What we're doing wrong
Hard rock oil
2nd February 2008
The US may start mining oil shales - and would release up to 350 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year
Mining of vast oil shale and tar-sand deposits may begin soon in the U.S. The Bureau of Land Management has proposed that land-use legislation be changed to allow the development of up to 1.9 million acres of public land in the Green River Formation in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. The move could result in about 61 billion barrels of oil being produced. And that would just scratch the surface: In total, the shale deposits potentially hold more than a trillion barrels of oil.
The shales would be even more resistant to relinquish their oil than the Alberta tar sands. They don’t actually contain oil – the pores of the rock hold kerogen, and the rocks would need to be mined, crushed and heated to produce oil. But Shell says it has developed a new process that would “protect” the environment: insert electric heaters deep into the rock, cook the kerogen and suck out the oil. No muss, no fuss. But the technology is still unproved. And even so, to heat the shales could require new power plants – probably nuclear or coal-fired – to squeeze out just 100,000 barrels a day.
Several times over the past century, oil companies have considered – and even on occasion started – mining the shales. But it seems they are serious this time. And if they do go ahead, production could generate up to 350 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
Published in The Green Report in The Globe and Mail
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