Shell Oil develops oil shale (new method)

[Meeker Morgan]

http://ww2.scripps.com/cgi-bin/archives/denver.pl?DBLIST=rm05&DOCNUM=20000

When oil prices last touched record highs - actually, after adjusting for inflation we're not there yet, but given the effects of Hurricane Katrina, we probably will be soon - politicians' response was more hype than hope. Oil shale in Colorado! Tar sands in Alberta! OPEC be damned!

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Drill shafts into the oil-bearing rock. Drop heaters down the shaft. Cook the rock until the hydrocarbons boil off, the lightest and most desirable first. Collect them.

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And we've hardly gotten to the really ingenious part yet. While the rock is cooking, at about 650 or 750 degrees Fahrenheit, how do you keep the hydrocarbons from contaminating ground water? Why, you build an ice wall around the whole thing. As O'Connor said, it's counterintuitive.

But ice is impermeable to water. So around the perimeter of the productive site, you drill lots more shafts, only 8 to 12 feet apart, put in piping, and pump refrigerants through it. The water in the ground around the shafts freezes, and eventually forms a 20- to 30-foot ice barrier around the site.

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[niyad]

1. thanks, I missed that article this morning (not enough caffeine) will look

it up when I get home.

[derby378]

2. One word: Biodiesel

Someone PLEASE tell me how to convert my Camry to this stuff!!

[marbuc]

5. It is my understanding

that you cannot without buying a new engine that can process diesel fuel. You might as well buy a new car, or if your Camry is new enough, you might be able to use E-85.

[Robb]

7. Any diesel engine will work

The only modifications that need to be made are for altitude and cold, IIRC.

[Mr_Spock]

14. Yep - sounds like good stuff from what I heard on Ed Shultz show

I don't think the guys Camry (above) is a diesel though...

[meow mix]

3. gee i thought we had so much of the easy to get stuff..

why bother with all that? spooky.

[TheWraith]

11. Price, price, price.

The old methods of tapping oil shale cost $18 per barrel of oil gotten out of the ground. In contrast, Saudi oil only cost $1 per barrel to get out of the ground. Add to those figures the cost of transportation, storage, distribution, etcetera. Thus, when the price of oil was only $19-$25 per barrel, it could never be cost-effective to go after oil shale. But now with prices close to $70 a barrel, oil shale is starting to look pretty good as a profitable alternate source of supply, so research is being done on how to extract it more efficiently.

[Toots]

27. You don't think extraction costs are going to go up like everything else?

Back in the days that extraction costs were $18 a barrel gas cost about a dollar and a quarter a gallon. Now gas is over three dollars and not likely ever to return to under three dollars ever again. Because of this increase in gasoline prices virtually everything in america is costing more. I expect those extraction costs to be doubled at least but still almost viable but how about "alternative energy"? If we invested one fourth in alternative energy that we do in fossel fuels we would do wonders.

[Poiuyt]

4. Wasn't the governor of Montana touting an old method of getting oil from

coal? Supposedly, it wasn't economically feasible when oil was less than $30 per barrel. Now that we'll probably never see prices go back below $30, he thinks its time to re-evaluate that method.

[marbuc]

8. The governor of Montana is one of many

that have promoted liquid coal fuel. This is cost effective when oil is 33-35 dollars a barrel, and as you mentioned, we will probably never see prices like that again. Look for Coal-to-liquid facilities to pop up in the next few years. There is one in Wyoming, and planned for Illinois, Pennsylvania, and possibly WV, and Kentucky.

[Robb]

6. A big part of the energy bill

...involved $$ for some oil shale demo projects.

Out here in Colorado we're pretty leery of oil shale, seeing as how at one time we had something of a bust.

However, if the new tech works out, it's likely to change the face of globalk petro-politics forever.

The potential is huuuuuuge. One set of numbers I read said the high side was oil production in the U.S. would be twice that of the rest of the world combined.

Can you imagine a more valuable technology? What would we do, if it worked, to keep it out of the hands of the competition?

[benburch]

9. Wow... This sounds like the technology from "Atlas Shrugged"

Yes, I did read the whole thing 35 years ago...

[bemildred]

10. How many calories in for each calorie out? That's the question. nt

[Texifornia]

20. Sir Isaac will not be ignored

Newton's Second Law of Thermodynamics, that is.

Shale oil didn't work in the 70's because it took more energy input that could be delivered. In other words, energy return on energy invested (EROEI)was negative. Everything else is bullshit.

Even tar sands have only a 1.5:1 to a 3:1 EROEI as compared to about 30:1 for conventional land-based oil. So the usage actually accellerates as these "non-conventional" hydrocarbons become a bigger portion of consumer products like gasoline, heating oil and gas.

No majic here. Physics is physics.

[Mr_Spock]

12. I remember the shale technology discussions in the 70's energy crunch

It's good to see that this technology has progressed over the years - very interesting indeed...

[Solon]

13. So how much energy aka, hydrocarbons, will have to be burned...

to maintain this heat-exchange system again? Looks like just an antipollution measure for a dirty way to get even more pollutants. Find a way to make it more energy efficient, and I'll be impressed.

[joey93turbo]

15. I hope it works

I'm all for alternative fuel sources, I'm amazed we've progressed this slowly.

[MeatLoafZero]

16. No matter what is proposed, someone complains.

Hydrogen? explosive

Hydroelectric? kills rivers

Nuclear? are you nuts?

Wind turbine? kills birds/views

Mass transit? Will they stop at McDonald's?

[Extend a Hand]

17. hi

I crossposted a link to your post in the peak oil group forum
because there are a lot of people over there really knowledgeable about peak oil and I'm hoping they can discuss the merits of this technology.

[MeatLoafZero]

18. Hello

I'm hoping they can discuss the merits of this technology.

and hopefully not the merits (or lack thereof) of my humor. ;)

Crosspost away.

[Extend a Hand]

19. tee hee

I meant to reply to the orignal poster -- but you post did give me a giggle

:hi:

[mhr]

25. Peak Oil And EROEI Trumps All Meatloaf

Do your homework!

[BeTheChange]

22. I dont, they will destroy our remaining natural areas..

open up state parks to log all the trees and fuck up all the landscape.


Dumbasses.

BIO - DIESEL.

[NNadir]

21. Oil is an environmental disaster; oil shale is worse.

We must go nuclear or die.

[CantGetFooledAgain]

26. What about the waste? (nt)

[DS1]

23. sounds like there's as much energy going into the ground

as there is coming out

[RevCheesehead]

24. I think I'll wait for "Mr. Fusion"

You know - beer cans, banana peels, etc...