Basic Oil Shale Facts - Western Resource Advocates

Basic Oil Shale Facts - Western Resource Advocates:

Oil Shale

The more that's understood about oil shale, the less realistic its various development schemes appear. As the current public debate over oil shale's future prospects grows louder, many of the pertinent facts about oil shale have fallen by the wayside. Below are some of the basic facts about oil shale that are being overlooked:

• There’s no oil in oil shale.
  Oil shale is a controversial “unconventional” hydrocarbon resource that is poorly understood by the general public.  Contrary to its name, oil shale contains no petroleum but is instead a dense rock that has a waxy substance called kerogen tightly bound within it.  When kerogen is heated to high temperatures, it liquefies, producing compounds that can eventually be refined into synthetic petroleum products.
• Getting liquid from a stone.
  The Achille's heel of oil shale is that it must undergo an energy-intensive conversion process to turn from a solid into a liquid. There are two basic methods to get kerogen out of oil shale.  The first is to mine it through traditional hard rock mining methods, crush the rock, and cook it in a device called a retort that heats it without the presence of oxygen.  The second method, called in situ, is to heat the rock where it lies underground to liquefy the kerogen and pump it to the surface. Both methods are far more energy and water intensive and expensive than traditional drilling methods for crude oil and thus does compete economically with crude oil. 

• History of oil shale.
  Humans have known about oil shale for thousands of years. Its first use as a commercial resource began in the 1830 in France, when it was mined and cooked in small quanitities to produce oil to light oil lamps. Oil shale's usefulness as a fuel source for illumination disappeared with the introduction of cheaper and safer electrical lighting. Efforts to develop oil shale in quantities sufficient for use as a transportation fuel have come and gone over the last one-hundred years, succumbing to technological insufficiency, unprofitability, and unsolvable environmental side effects.
• Oil shale in the US.
  Oil shale is unevenly distributed around the world.  The United States possesses roughly 70% of world oil shale deposits, with the vast majority located in the Green River shale regions in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. 
  Interest in developing these western oil shale deposits has led to a number of booms and subsequent busts, often spurred on by incentives and prodding from the federal government.  The first came between 1916 and 1920, when a land rush by prospectors and speculators led to a boom in interest in oil shale. Without adequate technology, and the emergence of a flourishing crude oil industry, this first wave of US oil shale development crashed.
  Fears over domestic energy supplies sparked small oil shale booms in the 1950’s due to Cold War energy concerns, and again in the 1970’s as a result of the Arab oil embargo.  But by 1980, the federal government had assembled a pot of subsidies, price supports, loans, and other incentives luring major oil companies to make substantial investments in the Piceance Basin area of western Colorado.  This boom would be short lived.  On May 2, 1982 -- “Black Sunday” -- ExxonMobil pulled out of oil shale due to falling oil prices and vanishing federal subsidies.  The economy of western Colorado collapsed and the entire state of Colorado entered an economic slump as a result.
• Reemergence of oil shale
  Oil shale has returned to the world stage due to rising oil prices and concerns about national energy independence.  What has not changed is the lack of a technology capable of turning oil shale rocks into transportation fuels in a commercially viable manner.  The George W. Bush Administration provided incentives to lure the oil industry back into oil shale with low royalty rates, access to federal lands, and relaxed regulations.  But this time the traditional technological hurdles are being compounded by:
  1. questions about oil shale’s high carbon footprint and climate change consequences
  2. it’s high energy usage
  3. the large amount of water it would consume in a very dry part of the nation
  4. concerns over its potentially devastating environmental, social and economic consequences in western shale-bearing lands.

