What is your take on oil shale?

[cowpie1]

I believe that the crude oil price would have to stay over $50 for shales to be productive. OPEC killed that back in the 80's when the west slope of Colorado was gearing up for oil shale production by flooding the market and driving down price.

West Virginia's Governor is pushing for coal to fuel production and claims that it is profitable if crude price stays above $40 a barrel.

I know that many in the industry claim that between shale, coal, and increased drilling, that we have enough here to supply ALL our needs for well over 50-100 years at present consumption rates. And without the added input from biofuels (which I use regularly).

OPEC is wise to this, and if we crank up production of domestic crude sources, they could possibly do what they did in the 80's. It takes some time before production could get up to steam, and a sudden decrease in oil prices would stall any step up in domestic production.

I know this will fire up some here, but I am convinced that there is NO shortage of crude. It is just a matter of finding it. There are many in the industry that are swinging over the side that crude oil is a earth process and not related to dino. Also, the U.S. Government has place so many restrictions and regulations on getting crude by any method, that it is almost cost prohibitive to go after domestic sources.

This ought to get some blood boiling here!

 

[CDsdad]

I guess I'm "in the business", since I'm currently sitting on a Shell platform in the Gulf of Mexico, so I'll tell you what I've been told.

Shale oil is there and is profitable and practicable with oil above $50/bbl. Knowing that, why wouldn't we continue to drill. After initial expense it costs much less than shale oil production. It's here. It is in ultra-deep water(greater than 6000'), it will present some technological challenges, but 15 years ago we could barely drill and produce in 5000' of water. Now subsea completions and tiebacks from a PLET(pipeline end termination) to a platform are common in < 5000' of water. We will get there.

It is also in the eastern GOM and all the rick folks on the western side of the FL peninsula don't want there view spoiled.

Have any of you ever been to Gulf Shores, AL? Did you see the oil platforms 10-15 miles offshore from the beach? You won't see them from Florida either. It'll probably make the fishing better, too. There were 8 boats circling this platform yesterday.

If we continue to use oil and gas at the rate we're going, we'll either have to drill more or import more. I make a decent living out here, but if they come up with a pickup that runs off water for less than $50,000, I'm all over that.

 

[HillbillyFarmer]

Back in the 70s when I was involved in alternate chemical feedstock research, shale oil was a hot issue, but with crude at the outrageously high price of over $20/barrel, it soon became a cool issue. I suspect that at over $50 or $60 a barrel, it is a viable source.
Coal gassification is a bust. There has been endless research done on it over the past 40 years. . . even back in the 40s when the Nazis were doing it. It remains too expensive and energy intensive.
The WV governor will do anything to promote WV resources, and considering the guy's intellect, I wouldn't place too much credibility on his statements.

 

[SkyPup]

Biomass gasification produces five to six times the amount of energy available for recovery compared to distillation of ethanol. Great way to recycle mountains of municipal waste!