How much does oil shale sell for?
Oil shale economics
The various attempts to develop oil shale deposits have succeeded only when the cost of shale-oil production in a given region comes in below the price of crude oil or its other substitutes (break-even price). The United States Department of Energy estimates that the "ex-situ" processing would be economic at sustained average world oil prices above US$$54 per barrel and "in-situ" processing would be economic at prices above $35 per barrel. These estimates assume a return rate of 15%. The International Energy Agency estimates, based on the various pilot projects, that investment and operating costs would be similar to those of Canadian oil sands, that means would be economic at prices above $60 per barrel at current costs. This figure does not account carbon pricing, which will add additional cost. According to the New Policies Scenario introduced in its World Energy Outlook 2010, a price of $50 per tonne of emitted , expected by 2035, will add additional $7.50 per barrel cost of shale oil.
Petroleum
On the other hand, oil shales are source rocks that have not been exposed to heat or pressure long enough to convert their trapped hydrocarbons into crude oil. Technically speaking, oil shales are not always shales and do not contain oil, but are fined-grain sedimentary rocks containing an insoluble organic solid called kerogen. The kerogen in the rock can be converted into crude oil using heat and pressure to simulate natural processes. The method has been known for centuries and was patented in 1694 under British Crown Patent No. 330 covering, "A way to extract and make great quantities of pitch, tar, and oil out of a sort of stone." Although oil shales are found in many countries, the United States has the world's largest deposits.
Oil shale reserves
Major oil shale deposits are located in China, which has an estimated total of 32 billion metric tons, of which 4.4 billion metric tons are technically exploitable and economically feasible. In 2008, the amount of potential shale oil was estimated at and in 2016 at . The principal Chinese oil shale deposits and production lie in Fushun and Liaoning; others are located in Maoming in Guangdong, Huadian in Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Shandong. Professor Alan R. Carroll of University of Wisconsin–Madison estimates that Upper Permian lacustrine oil shale deposits of northwest China, absent from previous global oil shale assessments, are comparable to the Green River Formation.
History of the oil shale industry in the United States
Attracted by rising oil prices, and the promise of a permanent shortage of petroleum, oil-shale prospectors swarmed over the Piceance and Uinta basins of Colorado and Utah. Some established oil companies joined the rush, but about 100 new companies formed to mine and process oil shale, and, not incidentally, to sell shares of stock. Many of them built retorts to extract the shale oil.
History of the oil shale industry
In 1857, oil shale industry started in Germany. In Canada, the Craigleith Shale Oil Works started to retort oil shale of the Ordovician Whitby Formation near Collingwood, Ontario, on Lake Huron in 1859. In 1861 it became economically infeasible due to the discovery of petroleum nearby.
Oil shale in Estonia
The oil shale industry in Estonia is one of the most developed in the world. Estonia is the only country in the world that uses oil shale as its primary energy source. In 2012, oil shale supplied 70% of Estonia's total primary energy and accounted for 4% of Estonia's gross domestic product. About 6,500 people (1.1% of the workforce in Estonia) were directly employed in the oil shale industry. In 2012, the state revenue from oil shale production was about €90 million, including €34 million of excise duty and labour taxes, and €56 million of environmental charges. There are no royalties. The operating profit of shale oil producers was about €91 million.
Environmental impact of the oil shale industry
Disposal of mining wastes, spent oil shale (including semi-coke) and combustion ashes needs additional land use. According to the study of the European Academies Science Advisory Council, after processing, the waste material occupies a greater volume than the material extracted, and therefore cannot be wholly disposed underground. According to this, production of a barrel of shale oil can generate up to 1.5 tonnes of semi-coke, which may occupy up to 25% greater volume than the original shale. This is not confirmed by the results of Estonia's oil shale industry. The mining and processing of about one billion tonnes of oil shale in Estonia has created about 360-370 million tonnes of solid waste, of which 90 million tonnes is a mining waste, 70–80 million tonnes is a semi-coke, and 200 million tonnes are combustion ashes.
Oil shale industry
The largest oil shale mine in the world is the Estonia Mine, operated by Enefit Kaevandused. In 2005, Estonia mined 14.8 million tonnes of oil shale. During the same period, mining permits were issued for almost 24 million tonnes, with applications being received for mining an additional 26 million tonnes. In 2008, the Estonian Parliament approved the "National Development Plan for the Use of Oil Shale 2008-2015", which limits the annual extraction of oil shale to 20 million tonnes.
Hydraulic fracturing in the United States
U.S.-based refineries have gained a competitive edge with their access to relatively inexpensive shale oil and Canadian crude. The U.S. is exporting more refined petroleum products, and also more liquified petroleum gas (LP gas). LP gas is produced from hydrocarbons called natural gas liquids, released by the hydraulic fracturing of petroliferous shale, in a variety of shale gas that's relatively easy to export. Propane, for example, costs around $620 a ton in the U.S. compared with more than $1,000 a ton in China, as of early 2014. Japan, for instance, is importing extra LP gas to fuel power plants, replacing idled nuclear plants. Trafigura Beheer BV, the third-largest independent trader of crude oil and refined products, said at the start of 2014 that "growth in U.S. shale production has turned the distillates market on its head".
Oil shale in Estonia
The combustion of oil shale releases more into the atmosphere than any other primary fuel. Generating 1 MWh of electricity in modern oil shale-fired boilers creates 0.9–1 tonnes of . Therefore, oil shale industry is the chief source – more than 70% – of greenhouse gas emissions in Estonia. Due to the oil shale-based electricity generation, Estonia's has the second highest greenhouse gas emissions relative to GDP among the OECD and the fifth highest emissions per capita among the IEA countries. The whole energy sector of Estonia emitted the equivalent 17 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2012. In order to reduce the country's emissions and to meet the emissions reduction targets, use of oil shale in electricity generation needs to be scaled down. emissions in Estonia could be reduced by two-thirds if oil shale would be used for production of lighter oil products instead of burning it for electricity generation. It could be achieved by raising taxes on oil shale use and harmonizing tax rates of fossil fuels according to the emission content.
Unconventional oil
Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing significant amounts of kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which technology can extract liquid hydrocarbons (shale oil) and combustible oil shale gas. The kerogen in oil shale can be converted to shale oil through the chemical processes of pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. The temperature when perceptible decomposition of oil shale occurs depends on the time-scale of the pyrolysis; in the above ground retorting process the perceptible decomposition occurs at , but proceeds more rapidly and completely at higher temperatures. The rate of decomposition is the highest at a temperature of to . The ratio of shale gas to shale oil depends on the retorting temperature and as a rule increases with the rise of temperature. For the modern "in-situ" process, which might take several months of heating, decomposition may be conducted as low as . Depending on the exact properties of oil shale and the exact processing technology, the retorting process may be water and energy extensives. Oil shale has also been burnt directly as a low-grade fuel.
A.F.S.K. Hom Tov
In the shale oil extraction process (US Patent 5372708) invented in 1992 by Moshe Gvirtz (also spelled as Moshe Gewertz) and promoted by Hom Tov, oil shale fine particles are slurried with waste bitumen and pumped through coils in a heater. Promoters of this process claimed that the process was profitable at the crude oil price of US$17 per barrel. The company also claimed that the technology was more efficient as it enables the oil shale to be processed at somewhat lower temperatures with the addition of the catalyzing bitumen, and more environmentally friendly than classical shale oil extraction methods. In 2006, in conjunction with announcing the planned partnership with Glazer, the company announced plans to build a full-scale production plant in the Negev Desert south of Beer Sheba at Mishor Rotem. The Mishor Rotem plant would bring bitumen by pipeline from the Ashdod refinery and return product along the same corridor.
