SHELL South Africa has been ordered to withdraw "unsubstantiated" and "misleading" claims it made about its use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for shale gas exploration in the Karoo.
The ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), handed down yesterday, says Shell fell short of its standard of "unequivocal, independent verification" in adverts published in newspapers and ordered the oil giant to withdraw the adverts.
The ASA also found that a statement by Shell that "hydraulic fracturing is used at nearly nine out of 10 natural gas wells" was misleading and should be withdrawn.
In a scathing rejection of further claims that there has never been a single documented case of groundwater contamination resulting from fracturing, the ASA stated that Shell should examine the totality of environmental studies placed before it, before commenting on the issue. The company was ordered to withdraw this statement too.
Treasure the Karoo Action Group chairperson Jonathan Deal, who laid the complaint, said yesterday he was absolutely thrilled by the ruling which meant that Shell would be stopped from misinforming the public about the controversial procedure.
"The ruling means that they can never use those statements again. It was a critical ruling to us," Deal said. "We are absolutely thrilled.
"We do not know enough about the long-term or even the short-term damage fracking could inflict on the environment. We should not be misled by the emotional calls and manufactured facts of such adverts," Deal said.
Shell media spokesperson Fred Palmer was not available for comment yesterday.
Shell ordered to withdraw misleading ads
SHELL South Africa has been ordered to withdraw "unsubstantiated" and "misleading" claims it made about its use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for shale gas exploration in the Karoo.
The ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), handed down yesterday, says Shell fell short of its standard of "unequivocal, independent verification" in adverts published in newspapers and ordered the oil giant to withdraw the adverts.
The ASA also found that a statement by Shell that "hydraulic fracturing is used at nearly nine out of 10 natural gas wells" was misleading and should be withdrawn.
In a scathing rejection of further claims that there has never been a single documented case of groundwater contamination resulting from fracturing, the ASA stated that Shell should examine the totality of environmental studies placed before it, before commenting on the issue. The company was ordered to withdraw this statement too.
Treasure the Karoo Action Group chairperson Jonathan Deal, who laid the complaint, said yesterday he was absolutely thrilled by the ruling which meant that Shell would be stopped from misinforming the public about the controversial procedure.
"The ruling means that they can never use those statements again. It was a critical ruling to us," Deal said. "We are absolutely thrilled.
"We do not know enough about the long-term or even the short-term damage fracking could inflict on the environment. We should not be misled by the emotional calls and manufactured facts of such adverts," Deal said.
Shell media spokesperson Fred Palmer was not available for comment yesterday.
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