What is Oil Shale?

U.S. Western oil shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock which is very rich in organic sedimentary material called “kerogen.” The shale is heated to separate the kerogen from the rock and the resultant liquid is converted to superior quality jet fuel, diesel fuel, kerosene, and other high value products.

A recent announcement from the U.S. Geological Survey raised previous estimates of oil shale in the Piceance Basin by 50%. Previous U.S. shale oil resource estimates totaled 2.118 trillion barrels.[1] The revised estimate of shale oil in the Piceance Basin brings the total to 2.6 trillion barrels. The richest, most concentrated deposits in the U.S. are found in the Green River Formation in western Colorado, eastern Utah, and southern Wyoming (see graph at right)[2].

The Department of Energy estimates that depending on technology and economics, as much as 800 billion barrels of oil equivalent could be recoverable from oil shale resources yielding greater than 25 gallons per ton[3] based upon the earlier estimate of 2.118 trillion barrels, or about 40 percent  recovery. For reference, 800 billion barrels is 3 times the amount of proven oil reserves in Saudi Arabia. And assuming this 40 percent  recovery to the 2.6 trillion barrels in place in the new estimate, as much as 1 trillion barrels may be available, or 4 times the proven oil reserves in Saudi Arabia.. The energy potential from our vast resources of oil shale could substantially shift the balance of America’s oil supply away from the Persian Gulf.

Shell’s In-Situ Conversion Process

In Colorado, Shell is rejecting old mining techniques that failed in the past in favor of a process that heats the shale underground. Their in-situ conversion process (ICP) uses subsurface heaters to slowly heat the shale rock to 650 – 750 degrees Fahrenheit. Once heated, the kerogen oil and gas are released from the shale and brought to the surface with traditional pumps (Picture, The Wall Street Journal). An advantage to the in-situ process is it significantly reduces (and in some cases eliminates) the environmental impacts from previous shale oil recovery methods[4]:

• The process involves no open-pit or subsurface mining

• Does not produce thousands of tons of shale waste, as the traditional mining method does

• Avoids groundwater contaminants via a “freeze wall” between the oil shale and water sources

• Minimizes water use and unwanted byproducts

As is common with new manufacturing processes, operating costs can be expected to decrease over time, as experience leads to design enhancements and improved efficiency. Due to encouraging trial results in 2005, Shell is dramatically expanding its efforts with a more expansive research effort scheduled to run until 2010.[5]

Shell holds three federal research and development leases in Colorado. A number of factors will influence their development, including progress on technology, the outcome of regulatory processes, market conditions, project economics and consultations with key stakeholders. Shell plans to submit permit applications for its first research and development pilot project late this year or early in 2011.

Unfortunately for shale oil, the Department of Interior under the current Administration is instituting changes to federal leasing rules making it more difficult, expensive, and time-consuming to explore for and produce oil on federal, taxpayer-owned land where the best shale oil deposits lie.[6]

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[1] Development of America’s Strategic Unconventional Fuels Resources, Task Force on Strategic Unconventional Fuels, September 2006, http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/reserves/npr/publications/sec369h_report_epact.pdf

[2] Fact Sheet: U.S. Oil Shale Resources, DOE Office of Petroleum Reserves Strategic Unconventional Fuels, http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/reserves/npr/Oil_Shale_Resource_Fact_Sheet.pdf,

[3] http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/reserves/npr/publications/sec369h_report_epact.pdf

[4] “Is oil shale America’s answer to peak oil challenge?”, Oil and Gas Journal, August 9, 2004, http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/reserves/publications/Pubs-NPR/40010-373.pdf

[5] Oil Shale, Colorado School of Mines, http://www.mines.edu/outreach/cont_ed/emfi/emfi2005/OilShale.pdf

[6] http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/2010/01/06/lease-police-salazar-decision-on-lease-rules-will-make-it-more-difficult-expensive-and-time-consuming-to-produce-american-energy/, and Climate Wire, Interior: Research needed before “headlong” oil shale rush, February 26, 2009, http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2009/02/26/archive/6?terms=Salazar