The author provides an interesting review of the work of the second largest producer of shale oil from oil shale in Estonia (VKG, a private company, is the largest), but passes on a great deal of dated and mythological information on oil shale. The term kerogen shale has been invented by pundits eager to steal the term shale oil for what the industry calls tight oil - oil trapped in impermeable rock (generally not shale) adjacent to the kerogen-rich mudstone and shale in which it formed. The terms oil shale for the rock and shale oil for the product have been in continuous use for more than a century in English, and longer in French to refer to very organic-rich fine- grained rock that produces oil upon heating. The historic method is mining and heating above ground, and has been operating continuously somewhere in the world since the late 1850s. So much for fuel of the future. Estonia and China have produced shale oil from oil shale since early in the last century, and Brazil since the 1990s.
Shell did not stop its operations in Colorado because it was uneconomic nor because of the water use. It continues to experiment in Jordan, where the government is supportive of their efforts, in sharp contrast to the U. S. The author ignores the fact that ExxonMobil and Total continue to work on Colorado oil shale.
The water footprint of oil shale development has been the most distorted issue for this resource. A 400,000 bopd oil shale operation in Colorado would use less than 1% of Colorado's annual water consumption, using far less water than a comparable biofuels industry by a factor of about 10.
The figures the author cites for the total U.S. Resource of oil shale date from the 1980s. It is to be hoped that his facts on other stories are not so out of date. The latest USGS estimate for the Green River Formation is 4.29 trillion barrels, although probably three quarters of that is in rocks to lean to make a profit. The article provides an overly pessimistic view of a challenging resource, revealing mainly the shallowness of his research on this subject. If he wishes to gather real information on developments in oil shale, he might wish to attend the 35th Oil Shale Symposium in Salt Lake City October 5 and 6.
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The “Always Fuel” Of The Future: Kerogen
The author provides an interesting review of the work of the second largest producer of shale oil from oil shale in Estonia (VKG, a private company, is the largest), but passes on a great deal of dated and mythological information on oil shale. The term kerogen shale has been invented by pundits eager to steal the term shale oil for what the industry calls tight oil - oil trapped in impermeable rock (generally not shale) adjacent to the kerogen-rich mudstone and shale in which it formed. The terms oil shale for the rock and shale oil for the product have been in continuous use for more than a century in English, and longer in French to refer to very organic-rich fine- grained rock that produces oil upon heating. The historic method is mining and heating above ground, and has been operating continuously somewhere in the world since the late 1850s. So much for fuel of the future. Estonia and China have produced shale oil from oil shale since early in the last century, and Brazil since the 1990s.
Shell did not stop its operations in Colorado because it was uneconomic nor because of the water use. It continues to experiment in Jordan, where the government is supportive of their efforts, in sharp contrast to the U. S. The author ignores the fact that ExxonMobil and Total continue to work on Colorado oil shale.
The water footprint of oil shale development has been the most distorted issue for this resource. A 400,000 bopd oil shale operation in Colorado would use less than 1% of Colorado's annual water consumption, using far less water than a comparable biofuels industry by a factor of about 10.
The figures the author cites for the total U.S. Resource of oil shale date from the 1980s. It is to be hoped that his facts on other stories are not so out of date. The latest USGS estimate for the Green River Formation is 4.29 trillion barrels, although probably three quarters of that is in rocks to lean to make a profit. The article provides an overly pessimistic view of a challenging resource, revealing mainly the shallowness of his research on this subject. If he wishes to gather real information on developments in oil shale, he might wish to attend the 35th Oil Shale Symposium in Salt Lake City October 5 and 6.
Jeremy Boak, Co-Chair
35th Oil Shale Symposium