Chukchi Sea
The Chukchi shelf is believed to hold oil and gas reserves as high as . Several oil companies have competed for leases on the area, and on 6 February 2008, the U.S. government announced the successful bidders would pay US$2.6 billion for extraction rights. The auction drew considerable criticism from environmentalists. In 2015, the Obama administration's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management gave a conditional approval for Shell Oil to drill in shallow ( deep) Chukchi Sea waters. In September 2015, Shell announced that it was ending its oil exploration in the region, citing tremendous cost and declining oil prices. Shell vowed to return, but eventually gave up all but one of the corporation's leases in the Arctic.
History of the oil shale industry
The oil shale industry expanded immediately before World War I because of limited access to conventional petroleum resources and the mass production of automobiles and trucks, which accompanied an increase in gasoline consumption. Oil shale production in Scotland peaked in 1910–1912 with more than three million tonnes. That time Scottish shale oil industry contributed 2% of global oil production. After that, production declined with exception of the period of World War II. In 1919, five survived shale oil companies ("Young's Paraffin Light & Mineral Oil Company", "Broxburn Oil Company", "Pumpherston Shale Oil Company", "Oakbank Oil Company", and "James Ross & Company Philpstoun Oil Works"), were merged into Scottish Oils, a subsidiary of Anglo-Persian Oil Company.
In the United States the government started to create the Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves in 1909. The reserves were seen as a possible emergency source of fuel for the military, particularly the Navy. The government reserved the Roan Plateau near Rifle, Colorado which later became a federal demonstration and test site. First attempt to produce oil from the western deposits was made in Nevada by local businessman Robert Catlin by acquiring oil-shale properties in the 1890s and erecting the first retorts in 1915 and 1916. Although the attempt was commercially unsuccessful, in 1917 he incorporated Catlin Shale Products Company which made several unsuccessful attempts to sold shale oil products until it was dissolved in 1930. The first attempts to exploit the Green River Formation deposit was made by establishment of The Oil Shale Mining Company in 1916. In 1917, they erected the first commercial retort at the head of Dry Creek, near De Beque, Colorado. However, also these attempts were unsuccessful and by 1926 the company had lost its property. In addition, companies like Cities Service, Standard Oil of California, Texaco and Union started their oil shale operations in 1918–1920. In 1915–1920 about 200 companies were established to exploit oil shale and at least 25 shale oil retorting processes reached to the pilot-plant stage. Discoveries of the large quantities of petroleum in eastern Texas ended the oil-shale boom. One of technological achievements before World War II was invention of the N-T-U retort. In 1925, the NTU Company built a test plant at Sherman Cut near Casmalia, California. In 1925–1929, the retort was also tested by the United States Bureau of Mines in their Oil Shale Experiment Station at Anvil Point in Rifle, Colorado.
Economy of Jordan
In the face of continued high oil costs, interest has increased in the possibility of exploiting Jordan's vast oil shale resources, which are estimated to total approximately 40 billion tons, 4 billion tons of which are believed to be recoverable. Jordan's oil shale resources could produce of oil, enabling production of about . The oil shale in Jordan has the fourth largest in the world which currently, there are several companies who are negotiating with the Jordanian government about exploiting the oil shale like Royal Dutch Shell, Petrobras and Eesti Energia.
Piceance Basin
Increasing demand for energy resources has spurred interest in energy alternatives such as oil shale. The Piceance Basin contains one of the thickest and richest oil shale deposits in the world and is the focus of most on-going oil shale research and development extraction projects in the U.S. The Piceance Basin has an estimated 1.525 trillion barrels of in-place oil shale resources, and an estimated 43.3 billion tons of in-place nahcolite resources in the Piceance Basin. This mineral is embedded with oil shale in many areas.
Oil tanker
Oil tankers are often sold second-hand. In 2005, worth of oil tankers were sold used. Some representative prices for that year include $42.5M for a tanker, $60.7 million for a , $73 million for a , and $116 million for tanker. For a concrete example, in 2006, Bonheur subsidiary First Olsen paid US$76.5 million for "Knock Sheen", a 159,899 DWT tanker.
Shale gas
One of the byproducts of shale gas exploration is the opening up of deep underground shale deposits to "tight oil" or shale oil production. By 2035, shale oil production could "boost the world economy by up to $2.7 trillion, a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report says. It has the potential to reach up to 12 percent of the world’s total oil production — touching 14 million barrels a day — “revolutionizing” the global energy markets over the next few decades."
According to a 2013 Forbes magazine article, generating electricity by burning natural gas is cheaper than burning coal if the price of gas remains below $3/mmBTU ($3/mcf). Also in 2013, Ken Medlock, Senior Director of the Baker Institute's Center for Energy Studies, researched US shale gas break-even prices. "Some wells are profitable at $2.65 per thousand cubic feet, others need $8.10…the median is $4.85," Medlock said. Energy consultant Euan Mearns estimates that, for the US, "minimum costs [are] in the range $4 to $6 / mcf. [or mm BTU]."
Oil sands
The costs of production and transportation of saleable petroleum from oil sands is typically significantly higher than from conventional global sources. Hence the economic viability of oil sands production is more vulnerable to the price of oil. The price of benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil at Cushing, Oklahoma above US$100/bbl that prevailed until late 2014 was sufficient to promote active growth in oil sands production. Major Canadian oil companies had announced expansion plans and foreign companies were investing significant amounts of capital, in many cases forming partnerships with Canadian companies. Investment had been shifting towards in-situ steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) projects and away from mining and upgrading projects, as oil sands operators foresee better opportunities from selling bitumen and heavy oil directly to refineries than from upgrading it to synthetic crude oil. Cost estimates for Canada include the effects of the mining when the mines are returned to the environment in "as good as or better than original condition". Cleanup of the end products of consumption are the responsibility of the consuming jurisdictions, which are mostly in provinces or countries other than the producing one.
Oil shale economics
In the second half of the 20th century, oil shale production ceased in Canada, Scotland, Sweden, France, Australia, Romania, and South Africa due to the low price of oil and other competitive fuels. In the United States, during the 1973 oil crisis businesses expected oil prices to stay as high as US$70 a barrel, and invested considerable sums in the oil shale industry. World production of oil shale reached a peak of 46 million tonnes in 1980. Due to competition from cheap conventional petroleum in the 1980s, several investments became economically unfeasible. On 2 May 1982, known as ""Black Sunday"", Exxon canceled its US$5 billion Colony Shale Oil Project near Parachute, Colorado because of low oil-prices and increased expenses. Because of the losses in 1980s, companies were reluctant to make new invests in shale oil production. However, in the early 21st century, USA, Canada and Jordan were planning or had started shale oil production test projects, and Australia was considering restarting oil shale production.
Cleveland Shale
The high organic content of the Cleveland Shale makes it eminently suitable for the formation of fossil fuels. One 1981 study found that the Cleveland Shale can yield an average of of petroleum per of rock. The Cleveland Shale also contains cannel coal and "true" coal, although neither in great quantity.
History of the oil shale industry
In Australia, the first oil shale mine was commenced in 1865 at American Creek, Mount Kembla in New South Wales. At the same year, the first shale oil was produced by the Pioneer Kerosene Works at American Creek. A number of other mines and shale oil plants were opened in New South Wales; however, in the beginning of the 20th century they were closed due to the import of cheaper crude oil.
History of the oil shale industry in the United States
In 1970, the Bureau of Mines estimated that shale oil would cost US$2.71 per barrel before profit and taxes.
TOSCO (standing for The Oil Shale Corporation) developed its own retorting process, and in 1963 formed the Colony Development Co. to build and test a 1,000-ton per day processing plant on Parachute Creek, on a 22-square mile tract of oil shale. Colony Development was a consortium of TOSCO, Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co., and Standard Oil of Ohio (SOHIO). The Colony plant began construction in 1965.
