Oil shale
This article does not receive scheduled updates. If you would like to help our coverage grow, consider donating to Ballotpedia. Contact our team to suggest an update.
 on Energy |
 |
|---|
|
Oil shale, also known as shale rock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock that contains kerogen, an organic compound that can be converted to oil and combustible gas. Oil shale is either mined near the Earth's surface or underground. Its organic and oil content varies from approximately 100 to 200 liters per metric ton. Up to 33 percent of oil shale can be made of kerogen while the majority of oil shale is generally laminated rock made up mostly of clay minerals.[1][2][3]
Background
Oil shales contain liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons, which are extracted by heating the rock. This extraction is generally less efficient than conventional drilling, in which wells are used to extract oil and natural gas directly. Oil shale deposits can span thousands of square miles and may reach thicknesses of up to 700 meters or more. These deposits are located throughout the world, including freshwater and salt lakes, marine basins, tidal shelves, coastal swamps, and other areas. Like conventional oil and natural gas resources, the economic value of oil shale depends on the size of its deposits.[4][5]
Commercial development of oil shale extraction depends on how effectively it can be extracted, the shales' physical and chemical characteristics, the geology of the surrounding area, the amount of labor, roads, railroads, and power lines required, and the presence of parks or wildlife refuges, among other factors. The supply and price of petroleum is also a factor in large-scale oil shale extraction. Oil shale extraction becomes less economically viable if petroleum is more readily available and is priced higher than oil shale. In some cases, oil shale extraction is an alternative to petroleum extraction, particularly if a country may not have petroleum resources of its own.[5]
The Eocene Green River Formation of the Greater Green River Basin, which contains oil shale, spans Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the formation was the globe's largest known deposit of oil shale as of January 2013. The survey estimated that the formation contained potential resources totaling approximately 4.285 trillion barrels of oil as of January 2013. Additionally, the survey concluded that this estimate was an assessment of potential resources and did not include how much of the oil could be recovered.[6]
The map below shows the Greater Green River Basin and the location of oil shale-bearing rocks.
U.S. production
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), approximately 4.9 million barrels of crude oil were produced per day from oil shale in 2015. This was equal to approximately 52 percent of total U.S. crude oil production in 2015, according to the EIA. Additionally, the EIA found that approximately 13.5 trillion cubic feet of dry natural gas was produced from oil shale resources in 2015. This accounted for roughly 50 percent of total U.S. dry natural gas production in 2015.[7][8]
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ “U.S. Geological Survey”, “Energy Resource Program, Oil Shale,” accessed January 29, 2014
- ↑ “U.S. Energy Information Administration”, “Glossary, S” accessed January 29, 2014
- ↑ “U.S. Energy Information Administration”, “Energy in Brief,” accessed January 28, 2014
- ↑ Oil Shale and Tar Sands Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, "About Oil Shale," accessed March 30, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Geology.com, "Geology and Resources of Some World Oil-Shale Deposits," accessed April 15, 2017
- ↑ U.S. Geological Survey, "In-Place Oil Shale Resources Examined by Grade in the Major Basins of the Green River Formation, Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming," accessed April 19, 2017
- ↑ U.S. Energy Information Administration, "How much shale gas is produced in the United States?" accessed April 20, 2017
- ↑ U.S. Energy Information Administration, "How much shale (tight) oil is produced in the United States?" February 13, 2017
| |||||||||||
