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Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced, called shale oil. Shale oil is a substitute for conventional crude oil; however, extracting shale oil from oil shale is more costly than the production of conventional crude oil both financially and in terms of its environmental impact. Deposits of oil shale occur around the world, including major deposits in the United States. A 2016 estimate of global deposits set the total world resources of oil shale equivalent of 6.05 trillion barrels of oil in place.
Unconventional oil is petroleum produced or extracted using techniques other than the conventional method. Industry and governments across the globe are investing in unconventional oil sources due to the increasing scarcity of conventional oil reserves. Unconventional oil and gas have already made a dent in international energy linkages by reducing US energy import dependency.
Shale oil is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale rock fragments by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock (kerogen) into synthetic oil and gas. The resulting oil can be used immediately as a fuel or upgraded to meet refinery feedstock specifications by adding hydrogen and removing impurities such as sulfur and nitrogen. The refined products can be used for the same purposes as those derived from crude oil.
Synthetic fuel or synfuel is a liquid fuel, or sometimes gaseous fuel, obtained from syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, in which the syngas was derived from gasification of solid feedstocks such as coal or biomass or by reforming of natural gas.
The Shell in situ conversion process is an in situ shale oil extraction technology to convert kerogen in oil shale to shale oil. It is developed by the Shell Oil Company.
Steam-assisted gravity drainage is an enhanced oil recovery technology for producing heavy crude oil and bitumen. It is an advanced form of steam stimulation in which a pair of horizontal wells is drilled into the oil reservoir, one a few metres above the other. High pressure steam is continuously injected into the upper wellbore to heat the oil and reduce its viscosity, causing the heated oil to drain into the lower wellbore, where it is pumped out. Dr. Roger Butler, engineer at Imperial Oil from 1955 to 1982, invented the steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) process in the 1970s. Butler "developed the concept of using horizontal pairs of wells and injected steam to develop certain deposits of bitumen considered too deep for mining". In 1983 Butler became director of technical programs for the Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority (AOSTRA), a crown corporation created by Alberta Premier Lougheed to promote new technologies for oil sands and heavy crude oil production. AOSTRA quickly supported SAGD as a promising innovation in oil sands extraction technology.
Petrosix is the world’s largest surface oil shale pyrolysis retort with an 11 metres (36 ft) diameter vertical shaft kiln, operational since 1992. It is located in São Mateus do Sul, Brazil, and it is owned and operated by the Brazil energy company Petrobras. Petrosix means also the Petrosix process, an externally generated hot gas technology of shale oil extraction. The technology is tailored to Irati oil shale formation, a Permian formation of the Paraná Basin.
The oil shale industry is an industry of mining and processing of oil shale—a fine-grained sedimentary rock, containing significant amounts of kerogen, from which liquid hydrocarbons can be manufactured. The industry has developed in Brazil, China, Estonia and to some extent in Germany and Russia. Several other countries are currently conducting research on their oil shale reserves and production methods to improve efficiency and recovery. Estonia accounted for about 70% of the world's oil shale production in a study published in 2005.
Shale oil extraction is an industrial process for unconventional oil production. This process converts kerogen in oil shale into shale oil by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. The resultant shale oil is used as fuel oil or upgraded to meet refinery feedstock specifications by adding hydrogen and removing sulfur and nitrogen impurities.
Oil shale economics deals with the economic feasibility of oil shale extraction and processing. Although usually oil shale economics is understood as shale oil extraction economics, the wider approach evaluates usage of oil shale as whole, including for the oil-shale-fired power generation and production of by-products during retorting or shale oil upgrading processes.
The history of the oil shale industry started in ancient times. The modern industrial use of oil shale for oil extraction dates to the mid-19th century and started growing just before World War I because of the mass production of automobiles and trucks and the supposed shortage of gasoline for transportation needs. Between the World Wars oil shale projects were begun in several countries.
Blue Ensign Technologies Limited is an Australian oil shale company developing the Julia Creek oil shale project through its subsidiary Queensland Shale Oil Limited. It is an owner of the intellectual property of the Rendall Process, a patented hydrogen donor solvent process of shale oil extraction. JSG-A LP owns 42.6% of shares and Colonial First State Investments owns 24.3%.
Independent Energy Partners, Inc. (IEP) is an oil shale resources company based in Parker, Colorado, the United States. It is a developer of the Geothermic Fuels Cells Process, an in-situ shale oil extraction process. CEO of the company is Alan K. Forbes.
Chattanooga Corporation is an American developer of technology for unconventional oil, particularly for tar sands and shale oil extraction.
Oil shale in Jordan represents a significant resource. Oil shale deposits in Jordan underlie more than 70% of Jordanian territory. The total resources amounts to 31 billion tonnes of oil shale.
The TOSCO II process is an above ground retorting technology for shale oil extraction, which uses fine particles of oil shale that are heated in a rotating kiln. The particularity of this process is that it use hot ceramic balls for the heat transfer between the retort and a heater. The process was tested in a 40 tonnes per hour test facility near Parachute, Colorado.
The Galoter process is a shale oil extraction technology for a production of shale oil, a type of synthetic crude oil. In this process, the oil shale is decomposed into shale oil, oil shale gas, and spent residue. A decomposition is caused by mixing raw oil shale with a hot oil shale ash, generated by combustion of carbonaceous residue (semi-coke) in the spent residue. The process was developed in 1950s and it is used commercially for the shale oil production in Estonia. There are projects for further development of this technology and for expansion of its usage, e.g. in Jordan and USA.
The Alberta Taciuk process is an above-ground dry thermal retorting technology for extracting oil from oil sands, oil shale and other organics-bearing materials, including oil contaminated soils, sludges and wastes. The technology is named after its inventor William Taciuk and the Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority.
The Mishor Rotem Power Station is a former oil shale-fired power station and current natural gas-fired power station in Mishor Rotem, Israel. It is operated by OPC Rotem, a subsidiary of the Israel Corporation (80%) and Veolia Environnement (20%).
Oil shale in Israel is widespread but an undeveloped resource, largely because of economic and technological constraints. Israeli oil shales belong to the group of Upper Cretaceous marinite deposits. Although oil-shale deposits may lie under as much as 15% of the country, only a small part of these are mineable. According to the Geological Survey of Israel, deposits that could have the biggest economic potential are located in the northern Negev, the largest being the Rotem-Yamin formation. For several decades, oil shale was used for small-scale power generation at Mishor Rotem. Several Israeli companies have proposed shale oil extraction; testing of the viability of the oil shale industry is currently being undertaken by Israel Energy Initiatives. However, as of 2011, there are no commercial oil shale operations in Israel.
References
- 1 2 3 Israel Presses for Oil From Shale, by Neal Sandler, Business Week. 5 July 2006
- ↑ Analysis: Israel sees shale replacing oil, by Leah Krauss, UPI. 7 November 2006
- ↑ Neiman, Rachel (1996-01-25). "Business Briefs". The Jerusalem Post . Retrieved 2011-10-09.
- ↑ Baron, Lior (2006-05-09). "A group of investors headed by Glazer purchased 70% of A.F.S.K. Hom-Tov from Shimon Kazansky and Israel Feldman". Maariv . Retrieved 2017-06-23– via IVC Research Center.
- ↑ Winer, Stuart (2007-01-14). "Turning shale and asphalt into oil". Israel21c. Retrieved 2011-10-09.
- ↑ Israel assesses new oil shale technology, Platts Energy Economist, Issue 297 July 2006
- ↑ תביעה בהיקף 14מ'שח נגד אפסק ואורד,מטעם ב.שליטה קודמים באפסק