History of the oil shale industry in the United States
As the price of whale oil escalated, scientists tried to create a cheap, artificial oil that would burn with a bright, smokeless flame, safer than “burning oil.” Two succeeded: Scottish chemist James Young, and Canadian geologist Abraham Gesner. Both distilled their lamp oils from coal or coal-like raw materials. James Young made his from coal, and discovered that the coal that yielded the most oil was cannel coal. Young filed a patent for his process in 1850, and built a highly successful plant at Bathgate, Scotland making an illuminating oil he called “paraffine,” from the cannel coal that was mined nearby, the Boghead coal, which yielded more oil than any of the other coals he tested.
Oil shale economics
A measure of the viability of oil shale as a fuel source is the ratio of the energy produced to the energy used converting it (Energy Returned on Energy Invested - EROEI). The value of the EROEI for oil shale is difficult to calculate for a number of reasons. Lack of reliable studies of modern oil shale processes, poor or undocumented methodology and a limited number of operational facilities are the main reasons. Due to technically more complex processes, the EROEI for oil shale is below the EROEI of about 20:1 for conventional oil extraction at the wellhead.
Oil shale in China
Longkou Mining Group, subsidiary of Shandong Energy, produces oil shale as a coal mining byproduct. It operates shale oil plant which is equipped with 40 Fushun retorts. The shale oil production is about 120,000 tonnes per year and the planned full capacity is 200,000 tonnes of shale oil per year. The company also plans to utilize Enefit-280 technology. In addition, the company plans to burn shale char mixed with particulate oil shale in fluidized bed combustion for power generation, and the shale ash would be utilized for production of building material.
Oil shale industry
Following the 1973 oil crisis, the oil shale industry was restarted in several countries, but in the 1980s, when oil prices fell, many industries faced closure. The global oil shale industry has grown again from the mid-1990s. In 2003, the oil shale development program was initiated in the United States, and in 2005, the commercial leasing program for oil shale and tar sands was introduced.
Shale gas
Although shale gas has been produced for more than 100 years in the Appalachian Basin and the Illinois Basin of the United States, the wells were often marginally economic. Advances in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal completions have made shale-gas wells more profitable. Improvements in moving drilling rigs between nearby locations, and the use of single well pads for multiple wells have increased the productivity of drilling shale gas wells. As of June 2011, the validity of the claims of economic viability of these wells has begun to be publicly questioned. Shale gas tends to cost more to produce than gas from conventional wells, because of the expense of the massive hydraulic fracturing treatments required to produce shale gas, and of horizontal drilling.
Oil shale industry
Oil shale is used for cement production by Kunda Nordic Cement in Estonia, by Holcim in Germany, and by Fushun cement factory in China. Oil shale can also be used for production of different chemical products, construction materials, and pharmaceutical products, e.g. ammonium bituminosulfonate. However, use of oil shale for production of these products is still very rare and in experimental stages only.
Oil Shale (journal)
Oil Shale is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research in petrology, especially concerning oil shale. The journal covers geology, mining, formation, composition, methods of processing, combustion, economics, and environmental protection related to oil shale. It is abstracted and indexed in the Science Citation Index. The editor-in-chief is Anto Raukas.
Oil shale geology
Oil shales have been divided into three categories based on mineral composition – carbonate-rich shale, siliceous shale and cannel shale. Carbonate-rich shales derive their name from the large amount of carbonate minerals such as calcite and dolomite. As many as twenty carbonate minerals have been found in oil shales, the majority of which are considered authigenic or diagenetic. Carbonate-rich oil shales, particularly that of lacustrine-sourced deposits, have usually the organic-rich layers sandwiched between carbonate-rich layers. These deposits are hard formations that are resistant to weathering and they are difficult to process using "ex-situ" methods. Siliceous oil shales are usually dark brown or black shales. They are not rich in carbonates but rather in siliceous minerals such as quartz, feldspar, clay, chert and opal. Siliceous shales are not as hard and weather-resistant as carbonate-rich shales, and may be better suited for extraction via "ex-situ" methods. Cannel shales are usually dark brown or black shales, which consist of organic matter that completely encloses other mineral grains. They are suitable for extraction via "ex-situ" methods.
Oil reserves in Canada
Analysts estimate that a price of $30 to $40 per barrel is required to make new oil sands production profitable. In recent years prices have greatly exceeded those levels and the Alberta government expects $116 billion worth of new oil sands projects to be undertaken between 2008 and 2017. However the biggest constraint on oil sands development is a serious labor and housing shortage in Alberta as a whole and the oil sands centre of Fort McMurray in particular. According to Statistics Canada, by September, 2006 unemployment rates in Alberta had fallen to record low levels and per-capita incomes had risen to double the Canadian average. Another hurdle has been Canada's capacity to rapidly increase its export pipelines. The National Energy Board indicated that exporters faced pipeline apportionment in 2007. However, surging crude oil prices sparked a jump in applications for oil pipelines in 2007, and new pipelines were planned to carry Canadian oil as far south as U.S. refineries on the Gulf of Mexico.
Oil shale
A critical measure of the viability of oil shale as an energy source lies in the ratio of the energy produced by the shale to the energy used in its mining and processing, a ratio known as "Energy Returned on Energy Invested" (EROEI). A 1984 study estimated the EROEI of the various known oil-shale deposits as varying between 0.7–13.3
although known oil-shale extraction development projects assert an EROEI between 3 and 10. According to the World Energy Outlook 2010, the EROEI of "ex-situ" processing is typically 4 to 5 while of "in-situ" processing it may be even as low as 2. However, according to the IEA most of used energy can be provided by burning the spent shale or oil-shale gas.
Shale oil
A critical measure of the viability of extraction of shale oil lies in the ratio of the energy produced by the oil shale to the energy used in its mining and processing, a ratio known as "Energy Returned on Energy Invested" (EROEI). An EROEI of 2 (or 2:1 ratio) would mean that to produce 2 barrels of actual oil the equivalent in energy of 1 barrel of oil has to be burnt/consumed. A 1984 study estimated the EROEI of the various known oil-shale deposits as varying between 0.7–13.3. More recent studies estimates the EROEI of oil shales to be 1–2:1 or 2–16:1 – depending on whether self-energy is counted as a cost or internal energy is excluded and only purchased energy is counted as input. Royal Dutch Shell reported an EROEI of three to four in 2006 on its "in situ" development in the "Mahogany Research Project."
Oil shale
Industry can use oil shale as a fuel for thermal power-plants, burning it (like coal) to drive steam turbines; some of these plants employ the resulting heat for district heating of homes and businesses. In addition to its use as a fuel, oil shale may also serve in the production of specialty carbon fibers, adsorbent carbons, carbon black, phenols, resins, glues, tanning agents, mastic, road bitumen, cement, bricks, construction and decorative blocks, soil-additives, fertilizers, rock-wool insulation, glass, and pharmaceutical products. However, oil shale use for production of these items remains small or only in its experimental stages. Some oil shales yield sulfur, ammonia, alumina, soda ash, uranium, and nahcolite as shale-oil extraction byproducts. Between 1946 and 1952, a marine type of "Dictyonema" shale served for uranium production in Sillamäe, Estonia, and between 1950 and 1989 Sweden used alum shale for the same purposes. Oil shale gas has served as a substitute for natural gas, but , producing oil shale gas as a natural-gas substitute remained economically infeasible.
History of the oil shale industry in the United States
The Green River oil “shale” is actually a marl, and some beds yield up to 70 gallons of oil per short ton of shale. Estimated in-place resources are capable of generating 4.2 trillion barrels of oil. Although the Piceance basin of western Colorado has the smallest lateral extent of Green River shale, it contains the greatest amount of high-grade shale. Using a cut-off of 25 gallons per ton, the Piceance has about 352 billion barrels of in-place resource.
