1. Oil Shale as a Future Source of Energy By: Rick Boucard

2. What is Oil Shale? The term Oil Shale is a misnomer because it does not contain oil, and is not made of shale. Instead, rock is actually marlstone (mixture of clay and calcium carbonate), and the main organic constituent is kerogen.

3. Where is Shale Found Mostly U.S., Russia, Brazil In U.S. (62% world res.* 2 Trillion bbls) Piceance Basin- W. CO Uinta Basin- E. UT Green River Basin- S. WY Estonia has small reserves but is leader in power production from oil shale (pushed by soviets since 1916) *potentially recoverable

4. How Much Oil Does Shale Hold? Can range dramatically even within adjacent beds Typical values range from 5-50 gallons/ton Some cases up to 100 gallons/ton

5. Can We Get the Oil Out? Ex Situ Blast shale Blast shale Transport Transport Crush Crush Heat Heat Hydrogenate Oil Hydrogenate Oil Dispose of Shale Dispose of Shale Reclaim Land Reclaim Land In Situ Remove Water Heat Shale Collect Oil Replace Water Two Primary Methods:

6. Shell In-Situ Technology

7. What Does Oil Extraction Cost? Ex Situ Methods $10 - $75 / bbl $10 - $75 / bbl In Situ Methods $25-$60 / bbl $25-$60 / bbl Costs can be affected by shale accessibility/quality, water availability, scale, and energy costs.

8. Environmental Concerns Heavy use of water (3 bbl water / 1bbl oil) Hazardous fly ash Production of SOx and NOx Possible Ground Water Contamination with hazardous byproducts Land Reclamation Concern

9. Long Term Outlook The development of Oil Shale Energy processes is completely dependent on the price of conventional oil Investment into Oil Shale within the next six years is unlikely with uncertain oil prices and painful memories of lost money in the 80’s If large scale production is pushed, production of >1MM bbls/day is more than 20 years away

10. Government Position Own Large tracts of Oil Shale which would need to be leased to private sector Stand to benefit politically from increased national petroleum production Orrin Hatch Proposed Oil Shale Bill (ambiguous) Position mostly ambivalent, general consensus to not subsidize any progress

11. References http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051002/ap_on_re_us/shal e_s_comeback http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051002/ap_on_re_us/shal e_s_comeback http://ww2.scripps.com/cgi- bin/archives/denver.pl?DBLIST=rm05&DOCNUM=20000 http://ww2.scripps.com/cgi- bin/archives/denver.pl?DBLIST=rm05&DOCNUM=20000 http://www.worldenergy.org/wec- geis/publications/reports/ser/shale/shale.asp http://www.worldenergy.org/wec- geis/publications/reports/ser/shale/shale.asp http://www.kirj.ee/oilshale/9_brendow_1_03.pdf http://hubbert.mines.edu/news/Youngquist_98-4.pdf http://www.rand.org/publications/RB/RB9143/RAND_RB 9143.pdf http://www.rand.org/publications/RB/RB9143/RAND_RB 9143.pdf http://hatch.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressRel eases.View&PressRelease_id=1351 http://hatch.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressRel eases.View&PressRelease_id=1351 http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_3080266