Tar Sands

• Turning pavement into fuel?
  Utah's tar sands deposits have been used since the 1930's as a paving material for roads in Utah and surrounding states. Similar to oil shale, Utah's tar sands have a history of failed attempts to commercially extract liquid fuels from these bitumen-impregnated sandstone rocks. Paving has been this resource's most profitable use so far.
• Utah is not Alberta
  Tar sands deposits in Alberta Canada are being exploited on a commercial scale. Thenegative environmental and social consequences of this tar sands boom are profound, but industry has figured out the technological solutions to make the industry profitable --when crude oil prices are high enough. The monetary success witnessed in Alberta will not be able to be mirrored in Utah, home to the United States' largest tar sands deposits. In Alberta, a thin layer of water binds the tar to the surrounding sands, allowing an energy and water-intense steaming process to readily separate the two. Utah tar sands, in sharp contrast,have no such layer of water binding the tar to the sands and will require discovering a new and different technology to make developing this resource economical.
  Utah tar sands is also harder to mine that its Alberta counterpart. Whereas Alberta's tar sands are softer and more pliable, making them easy to scoop up with shovels and haul to a processing facility, the denser and harder Utah tar sands must be mined used hardrock mining techniques that greatly increase the cost and effort required to remove it from the ground. Utah tar sands will have higher mining costs, higher development costs, less economies of scale, and more financial risk involved than seen in Alberta.
• Not much fuel in a barrel of tar sands
  Tar sands were at one point crude oil, but because of hydrocarbon-eating bacteria and other environmental degredation, much of the material that could have been turned into a fuel is gone. The bulk of what remains is a thick gooey substance called bitumen that cannot be burned to produce energy. In a barrrel of conventional light crude oil, roughly 10% out of each barrel is tar. With tar sands, over 2/3rds of each barrel is tar, with only about 1/3 being compounds that could be refined into any sort of fuel, and only a fraction of that can be turned into gasoline that can power your car.

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What are shale oil, shale gas and oil shale?

What are shale oil, shale gas and oil shale?:

What are shale oil, shale gas and oil shale?

2012 оны 9 сарын 24

S.Batkhuyag. President Monationenergy (NGO), Doctor Of Science, Professor

G.Yondongombo. Executive Director Monationenergy (NGO), PhD

Oil shale is one of the most prolific hydrocarbon resources on earth. Massive deposits are found in a number of countries around the globe, including Australia, Brazil, China, Estonia, Israel, Jordan, and the United States. Preliminary geologic surveys and evidence from oil shale outcrops indicate that Mongolia may also have oil shale resources of a size and quality that are commercially viable. Today, only China and Estonia produce oil shale commercially. With the high price of oil, decline in world conventional oil reserves, and increasing competition for oil resources worldwide, many countries and oil companies are turning their attention to this significant source of oil as the next generation of petroleum supply. Mongolia may be favourably positioned to benefit from the development of oil shale.

The United States is recognized as having the largest oil shale deposits in the world, the richest of which are located in a reasonably small area of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, collectively referred to as the Green River Basin. Estimates of the total resource that could be conceivably recovered, exceeds 2 trillion barrels (277 billion tons) -- eight times the size of Saudi Arabia’s reserves. In recent years, interest in development of the U.S. oil shale resource has increased significantly. Major oil companies, such as Shell, Exxon, and Total, along with numerous independent energy companies are developing new technologies. Through the Energy Policy Act of 2005 the U.S. government opened lands for oil shale research and development leases, for both subsurface (insitu) and surface production technologies. In 2008 the U.S. Department of the Interior finalized Rules and Regulations for the potential leasing of approximately 2 million acres in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. Though they have been challenged on legal grounds, the regulations have set the stage for eventual commercial development.

Mongolia, like the United States, may have an opportunity to develop its potential oil shale resources. This is a resource of significant national importance, the development of which could provide Mongolia with energy security in addition to export market opportunities and secure high paying employment, including engineering and technical jobs, for many people. As with the United States, Mongolia requires all types of energy resources, both conventional and unconventional petroleum, to meet their respective needs. Often the distinction between certain resources are obscured or misunderstood.
 In the United States and elsewhere in the world a great deal of attention has been given to shale oil and shale gas production. These resources should not be confused with oil shale, as will be explained later. A host of European countries are looking at the development of shale gas as a means to secure a measure of independence from natural gas imports. The United States has found more than 100 years’ supply of shale gas in the Marcellus and Barnett formations. Using similar technological advances, shale oil reserves such as the Bakken and Niobrara reservoirs are producing substantial quantities of oil.

None of these resources has the size nor production potential of oil shale. The potential for oil shale production is tremendous worldwide and for detractors and skeptics, it should be noted that it was not long ago that shale gas and shale oil were thought to be both technically and economically unproductive.

Aside from the fact that we are discussing oil and gas, as mentioned, this is where the comparison between shale oil/shale gas and oil shale ends. In recent trade journals and newspaper articles there has been confusion regarding the difference between oil shale and shale oil. In certain articles the terms are used incorrectly and often interchangeably, further confusing their distinction. There is a world of difference between the two resources; comparing them is not unlike confusing oil with coal, both of which are hydrocarbons, but strikingly different in composition and methods of production and synthesis.