Natural gas
The price of natural gas varies greatly depending on location and type of consumer. In 2007, a price of $7 per 1000 cubic feet () was typical in the United States. The typical caloric value of natural gas is roughly 1,000 BTU per cubic foot, depending on gas composition. This corresponds to around $7 per million BTU or around $7 per gigajoule (GJ). In April 2008, the wholesale price was $10 per 1000 cubic feet ($10/MMBTU). The residential price varies from 50% to 300% more than the wholesale price. At the end of 2007, this was $12–$16 per 1000 cubic feet (). Natural gas in the United States is traded as a futures contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Each contract is for 10,000 MMBTU or . Thus, if the price of gas is $10/MMBTU on the NYMEX, the contract is worth $100,000.
Oil shale
A 1972 publication in the journal "Pétrole Informations" () compared shale-based oil production unfavorably with coal liquefaction. The article portrayed coal liquefaction as less expensive, generating more oil, and creating fewer environmental impacts than extraction from oil shale. It cited a conversion ratio of of oil per one ton of coal, as against of shale oil per one ton of oil shale.
Spent shale
Spent shale or spent oil shale (also known as retorted shale) is a solid residue from the shale oil extraction process of producing synthetic shale oil from oil shale. It consists of inorganic compounds (minerals) and remaining organic matter known as char—a carbonaceous residue formed from kerogen. Depending on the extraction process and the amount of remaining organic matter, spent shale may be classified as oil shale coke, semi-coke or coke-ash residue, known also as oil shale ash. According to the European Union waste list all these types of spent shale are classified as hazardous waste.
Oil shale geology
Oil shale deposits formed in the shallow seas of continental shelves generally are much thinner than large lake basin deposits. These are typically a few meters thick and are spread over very large areas, extending up to thousands of square kilometers. Of the three lithologic types of oil shales, siliceous oil shales are most commonly found in such environments. These oil shales are not as organically rich as lake-deposited oil shales, and generally do not contain more than 30 gallons of extractable oil per ton of oil shale. Oil shales deposited in lagoonal or small lake environments are rarely extensive and are often associated with coal-bearing rocks. These oil shales can have high yields– as much as 40 gallons per ton (166 l/t) of oil shale. However, due to their small areal extent, they are considered unlikely candidates for commercial exploitation.
Oil shale in China
The oil shale industry was established in China already in the 1920s. After decrease in the production, the industry started to increase and as of 2008; several companies are engage in the shale oil production or the oil shale-based power generation. After 2005, China became the largest shale oil producer in the world. In 2011, the country produced about 650,000 tonnes of shale oil. Most of production facilities are Fushun-type retorts.
Shale oil
Shale oil contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which are carcinogenic. It has been described that raw shale oil has a mild carcinogenic potential which is comparable to some intermediate refinery products, while upgraded shale oil has lower carcinogenic potential as most of the polycyclic aromatics are believed to broken down by hydrogenation. The World Health Organization classifies shale oil as Group 1 carcinogens to humans.
History of the oil shale industry in the United States
At the start of the boom in 1915, oil and oil shale were still locateable minerals under the General Mining Act of 1872. Any US citizen could stake a placer claim to reserve the mineral rights over 160 acres of oil-shale land. Congress changed the situation when it passed the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, which declared that oil and oil shale were no longer locateable minerals, but instead the rights to mine them had to be leased from the federal government.
In September 1920, of the many oil shale companies being promoted, none were yet in commercial-scale operation, although five were said to be close. Of the five, one plant was near Dragon, Utah, one at Salt Lake, two at Elko, Nevada, one at Denver, and one at Dillon, Montana. The plant at Dillon was mining oil shale of the Phosphoria Formation, Permian in age. The American Continuous Retort plant in Denver was receiving test lots from western Colorado, and as far away as Texas and Kentucky, largely on the proprietor’s claim that he could recover gold and platinum from the shale, along with the oil.
First attempt to produce oil from the western deposits was made by mining engineer Robert Catlin. Catlin became intrigued by oil shale, and in 1890 bought a plot of land near Elko Nevada that was underlain by oil shale of the Elko Formation. When the price of oil started rising in 1915, he dug a mine shaft down into the best yielding shale, built a bank of retorts and a small refinery, and began producing oil. He refined the oil into gasoline and lubricating oil, but the products were said to be of low quality. in 1917 he incorporated Catlin Shale Products Company. Catlin's plant at Elko produced about of oil from shale before he closed it in 1924. Catlin Shale Products Company was dissolved in 1930. Of the hundred-odd companies that formed to produce shale oil in the postwar boom, only Carlin's had actually done so on a commercial scale and marketed the product.
Oil shale in Israel
Oil shale in Israel is widespread but an undeveloped resource, largely because of economic and technological constraints. Israeli oil shales belong to the group of Upper Cretaceous marinites. Although oil-shale deposits may lie under as much as 15% of the country, only a small part of these are mineable. According to the Geological Survey of Israel, deposits that could have the biggest economic potential are located in the northern Negev, the largest being the Rotem-Yamin formation. For several decades, oil shale was used for small-scale power generation at Mishor Rotem. Several Israeli companies have proposed shale oil extraction; testing of the viability of the oil shale industry is currently being undertaken by Israel Energy Initiatives. However, as of 2011, there are no commercial oil shale operations in Israel.
Athabasca oil sands
As a result of the oil price increases since 2003, the economics of oil sands have improved dramatically. At a world price of US$50 per barrel, the NEB estimated an integrated mining operation would make a rate return of 16 to 23%, while a SAGD operation would return 16 to 27%. Prices since 2006 have risen, exceeding US$145 in mid-2008 but falling back to less than 40 US$ as a result of the worldwide financial crisis, the oil price recovered slowly and many of the planned projects (expected to exceed C$100 billion between 2006 and 2015) were stopped or scheduled. In 2012 and 2013 the oil price was high again, but the US production is increasing due to new technologies, while the gasoline demand is falling, so there is an overproduction of oil. But recovering economy can change this in a few years.
Shale gas
George P. Mitchell is regarded as the father of the shale gas industry, since he made it commercially viable in the Barnett Shale by getting costs down to $4 per . Mitchell Energy achieved the first economical shale fracture in 1998 using slick-water fracturing. Since then, natural gas from shale has been the fastest growing contributor to total primary energy in the United States, and has led many other countries to pursue shale deposits. According to the IEA, shale gas could increase technically recoverable natural gas resources by almost 50%.
Shale gas in the United States
In the United States, development of shale resources supported 600,000 jobs in 2010. Affordable domestic natural gas is essential to rejuvenating the chemical, manufacturing, and steel industries. There are concerns that these changes may be reversed if exports of natural gas increase. The American Chemistry Council determined that a 25% increase in the supply of ethane (a liquid derived from shale gas) could add over 400,000 jobs across the economy, provide over $4.4 billion annually in federal, state, and local tax revenue, and spur $16.2 billion in capital investment by the chemical industry. 
They also note that the relatively low price of ethane would give United States manufacturers an essential advantage over many global competitors. Similarly, the National Association of Manufacturers estimated that high recovery of shale gas and lower natural gas prices will help U.S. manufacturers employ 1,000,000 workers by 2025 while lower feedstock and energy costs could help them reduce natural gas expenditures by as much as 11.6 billion by 2025. America's Natural Gas Association (ANGA) estimates that lower gas prices will add an additional $926 of disposable household income annually between 2012 and 2015, and that the amount could increase to $2,000 by 2035. Over a 100 billion dollars is going to be invested in the US Petrochemical industry and most of it in Texas. Due to emergence of shale gas, coal consumption declined from 2009.
