new extraction regulations are published, according to South Africa's Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, in an interview with Reuters.

"Once these regulations take effect, I will lift the moratorium. The economy needs stimuli for growth, and oil and gas represent exactly those stimuli," stated Mantashe.

The moratorium had prevented the regulatory authority from considering new applications for exploration and production rights. This decision was originally made in response to lawsuits filed by environmental activists concerned about the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing (a method of gas extraction) in the Karoo region.

According to estimates by the South African Petroleum Agency, the Karoo Basin contains approximately 209 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable shale gas reserves. However, a 2017 study conducted by geologists from the University of Johannesburg suggests this figure could range from 13 to 390 trillion cubic feet and is likely closer to the lower end of that range.

In a related development from August, the chairman of Algeria's state energy regulator Alnaft, Samir Behti, announced that the North African country is in the final stages of negotiations with American energy companies Exxon Mobil and Chevron to develop significant natural gas reserves, including shale gas.