By definition, oil shale is a petroleum precursor, which is organic matter in the rock called kerogen. By applying heat, it can be transformed into oil and gas. Shale oil, or “tight oil” is a conventional crude oil created naturally and trapped in shale deposits -- requiring modern drilling and recovery technologies to produce. Shale gas is similarly produced from shale deposits. Advances in drilling and secondary recovery technology in the past decade have allowed companies to produce conventional oil and gas from heretofore uneconomic shale formations.

Oil shale (kerogen) deposits are entirely different from shale oil deposits. They have not sustained the time and temperature required to turn the kerogen to crude oil. Only applied heat will convert oil shale to crude oil. What mother earth failed to accomplish with time, can be obtained by the application of man-made heat.

The oil shale production process involves only the application of heat. Unlike shale oil production, there is no requirement for elaborate long-reach horizontal drilling or fracturing of the rocks to allow flow paths through which the oil and gas will be produced. There is no water or chemical reagents used to facilitate the fracturing of the reservoir in the production of oil shale. In fact, subsurface water is produced and can be cleaned and used for other purposes.

 The crude oil produced from oil shale is high in light ends and is a source of quality products such as diesel, jet fuel, motor gasoline and natural gas liquids. Like China and other neighbouring countries, Mongolia is blessed with this resource and if produced in a responsible way, it can be a major part of the energy portfolio of the country.

Further information on oil shale can be found through the National Oil Shale Association at
            www.oilshaleassociation.com

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Background

Background:

Background

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The rich oil shale resources of western Colorado are no secret. They were discovered over a hundred years ago, and they have seen several failed attempts at exploitation, due primarily to cost and technical issues. The most recent oil shale boom went bust on “Black Sunday” in May 1982 when oil companies closed the Colony Oil Shale project near Parachute, Colorado and over 2,000 residents of western Colorado became unemployed overnight. After decades of inaction, however, high gasoline prices led Congress in 2005 to put oil shale planning on a fast track.

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Background on oil shale:
Oil Shale is a sedimentary rock that contains solid bituminous materials known as kerogen.  The rock does not contain oil, but when heated to very high temperatures it releases the kerogen that can be stabilized, upgraded and processed into fuel. Developing oil shale into a fuel resource would be an energy-intensive, environmentally-destructive practice that is not yet commercially viable anywhere in the world.  Both strip mining or in-situ mining (which involves heating the ground to more than 700⁰ F to melt out the kerogen) of oil shale require huge amounts of energy. In fact, more energy may go into the development process than would be produced in the oil.
At this point very little is known about the impacts that would likely result from large-scale shale oil development.
Water Impacts
Oil shale development is projected to have a dramatic effect on Colorado’s water supplies and potentially its water quality. Water requirements for traditional mining and surface retort oil shale development are well documented, but estimates for in-situ production, which is being proposed at five sites in the Piceance Basin of Colorado, haven’t been made public. This water would have to come from a combination of Colorado’s unused share of the Colorado River – if any remains – and from existing users such as the agricultural and ranching operations scattered across the scrub-covered range and piñon-juniper woodlands.
Producing oil from shale uses water on site both during and after production (to cleanse the production zone after the oil has been extracted). For example, Shell recently disclosed in a permit application for its small research and demonstration site that it will have to rinse its underground production area over 20 times, requiring up to 4 acre-feet each day for over two years and resulting in massive water disposal challenges.
Oil shale development also poses a potentially serious threat to water quality. The process of transforming the kerogen in shale into oil leaves behind salts and numerous toxic, water-soluble chemicals that could leach into the groundwater that is the source of much of the region’s surface water during the critical time when flow is lowest. Flushing these chemicals from the oil shale production zone, as several companies propose, would also create large volumes of highly saline water that will require further treatment. But like oil shale production itself, the technical feasibility of isolating and treating contaminated groundwater has not been demonstrated. The toxic chemicals left behind in the spent shale could potentially pollute important water sources including the Colorado River and some of its tributaries.
Air Impacts
Developing oil shale on the west slope is going to require about 12,000 megawatts of electricity from somewhere, probably coal-fired power. But the new limits on ozone proposed by the EPA means that there is very little room for new industrial development that adds to air pollution. And the ozone issue is just the tip of the iceberg – 12,000 megawatts of coal-fired power will have a host of impacts, from mercury in water supplies to a huge increase in global warming pollution from Colorado.
The proposed underground production technologies now being developed by Shell, Chevron and EGL Resources will create major new demands on the energy grid. Our existing power plants are nearing their full production rates. To keep up with demand, the electricity for oil shale development will likely have to come from new power plants. The most readily available fuels for new plants are coal and natural gas. And the currently low cost of coal will make this dirtiest of fossil fuels the more economically attractive choice for power production. Our experts did an analysis of the likely impact that would come from producing one million barrels of oil per day from shale. That’s the low end of what the Department of Energy projects could be operational within two or three decades.
The bottom line: The new power plants needed to support a one million barrel-per-day industry could emit 105,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide every year. That’s about 80 percent more than was released by all existing electric utility generating units in the states of Colorado, Wyoming and Utah in 2005.
Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions, the major culprits in acid rain, could increase by over 35,000 tons per year each. That’s 20 percent more sulfur dioxide and 16 percent more nitrogen dioxide than was emitted by all of the electrical generating units in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming in 2002.
If these emissions are concentrated where the oil shale deposits are, namely the Piceance Basin in Colorado and the Green River Basin in Utah, they could further impair air quality in a region that’s already seeing spikes in air pollution from the natural gas boom.

