The Oil Drum: Shhh is for oil shale

There seems to be a general consensus among many of those that write about world energy, that the 2 trillion barrels of oil potentially available out of the 4 trillion barrels locked in the United States oil shales are not a realistic source of supply. However, after an eleven year hiatus, Colorado School of Mines are reactivating their annual Oil Shale Symposia. And the resource is not quite the nonentity that it may appear. (A quick search through the indices of a number of the PO books did not find it listed in any). Given that, for example, “Japan started oil production at Fushun in 1929, and developed, in less than ten years, the world’s largest oil shale industry. Shale oil was a principal source of fuels for Japan during World War II. Fushun production continues to expand under Communist China and may be 40,000 bpd presently.” (Ref. 1) it is perhaps justifiable to take a little closer look at this whole issue and try to explain some of the technical state of affairs, point out a little of the disingenuousness of some of the statements that have been made, but largely leave the political discussion to others.
Unfortunately the last time that a serious look was taken at this resource was back in the 1970’s and 1980’s, when at one time, under the Project Independence Blueprint, a shale oil production target of 1 million barrels of oil per day was projected, in line with President Ford’s State-of-the-Union Message of 1975. (Ref 2). That program, in turn, was based on the considerable amount of research that had been carried out, both in the US, and abroad, and on an initial evaluation of practical means to meet the target. But before one looks at that target, and its feasibility, perhaps it is better to look a little more closely at the information which led up to the prediction.

Much more after the jump to The Oil Drum.