Carmichael coal mine
Analysts doubt the mine is viable given current seaborne (imported) thermal coal prices and market trends. In November 2013 Morgan Stanley valued the mine at $0 and said “While the company expects the environmental clearance to come through in F2H14, it does not plan to spend money on developing the mine until coal prices rise from current levels”. In November 2014 Daniel Morgan, global commodities analyst at investment bank UBS, said "On a standalone basis, the economics just don't stack up – I'm talking about costs and return on capital. You'd need a price of about $100-$110 a tonne for it to stack up".Seaborne thermal coal prices (Newcastle benchmark) have dropped from highs of around US$140/t in 2012 to around US$60/t in 2015 is due to increases in production and reduction in seaborne coal demand.
Oil shale gas
Oil shale gas is produced by retorting (pyrolysis) of oil shale. In the pyrolysis process, oil shale is heated until its kerogen decomposes into vapors of a petroleum-like condensable shale oil, non-condensible combustible oil shale gas, and spent shale—a solid residue. The process is the same as the shale oil extraction and oil shale gas usually occurs as a byproduct of shale oil production. The ratio of oil shale gas to shale oil depends on retorting temperature and as a rule, increases by the rise of temperature.
History of the oil shale industry
The year 1916 is considered the beginning of the Estonian oil shale industry. when a group of geologists, led by Nikolay Pogrebov, was sent to Estonia to organise the mining of oil shale and its transportation to Saint Petersburg (then known as Petrograd). In June 1916, the first tonnes of oil shale were mined at Pavandu and delivered to Saint Petersburg Polytechnical University for large-scale experiments. In 1917, Russian paleontologist Mikhail Zalessky named kukersite oil shale after the Kukruse settlement. Continuous mining activities started shortly after. Initially, oil shale was used primarily in the cement industry, for firing in locomotive furnaces, and as a household fuel, followed by shale oil and power production. As of 1925, all locomotives in Estonia were powered by oil shale. The first experimental oil shale processing retorts were built in 1921, using the method developed by Julius Pintsch AG. In 1924, the Tallinn Power Plant was the first power plant in the world to employ oil shale as its primary fuel. In 1939 Estonia mined 1.453 million tonnes of oil shale and produced 181,000 tonnes of shale oil, including 22,500 tonnes of oil that were suitable gasoline equivalents. Almost half of Estonian produced shale oil was exported accounting for 8% of country's total export.
Shale oil
Global technically recoverable oil shale reserves have recently been estimated at about of shale oil, with the largest reserves in the United States, which is thought to have .
Oil shale in China
Fushun Mining Group owns geological reserve for high grade oil shale about 3.6 billion tonnes, of which exploitable reserve is 920 million tonnes, divided between East Open Pit (760 million tonnes) and West Open Pit (160 million tonnes). The oil shale production uses reserves from the West Open Pit, while the East Open Pit oil shale reserves are not mined yet. Oil shale is produced as a byproduct of the coal mining. In 2006, Fushun Mining Group produced 240,000 tonnes of shale oil, and was expected to produce 300,000 tonnes in 2007.
Oil shale industry
In a 1972 publication by the journal "Pétrole Informations" (ISSN 0755-561X), shale oil production was unfavorably compared to the coal liquefaction. The article stated that coal liquefaction was less expensive, generated more oil, and created fewer environmental impacts than oil shale extraction. It cited a conversion ratio of of oil per one tonne of coal, as against of shale oil per one tonne of oil shale.
Shale oil
Oil shale was one of the first sources of mineral oil used by humans.
Its earliest recorded use was in Switzerland and Austria in the early 14th century. In 1596, the personal physician of Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg wrote of its healing properties. Shale oil was used to light the streets of Modena, Italy at the turn of the 17th century. The British Crown granted a patent in 1694 to three persons who had "found a way to extract and make great quantities of pitch, tarr and oyle out of a sort of stone." Later sold as Betton's British Oil, the distilled product was said to have been "tried by diverse persons in Aches and Pains with much benefit." Modern shale oil extraction industries were established in France during the 1830s and in Scotland during the 1840s. The oil was used as fuel, as a lubricant and lamp oil; the Industrial Revolution had created additional demand for lighting. It served as a substitute for the increasingly scarce and expensive whale oil.
Himmetoglu oil shale deposit
The origin of the organic matter is mainly algae and plants. The major inorganic constituents in the organic rich zones are calcite, dolomite, silica and considerable amounts of pyrite. Economic Grade Oil Shale (EGOS) over an oil shale deposit was defined by 5 m minimum seam thickness, 750 kcal/kg minimum upper calorific value and 4% minimum oil content. The average calorific value of the EGOS zone is around 4900 kcal/kg. The in-place oil content of Himmetoğlu oil shale is 43% by weight or approximately 482 l/ton shale. However, the average total sulphur content is high (2.5%) due to considerable amount of pyrite. Himmetoğlu oil shale is the highest quality oil shale deposit in Turkey. Himmetoğlu oil shale zone is being excavated to exploit an underlying high quality lignite seam, utilized for domestic heating. On accounts of its high thermal quality, Himmetoğlu oil shale is an attractive alternative for thermal power generation in Turkey, which relies mostly on poor quality lignites.
California oil and gas industry
Widely distributed in sedimentary basins of southern California is the Monterey shale, thought by some to contain more than 400 billion barrels of oil in place. The formation has for many years yielded oil in areas where it is naturally fractured, and oil companies are investigating ways to make the shale in currently non-productive areas give up the oil through artificial fracturing. Over some large areas, California's geologic layers are complexly folded, making horizontal drilling difficult. As of 2013, the Monterey shale has resisted attempts to obtain economic production of oil through hydraulic fracturing, fracking, which involves injecting water, sand, and chemicals into the shale under high pressure, to crack the rock and allow the oil and gas to flow. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates there are over 15 billion barrels of oil that can be recovered using today's technology and potentially much more if techniques can be found to safely release it. Despite intense industry efforts, there has been little success to date (2013) in producing Monterey-hosted tight oil/shale oil, and it may be many years, if ever, before the Monterey becomes a significant producer of shale oil.Initially the natural gas discovered was allowed to vent or was burned off. Only a relatively small fraction was used for lighting or heating purposes. At the turn of the century, before electrical lights were common, street lighting in cities was done by gas street lamps. Some homes were lighted with gas lamps. Much of this gas was generated from coal. By the time significant amounts of natural gas became available electricity was taking over the lighting job.
Oil shale economics
A 1984 study estimated the EROEI of the different oil shale deposits to vary between 0.7–13.3:1. More recent studies estimates the EROEI of oil shales to be 1–2:1 or 2–16:1 – depending on if self-energy is counted as a cost or internal energy is excluded and only purchased energy is counted as input. According to the World Energy Outlook 2010, the EROEI of "ex-situ" processing is typically 4–5:1 while of "in-situ" processing it may be even as low as 2:1. Royal Dutch Shell has reported an expected EROEI about 3–4:1 on its "in-situ" test project.
Oil shale economics
Due to the volatile prices and high capital costs few deposits can be exploited economically without subsidies. However, some countries, such as Estonia, Brazil, and China, operate oil-shale industries, while some others, including Australia, United States, Canada, Jordan, Israel, and Egypt, are contemplating establishing or re-establishing this industry.
History of the oil shale industry in the United States
Once again, oil shale fell victim to lower petroleum prices. The oil price began to slump in 1981, and starting in late 1981, one by one, the oil shale players folded on their billion-dollar bets, took their losses, and halted efforts at commercial production.