Wildlife Impacts
The land overlying oil shale resources in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming is some of the best wildlife habitat in the West. We don’t know the exact impacts that oil shale could have on wildlife populations, but the BLM has estimated that elk, deer, and aquatic species would be significantly impacted by a full-scale oil-shale industry.

Oil shale - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Oil shale - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

oil shale

 noun

Definition of OIL SHALE

:  a rock (as shale) from which oil can be recovered by distillation

 See oil shale defined for kids »

First Known Use of OIL SHALE

1873

oil shale

 noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

Any fine-grained sedimentary rock that contains solid organic matter (kerogen) and yields significant quantities of oil when heated. This shale oil is a potentially valuable fossil fuel, but the present methods of mining and refining it are expensive, damage the land, pollute the water, and produce carcinogenic wastes. Thus, oil shale will probably not be exploited on a wide scale until other petroleum resources have been nearly depleted. Estonia, China, and Brazil have facilities for producing relatively limited quantities, and the U.S. government operates an experimental plant in Colorado.

Learn More About OIL SHALE

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about "oil shale"

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Oil Shale - Enefit

Oil Shale - Enefit:

Oil shale

• What is oil shale
• Why do we need oil shale?
• The Solution is Shale Oil
• World reserves

What is oil shale

Oil shale is a sedimentary rock that contains an organic material called kerogen. Kerogen can be heated, separated from the rock, processed and turned into liquid shale oil. The liquid shale oil can be treated and refined into diesel and jet fuels, as well as into petrol.

• Why do we need oil shale?
  Dramatic worldwide growth places great pressure on conventional oil production. As China, India, Pakistan and many other countries continue to modernize and develop, the demand for oil will continue to grow at a record pace.
• The Solution is Shale Oil
  Soaring prices, increased global demand, declining production and dependency on foreign oil have been the catalysts in the search for long-term, dependable energy solutions.
• World reserves
  There are estimated resources of 2.8-3.3 trillion recoverable barrels of oil. Worldwide, oil shale contains at least three times as much oil as conventional crude oil reserves, which are projected at around 1.2 trillion barrels.

Oil shale is a sedimentary rock.

National Oil Shale Association | All information about oil shale in America and the world

National Oil Shale Association | All information about oil shale in America and the world:

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NOSA PROVIDES FACTS ABOUT OIL SHALE DEVELOPMENT IN THE UNITED STATES.

THE RESPONSIBLE DEVELOPMENT OF OIL SHALE CAN IN THE FUTURE REDUCE THE PRICE WE PAY AT THE PUMP AND MAKE US LESS RELIANT ON FOREIGN OIL.

Water issues have been raised about its use for oil shale.  Usage is not excessive as compared to other energy sources.  Indirect economic benefits to the region result from water used for oil shale development.

Current oil shale technology has improved here in the United States and abroad.  Answers to environmental and socioeconomic questions are available today for decision makers and the public.

Oil shale is a huge untapped domestic energy resource larger than the oil reserves in the Middle East. It should be part of the National Energy Strategy.

