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Energy in America: Oil Shale – Boom or Bust?
With all the talk that global oil production has reached its peak, and will only slowly decline from here, you may be surprised to learn that there is a vast untapped reserve that could possibly yield 1.4 trillion barrels of oil, enough to supply the daily oil needs of the United States for 191 years.
And where is this incredible reserve --The Middle East, Russia or Brazil? None of the above. It’s right here in the U.S. Specifically, in the great open spaces of Colorado’s Piceance Basin and the Uintah Basin in Utah.
So why isn't the U.S. tapping this liquid gold and ending the country's reliance on foreign sources of oil, regional instability and governments unfriendly to America? Well, as with many things, there’s a catch. It isn’t exactly oil. Well, not yet. Which brings us to a little history.
In the Cretaceous Period, roughly 100 million years ago, the vast Western Interior Sea covered much of western Colorado and eastern Utah. In the same way oil deposits were created elsewhere in the world, lots and lots of animals, fish, plankton, etc. died and settled on the sea bottom. Eventually, they turned to organic-rich shale rock. And the remnants of that organic material remain in the rock today, as a compound called kerogen – the building blocks of oil.
“I like to call it ‘teenage’ oil,'” says Glen Vawter, the director of the National Oil Shale Association. “If it had been buried for maybe a few more million years, it would have been petroleum.”
And therein lies the challenge. How to speed up nature and turn the kerogen into oil. The best way to do it is to heat the rock – to as much as 900 degrees Fahrenheit – which drives off the hydrocarbons as a gas. Condense the gas, and it becomes oil. Refine the oil and it becomes diesel, jet fuel, even gasoline.
It sounds simple enough, right? Well, let’s take another look at history.
The government and oil industry have known about “oil shale” for more than 100 years. In fact, vast tracts of land were set aside in the early 20th century as the Naval Petroleum Reserve. It was to be the source of fuel for the U.S. Navy during wartime. Like gold prospectors, hundreds of oil shale entrepreneurs staked claims through Colorado’s Piceance Basin, where the oil shale came up out of the ground as the Rocky Mountains were formed. They set up furnaces to convert the shale to oil and the word went out about a new western oil boom.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/07/13/energy-in-america-oil-shale-boom-or-bust/#ixzz1S1twNv1p
let's do this....it is working in canada
With all the talk that global oil production has reached its peak, and will only slowly decline from here, you may be surprised to learn that there is a vast untapped reserve that could possibly yield 1.4 trillion barrels of oil, enough to supply the daily oil needs of the United States for 191 years.
And where is this incredible reserve --The Middle East, Russia or Brazil? None of the above. It’s right here in the U.S. Specifically, in the great open spaces of Colorado’s Piceance Basin and the Uintah Basin in Utah.
So why isn't the U.S. tapping this liquid gold and ending the country's reliance on foreign sources of oil, regional instability and governments unfriendly to America? Well, as with many things, there’s a catch. It isn’t exactly oil. Well, not yet. Which brings us to a little history.
In the Cretaceous Period, roughly 100 million years ago, the vast Western Interior Sea covered much of western Colorado and eastern Utah. In the same way oil deposits were created elsewhere in the world, lots and lots of animals, fish, plankton, etc. died and settled on the sea bottom. Eventually, they turned to organic-rich shale rock. And the remnants of that organic material remain in the rock today, as a compound called kerogen – the building blocks of oil.
“I like to call it ‘teenage’ oil,'” says Glen Vawter, the director of the National Oil Shale Association. “If it had been buried for maybe a few more million years, it would have been petroleum.”
And therein lies the challenge. How to speed up nature and turn the kerogen into oil. The best way to do it is to heat the rock – to as much as 900 degrees Fahrenheit – which drives off the hydrocarbons as a gas. Condense the gas, and it becomes oil. Refine the oil and it becomes diesel, jet fuel, even gasoline.
It sounds simple enough, right? Well, let’s take another look at history.
The government and oil industry have known about “oil shale” for more than 100 years. In fact, vast tracts of land were set aside in the early 20th century as the Naval Petroleum Reserve. It was to be the source of fuel for the U.S. Navy during wartime. Like gold prospectors, hundreds of oil shale entrepreneurs staked claims through Colorado’s Piceance Basin, where the oil shale came up out of the ground as the Rocky Mountains were formed. They set up furnaces to convert the shale to oil and the word went out about a new western oil boom.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/07/13/energy-in-america-oil-shale-boom-or-bust/#ixzz1S1twNv1p
let's do this....it is working in canada
