What is shale oil definition?
Oil shale is a sedimentary rock. As it reaches its oil window, oil shale releases a liquid known as shale oil. Oil shale is the rock from which shale oil is extracted. Shale oil is similar to petroleum, and can be refined into many different substances, including diesel fuel, gasoline, and liquid petroleum gas (LPG).
How does shale oil affect the economy?
The exploration and production of U.S. shale deposits have been a strong source of job growth. Lower oil prices mean less drilling and exploration activity because most of the new oil driving the economic activity is unconventional and has a higher cost per barrel than a conventional source of oil.
What is the oil shale industry?
The oil shale industry is an industry of mining and processing of oil shale—a fine-grained sedimentary rock, containing significant amounts of kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds), from which liquid hydrocarbons can be manufactured.
Is oil shale very profitable?
In top two U.S. shale fields, oil and gas companies are profitable in the $30 per barrel to low $40s per barrel range, according to data firm Rystad Energy. This year’s higher prices could push the shale group’s cash from operations up by 32%, Rystad said.
What are the disadvantages of using oil shale?
The production of oil from shales has a potentially serious impact on the environment. Four specific areas of concern dominate discussion regarding development of the resource: greenhouse gas output, water consumption and pollution, surface disturbance, and socioeconomic effects.
Is shale oil better than crude oil?
Shale oil is a substitute for conventional crude oil; however, extracting shale oil 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.
What is the break even price for shale oil?
The U.S. shale patch bears some of the highest production costs in the world, requiring a breakeven price of between $50 and $55 per barrel.
Why is shale oil expensive?
Shale oil drilling and extraction are far more labor-intensive than conventional oil extraction, making the process necessarily pricier.
What is the break even price for US shale oil?
Why is shale oil bad?
Surface mining of oil shale deposits causes the usual environmental impacts of open-pit mining. In addition, the combustion and thermal processing generate waste material, which must be disposed of, and harmful atmospheric emissions, including carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas.
How long can shale oil last?
Sometimes, wells are re-fracked to extend their production, but the energy each well can produce may last for 20 to 40 years.
Can shale oil replace crude oil?
Is it economically feasible to extract oil from oil shale?
The economic feasibility of oil shale extraction is highly dependent on the price of conventional oil; if the price of crude oil per barrel is less than the production price per barrel of oil shale, it is uneconomic.
What should be included in a shale oil project statement?
Project Statement • Determine which method of production of shale oil is the most feasible. • Analyze production process to determine – Subsurface designs – Reservoir characteristics – Surface processing facilities – Scheduling of project – Pipelines • Perform an economic analysis on project.
What are the main uses of shale oil?
Primary uses include heating oil, marine fuel, and the production of various chemicals. Shale oil can, in fact, refer to two types of oil: crude oil that is found within shale formations or oil that is extracted from oil shale.
How big are the oil shale reserves in the US?
Oil shale deposits range from small presently economically unrecoverable to large potentially recoverable resources. Defining oil shale reserves is difficult, as the chemical composition of different oil shales, as well as their kerogen content and extraction technologies, vary significantly.