U.S. Eyes Alberta as model for developing oil shale
Green River formation oil locked in over half of the world’s known reserves of oil shale – a sedimentary rock comprising muds and clays that yields oil when heated.
Not everyone, however, is convinced: a recent Rand Corporation brief estimated crude prices would have to hold steady in the $70-$95 per barrel range to make an oil shale venture commercially profitable. Moreover, they anticipate full-scale commercial surface retorting plants are at least six years away and an industry capable of producing more than a million barrels per day is at least 20 years off.
Light at the end of the electrode
One company active in developing oil shale is more optimistic. For the past two decades, Shell Oil Company has been conducting a small-scale field test in the Piceance basin of northwestern Colorado using an in situ technique that slowly heats the shale with electric power probes. Heating the rock to around 370 degrees C at depths of up to 700 m for a few years causes the raw shale oil, or kerogen, to be released as oil and gas. Heavy compounds partially convert into lighter end products where they are recovered at the surface.
Known as the Mahogany Project, it recently produced 1,700 barrels of 35 API crude and associated gases. Although not commercial scale, Shell is looking to ensure that any of its unconventional hydrocarbon developments “are economically viable at oil prices (per barrel) in the low $30s,” says Jill Davis, the Project’s Denver-based Public Affairs Representative.
“To date, we have learned a tremendous amount about the technology and its potential to produce oil and gas products from oil shale,” added Davis. “We have increasing confidence that the technology could result in responsible oil shale development, but we still have much to learn and demonstrate before any large-scale commercial development commitments can be made.”
The advantage of in situ technology, of course, is that it’s efficient and environmentally attractive, resulting in an absence of leftover tailings, unwanted byproducts and minimal usage of water. An attractive proposition to be sure. However, there are other environmental considerations like protection of groundwater. Davis says Shell is currently developing and will test what’s called a Freeze Wall designed to protect adjacent groundwater.
“The Freeze Wall Test will be used to demonstrate that the groundwater surrounding any potential oil shale development can be protected,” she explains. “During the test we will attempt to successfully construct, break and repair an underground ice wall around a notional oil shale production area.” It’s a long term test, expected to run until 2010, but “it’s fundamental to demonstrating the successful environmental protection of groundwater during any potential future oil shale commercial development,” says Davis.
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