History of the oil shale industry in the United States
The second category of eastern oil-shale resources are the Paleozoic black shales, of lower oil yield, but of much larger size than the cannel coals. Most attention has been given to the shales near the Devonian/Mississippian boundary, which are variously called the Ohio Shale, Chattanooga Shale, the Antrim Shale, and the New Albany Shale.
Oil shale
Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced, called shale oil (not to be confused with tight oil—crude oil occurring naturally in shales). Shale oil is a substitute for conventional crude oil; however, extracting shale oil from oil shale is more costly than the production of conventional crude oil both financially and in terms of its environmental impact. Deposits of oil shale occur around the world, including major deposits in the United States. A 2016 estimate of global deposits set the total world resources of oil shale equivalent of of oil in place.
Oil shale
General composition of oil shales constitutes inorganic matrix, bitumens, and kerogen. While the bitumen portion of oil shales is soluble in carbon disulfide, kerogen portion is insoluble in carbon disulfide and may contain iron, vanadium, nickel, molybdenum, and uranium. Oil shale contains a lower percentage of organic matter than coal. In commercial grades of oil shale the ratio of organic matter to mineral matter lies approximately between 0.75:5 and 1.5:5. At the same time, the organic matter in oil shale has an atomic ratio of hydrogen to carbon (H/C) approximately 1.2 to 1.8 times lower than for crude oil and about 1.5 to 3 times higher than for coals. The organic components of oil shale derive from a variety of organisms, such as the remains of algae, spores, pollen, plant cuticles and corky fragments of herbaceous and woody plants, and cellular debris from other aquatic and land plants. Some deposits contain significant fossils; Germany's Messel Pit has the status of a Unesco World Heritage Site. The mineral matter in oil shale includes various fine-grained silicates and carbonates. Inorganic matrix can contain quartz, feldspars, clays (mainly illite and chlorite), carbonates (calcite and dolomites), pyrite and some other minerals.
History of the oil shale industry
Because of the success of oil shale-based power generation, Estonian oil shale mining peaked in 1980 at 31.35 million tonnes and oil-shale-based power generation peaked at the same year at 18.9 TWh. The largest oil shale mine in the world – the Estonia Mine – was opened in 1972. In 1980 the Narva Oil Plant was commissioned. The industry declined during the two decades that followed this peak. Demand for locally produced electrical power was reduced by construction of nuclear power stations in the Soviet Union, particularly Leningrad Nuclear Power Station.
Peak oil
Hofmeister also pointed to unconventional sources of oil such as the oil sands of Canada, where Shell was active. The Canadian oil sands—a natural combination of sand, water, and oil found largely in Alberta and Saskatchewan—are believed to contain one trillion barrels of oil. Another trillion barrels are also said to be trapped in rocks in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, in the form of oil shale. Environmentalists argue that major environmental, social, and economic obstacles would make extracting oil from these areas excessively difficult. Hofmeister argued that if oil companies were allowed to drill more in the United States enough to produce another , oil and gas prices would not be as high as they were in the late 2000s. He thought in 2008 that high energy prices would cause social unrest similar to the 1992 Rodney King riots.
Parshall Oil Field
The Parshall Oil Field is an oil field producing from the Bakken Formation and Three Forks Formation near the town of Parshall, in Mountrail County, North Dakota. The field is in the Williston Basin. The field was discovered in 2006 by EOG Resources, which drilled, and now operates, most of the wells. It was the discovery of the Parshall Field that was largely responsible for the North Dakota oil boom. Parshall’s break-even price is at US$38/barrel, which is the lowest on the Bakken Formation; overall, Bakken’s break-even point is of US$62/barrel.
Shale oil extraction
A possible measure of the viability of oil shale as an energy source lies in the ratio of the energy in the extracted oil to the energy used in its mining and processing (Energy Returned on Energy Invested, or EROEI). A 1984 study estimated the EROEI of the various known oil shale deposits as varying between 0.7–13.3; Some companies and newer technologies assert an EROEI between 3 and 10. According to the World Energy Outlook 2010, the EROEI of "ex-situ" processing is typically 4 to 5 while of "in-situ" processing it may be even as low as 2.
History of the oil shale industry in the United States
The high price of petroleum encouraged intensified exploration in the US and elsewhere, and eventually resulted in the discovery of large new petroleum deposits. American oil production surged in the early 1920s, particularly in north Texas and the Los Angeles Basin in California, driving down both imports and the price of oil. A barrel of oil in the Midcontinent region lost almost two-thirds of its value, falling from US$3.50 at the start of 1921, to US$1.25 at year-end. Imported oil peaked at 127 million barrels in 1923, then dropped by more than half, to 62 million in 1925.
Oil-storage trade
According to Bloomberg Business, the efficiency of newer shale oil wells that use hydraulic fracturing in the United States, combined with the US$12 million upfront well drilling and construction costs, provide incentives to oil producers to continue to flood the already glutted market with under-priced oil in spite of crude oil storage limitations. Many less efficient and less productive older wells were shut down but these shale oil wells continue to increase production while making a profit in a market where crude oil is priced as low as US$50 a barrel.
Barnett Shale
As of September 2008, gas producers said that bonuses paid to landowners in the southern counties ranged from $200 to $28,000 per acre ($500–69,000/ha), the higher prices being paid by Vantage Energy in the fall of 2008. Royalty payments in the 18–25% range. One lease in Johnson County now has 19 wells permitted.
History of the oil shale industry in the United States
By early 1860, there were between 60 and 75 shale oil companies in the United States, producing from seven to nine million gallons annually of lamp and lubricating oil. Lamp oil from shale was reportedly much improved, and free from its early problems of smoke and odor. It was hailed as giving “more and cheaper light than any other substance,” and was driving the turpentine-based (camphene) lamp oils, as well as the much more expensive whale oil, from the market.
Shale band
The price reference used by Petromatrix for the shale band is based on the CME WTI futures contract for the month of December of the next calendar year, a contract also known as the Red December contract. Due to cost reductions taken by US shale oil producers, Olivier Jakob revised the shale band in August 2016 lower by $5 per barrel to a range between $40–$60, on the basis of the WTI December contract for the next calendar year.
Shale gas in the United States
The first Barnett Shale well was completed in 1981 in Wise County. Drilling expanded greatly in the past several years due to higher natural gas prices and use of horizontal wells to increase production. In contrast to older shale gas plays, such as the Antrim Shale, the New Albany Shale, and the Ohio Shale, the Barnett Shale completions are much deeper (up to 8,000 feet). The thickness of the Barnett varies from 100 to , but most economic wells are located where the shale is between 300 and thick. The success of the Barnett has spurred exploration of other deep shales.
Oil shale in Estonia
The mining and processing of about one billion tonnes of oil shale in Estonia has created about 360-370 million tonnes of solid waste. Combustion ashes are the largest component (200 million tonnes), followed by mining waste (90 million tonnes) and spent shale (mainly semi-coke, 70–80 million tonnes). According to the European Union waste list, oil shale ash and spent shale are classified as hazardous waste. In addition, approximately 73 million tonnes of graptolitic argillite as overlying deposit were mined and piled in waste heaps in the process of phosphorite–ore mining near Maardu in 1964–1991.
History of the oil shale industry in the United States
Of the attempts to open commercial-scale oil shale operations, only the Union Oil project continued. Union Oil persevered to the extent of spending $1.2 billion, and shipped its first barrel of oil in 1986. The plant was making 5,000 to 7,000 barrels per day at peak production, helped by a federal subsidy. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 which among other things abolished the United States' Synthetic Liquid Fuels Program. Union finally bowed to continued low oil prices and closed the project in 1991, rather than complete the US$2 billion project.