Environment concerns of the past have been addressed.  Projects will not go forward unless regulations are met or exceeded.

Social and economic benefits of jobs, tax revenues, economic improvement, and enhanced national security are positive benefits of shale oil production.

Age old myths about oil shale are misleading the public into believing the resource should not be developed.  Facts are available on this web site.

Booms and Busts of the past were based upon conditions of a bygone era that do not exist today.  No Federal money is subsidizing oil shale projects.

oil shale - National Geographic Education

oil shale - National Geographic Education:

Encyclopedic Entryfor teaching

oil shale

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Oil Shale

Lacustrine Shale

Marine Shale

Terrestrial Shale

Extracting Shale Oil

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Oil shale is a sedimentary rock that is also a fossil fuel. Oil shales, like this one from the Uinta Basin, Utah, formed millions of years ago from the remains of plants and animals trapped under intense heat and pressure. Oil shales are classified in many ways, including their depositional histories—the way they formed.

Photograph courtesy Argonne National Laboratory

• Encyclopedic Entry
• Vocabulary

Encyclopedic Entry

Oil shale is a lot like coal—they're both rocks that can be burned for energy.

Photograph by Emory Kristof

Shale-saurs

Some carbonate-rich shale deposits are also dinosaur-rich rock formations. The Irati Formation, in the state of Parana, Brazil, is a thin deposit of carbonate-rich shale. It also contains many fossils of mesosaurs, a type of aquatic dinosaur.

Silica Gems

In addition to oil shales, silica from ancient organisms created rock formations that are rich in minerals such as quartz, chert, and opal.

Oil shale is a type of sedimentary rock that is rich in kerogen. Kerogen is a part of rock that breaks down and releases hydrocarbons when heated. Hydrocarbons are substances made entirely of hydrogen and carbon.Petroleum and natural gas are probably the most familiar hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbons in oil shale can be used as an alternative to petroleum or natural gas.

 

Like traditional petroleum, natural gas, and coal, oil shale and kerogen are fossil fuels. Fossil fuels developed from the remains of algae, spores, plants, pollen, and a variety of other organisms that lived millions of years ago in ancient lakes, seas, and wetlands. 

 

When these organisms died and drifted to the seabed, they were buried under new layers of plants and sediment. They encountered intense pressure and heat, decomposed, and slowly transformed into the waxy substance known as kerogen. 

 

There is not a consistent chemical composition of kerogen, because it has a variety of origins. Kerogen that formed from land plants (called humic kerogen) usually has a higher oxygen content than kerogen formed from plankton (calledplanktonic kerogen). However, all types of kerogen consist mainly of hydrocarbons; smaller amounts of sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen; and a variety of minerals.

 

Oil shale can be thought of as a precursor to oil and natural gas. With more pressure and over more geological time, kerogen would heat to its “oil window” or “gas window” (the temperature at which it would release crude oil or natural gas).

 

A sedimentary rock, oil shale is found all over the world, including China, Israel, and Russia. The United States, however, has the most shale resources.

 

Spanning the U.S. states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, the Green River formation is an underground oil shale formation that contains as much as 1.8 trillion barrels of shale oil. Although not all of this can be extracted, it is more than three times the proven petroleum reserves of Saudi Arabia. 

 

Oil Shale, Shale Oil, and Oil-Bearing Shale

Oil shale, shale oil, and oil-bearing shale are three different substances. Oil shale is a sedimentary rock. As it reaches its oil window, oil shale releases a liquid known as shale oil. Oil shale is the rock from which shale oil is extracted.

 

Shale oil is similar to petroleum, and can be refined into many different substances, including diesel fuel, gasoline, and liquid petroleum gas (LPG). Companies can also refine shale oil to produce other commercial products, such as ammonia and sulfur. The spent rock can be used in cement. 

 

Oil-bearing shales are underground rock formations that contain trapped petroleum. The petroleum trapped within the rocks is known as “tight oil” and is difficult to extract. Companies extracting tight oil often use hydraulic fracturing (fracking), while companies extracting shale oil most often use heat.

 

The Bakken formation, for example, is made of oil-bearing shale. It is a series of layered shale rocks with a petroleum reservoir trapped between the layers. The Bakken formation stretches from the province of Saskatchewan, Canada, through the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota. Improved drilling technologies have allowed companies to extract oil from the Bakken formation, creating an economic boom in the region. 

 

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