Oil shale may be fool's gold

[NVMojo]

December 2005

Buried underground in western Colorado are a trillion tons of oil shale. For a century, men have tried and tried again to unlock this energy source. But the rocks have proved stubborn, promising much, delivering little.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Energy published a new report on oil shale. It claimed that the nation could wring "200,000 barrels a day from oil shale by 2011, 2 million barrels a day by 2020, and ultimately 10 million barrels a day" from fields in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. These predictions - both the production targets and their timing - are preposterous, as some industry experts admit.

But hyping oil shale is nothing new. As geologist Walter Youngquist once wrote, "Bankers won't invest a dime in 'organic marlstone,' the shale's proper name, but 'oil shale' is another matter."

California Rep. Richard Pombo and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch are spearheading efforts to jumpstart the industry. "I find it disturbing that Utah imports oil from Canadian tar sands, even though our oil shale resource remains undeveloped," says Hatch.

more...

http://www.energybulletin.net/11779.html

[Spinzonner]

1. Perhaps they're really interested in mining

for Government subsidies and tax credits more than they are for a fuel source

[NVMojo]

2. you have hit the proverbial nail on the head, this administration LOVES

CORPORATE WELFARE!!! And doesn't mind making you and I pay for it.

[Oerdin]

3. Shale Oil actually is recoverable at current market prices.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000082&sid=axbTzn_n2Veo&refer=canada

Alberta has several mines where the shale is stripe mined, much like coal, and then processed, again much like coal. They are currently building at least three more such sites. It isn't enviromentally friendly and it costs a lot more then the easily pumped oils we normally get but it is a vast amount of oil available in North America which can be recovered economically.

[NickB79]

4. There are water issues that limit shale oil recovery

In the June 2004 issue of National Geographic, they state that it takes 3 barrels of water to extract one barrel of bitumen. They also make mention of the large amounts of natural gas it takes to cook the oil out of the rock and sand.

To turn Alberta into the next Saudi Arabia, it may be necessary to build nuclear reactors directly at the extraction sites and massive pipelines to transport in additional water.