Oil prices prompt another look at shale

The U.S. government said Tuesday it was ready to resurrect oil shale drilling in the Rocky Mountains, a technology heralded 30 years ago to boost America’s energy output until it failed financially.

MSNBC
About half of the world’s oil shale reserves are estimated to be located in the United States, with other big reserves in Russia, China and Australia, according to the Department of Interior and its agency, the Bureau of Land Management, that oversees public lands.

With oil above $40 a barrel, even an expensive technology can add to the bottom line.

“The BLM welcomes public input as to how we can best develop this energy source, which will enable us to expand and diversify domestic energy production in accordance with the president’s National Energy Plan,” BLM assistant director for minerals Tom Lonnie said in a statement.

Interior and BLM are specifically looking at the Piceance Creek Basin in Colorado, the Uinta Basin in Utah and the Green River and Washakie Basins in Wyoming, areas considered to have the most easily recoverable deposits in the United States.

The BLM said energy companies were keen to develop the area and it comes at time when traditional drilling is hitting record levels in the Rocky Mountain region.