Oil shale economics
In 2005, Royal Dutch Shell announced that its "in situ" extraction technology could become competitive at prices over $30 per barrel ($190/m). However, Shell reported in 2007 that the cost of creating an underground freeze wall to contain groundwater contamination had significantly escalated. Anyway, as the commercial scale production by Shell is not foreseen until 2025, the real price needed to make production economic remains unclear.
Antrim Shale
The shale appears to be most economic at depths of 600-2,200 feet. Original gas content ranges from 40 to 100 standard cubic feet per ton. Wells are developed on units of from to . Horizontal drilling is not widely used. Antrim Shale wells often have to pump much initial water before gas production becomes significant, a behavior also seen in many coalbed methane wells.
Shale oil
Shale oil is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale rock fragments by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock (kerogen) into synthetic oil and gas. The resulting oil can be used immediately as a fuel or upgraded to meet refinery feedstock specifications by adding hydrogen and removing impurities such as sulfur and nitrogen. The refined products can be used for the same purposes as those derived from crude oil.
Red Leaf Resources
Red Leaf Resources controls oil shale leases covering about on State of Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands in Seep Ridge, Utah. The acreage represents about of shale oil. Its 2009 pilot project produced more than of oil. In 2012, Red Leaf Resources formed a joint venture with Total S.A. to launch commercial scale production of , utilizing the EcoShale In-Capsule process on oil shale leaseholds in Utah's Uintah Basin. In December 2013, the ground water permit was issued for the oil shale mine and shale oil plant. Red Leaf plans to be producing of oil by the end of 2015.
Oil shale industry
The major shale oil producers are China and Estonia, with Brazil a distant third, while Australia, USA, Canada and Jordan have planned to set up or restart shale oil production. According to the World Energy Council, in 2008 the total production of shale oil from oil shale was 930,000 tonnes, equal to , of which China produced 375,000 tonnes, Estonia 355,000 tonnes, and Brazil 200 tonnes. In comparison, production of the conventional oil and natural gas liquids in 2008 amounted 3.95 billion tonnes or .
Shale band
The term was defined on May 8, 2015 by Olivier Jakob, the director of Petromatrix, a Swiss-based consultancy company that publishes a daily note on the oil markets. Petromatrix described the shale band as a price range between $45 and $65 per barrel for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil. Below $45 per barrel, production of US shale oil would fall sharply, and above $65 production would surge. According to Olivier Jakob, the price of crude oil would, therefore, remain within that range as long as the US remained the swing producer of crude oil in an environment where OPEC is producing at capacity. The concept of the shale band was subsequently verified in the market action of 2015 and the Wall Street Journal characterized the shale band as one of the key terms and phrases from 2015. The term is now widely used in by the financial press and market analysts to describe the price action of oil during over the year of 2015 and 2016.
Oil shale geology
A 2008 estimate set the total world resources of oil shale at 689 gigatons — equivalent to yield of of shale oil, with the largest reserves in the United States, which is thought to have , though only a part of it is recoverable. According to the 2010 World Energy Outlook by the International Energy Agency, the world oil shale resources may be equivalent of more than of oil in place of which more than may be technically recoverable. For comparison, the world's proven conventional oil reserves were estimated at , as of 1 January 2007. The largest known commercial deposits in the world occur in the United States in the Green River Formation, which covers portions of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming; about 70% of this resource lies on land owned or managed by the United States federal government.
Deposits in the United States constitute 62% of world resources; together, the United States, Russia and Brazil account for 86% of the world's resources in terms of shale-oil content. These figures remain tentative, with exploration or analysis of several deposits still outstanding. Professor Alan R. Carroll of University of Wisconsin–Madison regards the Upper Permian lacustrine oil-shale deposits of northwest China, absent from previous global oil shale assessments, as comparable in size to the Green River Formation.
History of the oil shale industry in the United States
Many of the new companies were legitimate, but the honest ones had to compete with the exaggerated promises of the crooks. Oil shale processing worldwide had always included a retort to produce oil by heating the shale, and a separate refining process to make marketable products from the oil. But some promoters claimed to be able to draw gasoline and other consumer products directly from the retort. One huckster promised that he could extract gold from the oil shale as a byproduct. The US Bureau of Mines had to go out of its way to assure the public that it could not detect recoverable amounts of gold in any oil shale.
Oil reserves
In June 2013 the U.S. Energy Information Administration published a global inventory of estimated recoverable tight oil and tight gas resources in shale formations, "Technically Recoverable Shale Oil and Shale Gas Resources: An Assessment of 137 Shale Formations in 41 Countries Outside the United States." The inventory is incomplete due to exclusion of tight oil and gas from sources other than shale such as sandstone or carbonates, formations underlying the large oil fields located in the Middle East and the Caspian region, off shore formations, or about which there is little information. Estimated technically recoverable shale oil resources total 335 to 345 billion barrels.Energy and resources:
Oil shale
, 80% of oil shale used globally is extracted in Estonia, mainly due to the Oil-shale-fired power plants. Oil-shale-fired power plants occur in Estonia, which has an installed capacity of 2,967 megawatts (MW), China (12 MW), and Germany (9.9 MW). Israel, Romania and Russia have in the past run power plants fired by oil shale, but have shut them down or switched to other fuel sources such as natural gas. Jordan and Egypt plan to construct power plants fired by oil shale, while Canada and Turkey plan to burn oil shale along with coal for power generation.
Oil shale serves as the main fuel for power generation only in Estonia, where 90.3% of country's electrical generation in 2016 was produced from oil shale.
Oil shale economics
Oil shale economics deals with the economic feasibility of oil shale extraction and processing. Although usually oil shale economics is understood as shale oil extraction economics, the wider approach evaluates usage of oil shale as whole, including for the oil-shale-fired power generation and production of by-products during retorting or shale oil upgrading processes.
Snyder, Texas
In addition to the SACROC field, Snyder is also located within the footprint of the newly discovered Cline Shale. Devon Energy estimates the Cline Shale to produce 30 billion barrels of oil, surpassing the Bakken Shale in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas. The thickness of the Cline Shale is equivalent to roughly 10 Eagle Ford shales stacked on top of each other. As exploration and development of this new shale continues in the Snyder area, the city is expected to see a large population increase with new restaurants, apartments, and retail shopping.
History of the oil shale industry
In the United States, an oil shale development program was initiated in 2003. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 introduced a commercial leasing program for oil shale and tar sands resources on public lands within the states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. In 2007, leases were awarded to Chevron Shale Oil, EGL Resources (now American Shale Oil), Oil Shale Exploration Company (now Enefit American Oil) and Shell Frontier Oil & Gas, and in 2010 to ExxonMobil, Natural Soda and AuraSource. Several other companies like Red Leaf Resources and TomCo Energy operates on the private leases. However, Chevron closed its Chevron CRUSH project in 2012 and Shell closed its Mahogany Research Project in 2013.
Oil shale geology
As source rocks for most conventional oil reservoirs, oil shale deposits are found in all world oil provinces, although most of them are too deep to be exploited economically. As with all oil and gas resources, analysts distinguish between oil shale resources and oil shale reserves. "Resources" refers to all oil shale deposits, while "reserves", represents those deposits from which producers can extract oil shale economically using existing technology. Since extraction technologies develop continuously, planners can only estimate the amount of recoverable kerogen.
Although resources of oil shale occur in many countries, only 33 countries possess known deposits of possible economic value.
Well-explored deposits, potentially classifiable as reserves, include the Green River deposits in the western United States, the Tertiary deposits in Queensland, Australia, deposits in Sweden and Estonia, the El-Lajjun deposit in Jordan, and deposits in France, Germany, Brazil, China, southern Mongolia and Russia. These deposits have given rise to expectations of yielding at least 40 liters of shale oil per tonne of oil shale, using the Fischer Assay.
