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Oil shale proponents are claiming that 1 trillion barrels of oil are available in the public lands of the American West in the form of “oil shale,” and that is a reason to lease those lands for extracting the oil, even if scarce water is diverted to the use and ecological damage and wildlife habitat is sacrificed.
The fatal flaw in the argument is that because oil shale is actually about 19 parts non-energy bearing rock to only 1 part energy-bearing kerogen (the parent of kerosene) and all must be heated to release the energy, the losses in energy exceed the gain.
So the more you exploit oil shale the worse it gets. The trillion barrels of oil may be there, but it will take quadrillions of barrels of alternative energy, such as coal, to bring the energy to public use.
LARRY SODERBERG
Parachute
11 Responses to “Harvesting oil shale would require too much energy”
Posted January 13th, 2009 at 3:30 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
Not according to this web site:
http://www.oilshaleexplorationcompany.com/faq.asp
“What energy is required to process oil shale?
Aside from the energy required for the mine and spent shale activities, the biggest energy consumers are the retort and processing plant. A common concern is whether it takes more energy to produce shale oil than the energy contained in the product. However, there is more energy in the final fully refined (ie- Diesel Fuel, Jet Fuel, Etc) shale oil product than the ammount of energy required to produce it.”
Posted January 13th, 2009 at 4:32 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
The graver issue is water. I have tried to find a relatively impartial and recent link:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-shale28-2008dec28,0,4185226.story?page=1
Posted January 13th, 2009 at 5:08 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
Eventually carbon will trump oil shale. The more carbon we burn the more CO2 is produced and the more global warming occurs.
Posted January 13th, 2009 at 5:21 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
Unless of course you believe its all a hoax dreamed up by the most evil of men, Al Gore.
Posted January 13th, 2009 at 5:41 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
Well, I’m not sure it’s all a hoax, Oliver. But maybe after I defrost, I’ll give it another shot.
Should I re-post the reference I gave this weekend from Pravda about the upcoming Ice Age?
Posted January 13th, 2009 at 5:43 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
No need to, I made it my home page.
Posted January 13th, 2009 at 5:48 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
dc: lol
Posted January 13th, 2009 at 5:58 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
bullishfrog,
What else would you expect from a site labeled “Oil Shale Exploration Company?” Never forget that it is not oil shale. A more accurate name would be Kerogen Shale.
The link offered by Ash (post #2) provides a far more accurate estimate of the enormous amounts of energy required to obtain kerogen, which is not cude oil, from stone (shale). It doesn’t require a great deal of scientific knowledge to estimate the amount of energy required to heat a mass of shale to 700 degrees, maintain that heat for weeks or months,and at the same time maintain a 20-30 foot wall of frozen earth around this boiling brew to prevent contamination of ground water. Then add the amount of water needed to create this energy. Coal fired power plants use massive amounts of water and burn massive amounts of coal. After all of this, the kerogen will require more energy consuming processes to obtain a useable product (oil).
Shell oil obviously has massive amounts of money since they currently are the leaders in this research. My guess is they’ll follow Exxon and abondon the idea of obtaining oil from shale.
Posted January 13th, 2009 at 6:07 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
Don’t count out Chevron. They are looking at a process that might work, while obviating the need for so much energy in. It is a process that uses a liquid CO2 ( similar to the process that decaffeinates coffee ) to attract and bind the kerogen to it when it is pumped out. Don’t need heat and you don’t need to de-water. The engineer that explained it to me said they would have a better idea in a couple of years but it would be at least ten before a pilot plant would be built. I have no info about the possibilities for pollution.
I’m not holding my breath, but you never know.
Posted January 13th, 2009 at 6:23 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
kemo, I certainly don’t have the data to judge whether you are right or the site I quoted is right.
Shell, as you note, is spending a lot of money on research. They must believe that there is a possibility that the oil can be recovered economically at some level of oil price. Even rich folks are not fond of throwing money away.
Let me add that I am very familiar with upgraded shale oil. I was involved with refining it in Fruita. It is extremely high quality and clean once it becomes refinery feedstock.
Posted January 14th, 2009 at 11:55 am Login to Send PM Report this comment
The prospect of commercial-scale liquid-fuel extraction from organic marlstone (so-called “oil shale”) amounts to nothing more than corporate extortion or hostage-taking for the hydrocarbon-addicted ill-informed American public.
This is an exercise where companies like Shell attempt to back us into a corner by grabbing critical water rights, locking up public land, and sitting on essentially free minerals….all the while claiming it’s our only hope for a future of liquid fuel-propelled vehicles.
Their exercise has only one purpose – to be totally funded by the American public so that they (the oil & gas operators) may profit largely. This is done by way of royalty relief, tax breaks, subsidies, incentives, “guaranteed” government pricing, exemption from regulation, and so on.
Recall that the last round of oil-shale extraction hinged on the government (that’s you & I) guaranteeing payment of about $42 per barrel. Once the government cut the subsidy, the lights instantly went out on the non-viable project.
It’s classic Stockholm Syndrome in the works: “a psychological response in which the hostage shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker, regardless of the danger or risk in which they have been placed.”
Americans should not be duped & held hostage by the likes of Shell, ExxMo, Chevron, etc. as part of the oil-shale charade. Don’t allow theft & destruction of your public resources: air, water, vegetation, wildlife. We can’t survive without them.
Oil shale can wait another 500,000 years to mature.
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