Comments on: You Can’t Get Blood From A Stone

By: Plumb Bob

Plumb Bob — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:17:19 +0000

This site apparently does not permit links in comments. However, if you’ll look under "Other Links to This Post" and follow the track-back link to the article "Shale Oil Soon to Come On Line" at Plumb Bob Blog, you’ll find a link to a study by the Rand Corporation that spells out the details of the process described in this article. It’s worth the time.Here’s the short version: first, they freeze the groundwater surrounding the area, to prevent oil from leaching out. The technology for ground freezing is very well established — ice barriers have been established around construction sites that have remained stable for years. Then, they drill into the shale, 15 to 25 holes per acre, and insert heating elements into the rock. They heat the rock for 2 to 3 years, until it reaches around 700 degrees F, at which point the oil runs into a collection point and gets pumped out.The process requires huge amounts of electricity, so site preparation includes construction of a power plant — coal, nuclear, or natural gas. However, the yield from process is high enough that they obtain 6 btu for every 1 they spend getting them. The oil is a light, sweet crude that’s ready for the refinery and carries no sludge at all. The estimates say that the oil from this process would be competitive at any price above $25/bbl, which is roughly what it costs to get oil out of some of the older wells in America using CO2 scrubbing.We’re all aware of the 800 billion barrel figure for shale oil, but that turns out to be LOW. The Rand study estimates the area contains between 1.5 and 1.8 TRILLION barrels of oil. For comparison purposes, the known oil reserves in the 12 largest oil-producing nations on the planet measure around 1.2 trillion barrels. In other words, if this process works, we’ve just more than doubled the world’s known oil reserves.Shell needs to continue testing in order to convince the DOE that they’ll not contaminate ground water afterward, but the technology has succeeded in on-site tests, and this promises immensely.

By: Plumb Bob Blog » Shale Oil Soon to Come On Line?

Plumb Bob Blog » Shale Oil Soon to Come On Line? — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:45:56 +0000

[...] Blue Crab Boulevard has posted an essay discussing the same process, based on an article in the Denver Post. | Related posts: Energy [...]

By: Plumb Bob

Plumb Bob — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:43:24 +0000

I know this is bad manners, but I posted on this same topic about 2 weeks ago, and have a link to a Rand Corporation study that provides some fascinating detail about Shell’s technology and its production metrics.The process involves freezing the ground water in a region surrounding the drilling area to prevent leaching into surrounding ground water, a process that’s already well understood and in use in various construction sites. Then they heat the shale using electric heaters to a temperature of around 700 degrees F, a process that takes 2-3 years. At that temperature, the shale liquifies and runs into collection wells. The resulting oil is refinery-ready, contains no sludge that requires discarding, and yields about 6 times the energy that it took to extract it. The oil thus extracted is expected to remain competitive at any price higher than about $25/bbl.The process does require a boatload of electricity to drive the heating elements, so site preparation includes the construction of a full-blown electrical generating facility — coal, nuclear, or natural gas-fired. There’s plenty of coal in the vicinity.The amount of oil in the region exceeds known oil reserves in the world’s twelve largest oil producing nations. You read that right. If this process works, we’ve just more than doubled known oil reserves in the world.Read the whole article at http://www.plumbbobblog.com/?p=705.

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 02:12:24 +0000

I was interesting to read the article and get the story beyond the snippet excerpted here. The rest of the story is one long lament about the potential environmental cost of harvesting the shale oil. Given my experience with the Denver Post, which champions a Green agenda pretty relentlessly, that is no surprise.

By: steveegg

steveegg — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:11:17 +0000

The Morning Scramble – 8/18/2008…

I’m tanned, rested, and ready to blog again (while I help keep an eye on Fay over at the Free Republic weather desk)…

Tom McMahon charts the Mavericks.
Lawhawk caught NBC chilling their outdoor Olympic set. This is from……

By: No Runny Eggs » Blog Archive » The Morning Scramble - 8/18/2008

No Runny Eggs » Blog Archive » The Morning Scramble - 8/18/2008 — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:10:37 +0000

[...] Gaius delivers good news on the technology of getting oil out of shale. It’s still in its infancy, but Shell Oil found a way to increase the recovery rate from 25% to 65%. [...]

By: bill-tb

bill-tb — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 16:04:27 +0000

RF Heaters …