Oil shale in Estonia
Estonia has adopted a national development plan that limits the annual mining of oil shale to 20 million tonnes. At this rate, mineable reserves will last for 25–30 years. In 2012, 15.86 million tonnes of oil shale were mined. Mining losses were about four million tonnes. As of 2014, five oil shale mines are in operation; three are open-pit mines and two are underground mines. The mines are owned by four companies. Plans for opening several new mines are in the preparatory phase. Historically, the ratio of underground mining to open-pit mining has been approximately even, but as usable deposits close to the surface become scarcer, underground mining will probably increase.
Oil sands
The Alberta government estimated that in 2012, the supply cost of oil sands new mining operations was $70 to $85 per barrel, whereas the cost of new SAGD projects was $50 to $80 per barrel. These costs included capital and operating costs, royalties and taxes, plus a reasonable profit to the investors. Since the price of WTI rose to $100/bbl beginning in 2011, production from oil sands was then expected to be highly profitable assuming the product could be delivered to markets. The main market was the huge refinery complexes on the US Gulf Coast, which are generally capable of processing Canadian bitumen and Venezuelan extra-heavy oil without upgrading.
Synthetic fuels in the United States
The United States Bureau of Mines opened a demonstration oil shale mine at Anvils Point, west of Rifle, Colorado, which operated at a small scale. In the early 1960s TOSCO (The Oil Shale Corporation) opened an underground mine and built an experimental plant near Parachute, Colorado. It was closed in 1972 because the price of production exceeded the cost of imported crude oil. In 1951, the United States Department of Defense became interested in oil shale as an alternative resource for producing a jet fuel.
Shale gas
In first quarter 2012, the United States imported 840 billion cubic feet (Bcf) (785 from Canada) while exporting 400 Bcf (mostly to Canada); both mainly by pipeline. Almost none is exported by ship as LNG, as that would require expensive facilities. In 2012, prices went down to $3/MMBtu due to shale gas.
Oil shale in China
The cost of shale oil production in Fushun is US$18.46 per barrel (1,500 yuan per tonne), of which the mining costs 0.184, transportation 4.25, and retorting 13.84. Fushun shale oil is sold as fuel oil, while part of the surplus retort gas with low heating value is used in an internal combustion engine for producing steam and power. Spent shale and shale ash is used for the cement production; the annual production of cement is 300,000 tonnes and the annual production of bricks is 240 million.
Oil shale industry
A critical measure of the viability of oil shale as an energy source lies in the ratio of the energy produced by the shale to the energy used in its mining and processing, a ratio known as "Energy Returned on Energy Invested" (EROEI). A 1984 study estimated the EROEI of the various known oil-shale deposits as varying between 0.7–13.3
although known oil-shale extraction development projects assert an EROEI between 3 and 10. According to the World Energy Outlook 2010, the EROEI of "ex-situ" processing is typically 4 to 5 while of "in-situ" processing it may be even as low as 2. However, according to the IEA most of used energy can be provided by burning the spent shale or oil-shale gas.
Oil shale in Estonia
Shale oil production started in Estonia in 1921 when Riigi Põlevkivitööstus built 14 experimental oil shale processing retorts in Kohtla-Järve. These vertical retorts used the method developed by Julius Pintsch AG that would later evolve into the current Kiviter processing technology. Along with the shale oil extraction plant, an oil shale research laboratory was founded in 1921. Following the experimental retorts, the first commercial shale oil plant was put into operation on 24 December 1924. The German-owned company Eesti Kiviõli (, , predecessor of Kiviõli Keemiatööstus), affiliated with G. Scheel & Co. and Mendelssohn & Co., was established in 1922. By the end of the 1930s, it had become the largest shale oil producer in Estonia. Around the company's mine and oil plant, the Kiviõli settlement (now town) was formed in the same way as the Küttejõu settlement (now district of Kiviõli) formed around the mine owned by Eesti Küttejõud. In 1924, the British investor-owned Estonian Oil Development Syndicate Ltd. (later Vanamõisa Oilfields Ltd.) purchased an open-pit mine in Vanamõisa and opened a shale oil extraction plant that was abandoned in 1931 due to technical problems. The Swedish–Norwegian consortium Eestimaa Õlikonsortsium (, ), controlled by Marcus Wallenberg, was founded in Sillamäe in 1926. New Consolidated Gold Fields Ltd. of the United Kingdom built a shale oil extraction plant at Kohtla-Nõmme in 1931. This facility continued to operate until 1961.
Oil shale economics
A comparison of the proposed American oil shale industry to the Alberta oil-sands industry has been drawn (the latter enterprise generated over of oil in late 2007), stating that "the first-generation facility is the hardest, both technically and economically". According to the United States Department of Energy, in 1980s the costs of a "ex-situ" processing complex ranged from $8–12 billion at 2005 prices. It is estimated that the current capital costs are $3–10 billion at 2005 prices.
History of the oil shale industry in the United States
Today, oil shale is an “unconventional” energy source, and drilling for crude oil is the norm. But in the late 1850s, those positions were reversed. By 1859, when some venture capitalists hired Edwin Drake to drill for oil in western Pennsylvania, the oil shale industry was well established, and it was the idea of drilling for crude oil that was unproven.
Oil shale
A 2016 estimate set the total world resources of oil shale equivalent to yield of of shale oil, with the largest resource deposits in the United States accounting more than 80% of the world total resource. For comparison, at the same time the world's proven oil reserves are estimated to be . The largest deposits in the world occur in the United States in the Green River Formation, which covers portions of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming; about 70% of this resource lies on land owned or managed by the United States federal government.
Deposits in the United States constitute more than 80% of world resources; other significant resource holders being China, Russia, and Brazil.
History of the oil shale industry in the United States
Already-large oil companies entering the oil shale business found their potential reserves increased enormously. Union Oil’s shale property promised to increase that company’s oil production by 50% overnight, and maintain production at that level for 40 years. But as the projects developed, the companies found themselves with multibillion-dollar bets on the economic viability of oil shale, and some looked for partners to spread the risk; some sold out entirely. 
The Colony Oil Shale Project changed hands a number of times, until the only original owner left was TOSCO with 40%. The rest was owned by Exxon. The partners planned a US$5 billion project to mine and process oil shale.
History of the oil shale industry in the United States
The drop in oil price, and the increased production from new fields, put a damper on speculation that the US was about to run out of oil. Oil shale could not economically compete with petroleum priced below US$2 per barrel, especially given that the productive shale areas were far from major petroleum markets. Cheap petroleum prices had driven oil shale out of business.
History of the oil shale industry in the United States
By the 1940s, companies such as Chevron and Texaco owned substantial oil shale areas. A number of oil companies started researching methods to mining and process the oil shale. In contrast to the boom of the 1920s, which featured hundreds of small startup companies operating on stock sales, the shale research after World War II was a well-financed, long-term effort by established oil companies. 
Sinclair Oil began testing an "in-situ" combustion process for recovering shale oil in the 1950s. Union Oil Company of California built and tested its proprietary Union process with a 1,200 ton-per-day retort at its Parachute Creek property near Grand Valley, Colorado in 1957 and 1958. This technology was tested between 1954 and 1958 at the company-owned tract in the Parachute Creek. This production was finally shut down in 1961 due to cost. In 1957 Texaco built a shale oil extraction pilot plant to develop its own hydroretorting process. In the early 1960s TOSCO (The Oil Shale Corporation) opened an underground mine and built an experimental plant near Parachute, Colorado. It was closed in 1972 because the price of production exceeded the cost of imported crude oil. The federal government offered for lease three large blocks of oil shale land in Colorado in 1968, but rejected all the received bids as insufficient.