The Tantalizing Promise of Oil Shale

Abstract

Oil Shale A vast energy treasure lies within an 18,963-sq-mile area of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming: an estimated 4.28 trillion BOE of in-place resources of oil shale, according to US Geological Survey (USGS) research geologist Ronald Johnson. He presented the new assessment at the 31st Oil Shale Symposium, held mid-October 2011 at the Colorado School of Mines. In other countries, while far fewer oil shale resources are thought to exist, their presence is nonetheless formidable. China contains an estimated 333 billion BOE; Russia, 248 billion BOE; Democratic Republic of Congo, 100 billion BOE; Jordan, 90 billion BOE; Brazil, 82 billion BOE; Italy, 73 billion BOE; Morocco, 53 billion BOE; Australia, 32 billion BOE; and Estonia, 16 billion BOE. Israel indicated at the 30th Oil Shale Symposium that its resources may be as much as 250 billion BOE. The CIA World Factbook estimates 2011 world proved reserves of crude oil at 1.47 trillion bbl. Total annual production of oil shale in the only three countries today where it is exploited for commercial use is 73% less than daily worldwide crude oil production of approximately 86.74 million B/D. With oil shale estimates vastly overshadowing those for crude oil, why does oil shale remain a scarcely touched resource? The Bottom Line “In-place resources” and “proved reserves” have markedly different meanings. The former speaks of potential; only the latter indicates the existence of hydrocarbons that can be exploited economically. “No attempt was made to estimate the amount of oil that is economically recoverable,” explains the USGS in the introduction to its 2011 assessment of US Greater Green River Basin oil shale resources, “because there has not yet been an economic method developed to recover the oil from … oil shale.” This statement might be amended, says Center for Oil Shale Technology and Research (COSTAR) director Jeremy Boak, to reflect a view that current producers might suggest, ’whereby, while methods have been developed to recover the oil from oil shale, none has yet demonstrated commercial production of Green River formation shale oil.”