Oil Shale Extraction

From TheSmartField.com

Template:TheSmartField:Toc: Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Advantages of in-situ heating process in oil shale extraction

• Does not require open-pit mining (surface retorting)
• No tailings or residues to dispose
• More efficient and oil yield
• Smaller footprint for surfac facilities
• Natural gas can be recovered
• Products of a higher quality
• Less pollution
• Less intrusion with the environment
• Less consumption of water for processing

B

Black Sunday

Day in May 1982 when Exxon announced it was pulling out of its research efforts on oil shale. It shut down its multi-billion dollar Coiloy Oil Shale project.

C

Companies in oil shale research

• Chevron Shale Oil
• EGI Resources
• Exxon Mobil
• Oil-Tech
• Shell Frontier Oil & Gas
• Oil Shale Exploration

Companies that pass the environmental test will get 160-acre leases for oil shale research and development and the right to reserve another 4,960 acres for commercial development. The BLM hopes to make decisions on the project and the leases next fall 2007.

Elemental composition of kerogen (%)

to get an idea of the composition of kerogen, here is a kerogen sample of an european country. Kerogen composition varies.

• C 76.0-77.5
• H 9.4-9.9
• S 1.2-2.0
• N 0.2-0.5
• O 9.0-11.0
• Cl 0.5-0.9
• H/C 1.48

Commercially feasibility of oil shale

It is said to be when oil prices are at a range of $25 to $40 a barrel.

Current Consumption of Oil

United States 20.5 MM BPD

Consumption Projection by year 2025

Cooking Temperature

The kerogen shale rock cooks at 650 to 750 degrees Farenheit.

D

Drawbacks of Oil Shale Production

• Magnitude of Investment
• Electrical consumption
• Recovery margin
• Quality of oil recovered
• Commercialization of extraction
• Ground water needs delicate control
• Water consumption

Depth of oil shale wells

approximate 1000 to 2000 ft.

E

Efficiency of in-situ retorting

while surface retorting with the current lease limit of 5,760 acres would yield between 50,000 to 100,000 BPD of oil shale, the in-situ retorting - using the Shell method - with the same acreage, would produce 200,000 BPD for more than 50 years. One of the disadvantages of surface mining is the area needed for surface facilties and access ways which are huge when compared to the in-situ retorting method. ^[1]

Energy balance is favorable

process yields 3.5 units of energy for every one unit used to produce it.

Effect on Oil Prices

At a production of 3 million barrels per day oil shale could likely cause oil prices to fall by 3 to 5 percent. It would bring direct economic benefits of $20 billion per year in the United States.

EROI

Energy Returned On Energy Investment.

For oil shale, it is 3.5, counting primary heat for power generation.

F

First Extraction of oil shale by Shell

It was 1,500 barrel of light oil plus natural gas coming from a well pilot. The product was 1/3 natural gas and 2/3 light oil.

Freezing Process Study, Rio Blanco County

Shell has received approval from Rio Blanco County, state and federal agencies to conduct a $50 million study (2 to 4 years) of the groundwater freezing process. Regrigerants as ammonia dioxide are circulated through underground pipes to freeze the groundwater and keep it out of the oil-shale formations. ^[1]

H

H to C ratio

the liquid from oil shale heating has a H/C ratio greater than 1.2

Heaters

electric resistance heaters in wells heat the rock to 600-700 degrees Farenheit for 3-4 years.

Heat of Combustion

if oil shales are used as fuel, their quality is determined foremost by their heat of combustion (at the present time not less than 1000-1500 kcal/kg or 4 .2-6.3 MJ/kg). ^[1]

I

ICP

In-situ Conversion Program. A process in which oil shale fluids are extracted without mining the rock or physycally bringing to the surface. The source rock containing the kerogen is heated from 3-4 years at temperatures between 600-700 degrees Farenheit until fluids start mobilizing out of the shale rock.

M

Mahogany Research project

N

Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves Program

Navy organization to administer the first strategic reserves of the United States. Developed from 1910 to 1927. Some assets were sold to private companies but the oil shale reserves remained in hands of the government controlling 72% of oil shale acreage. This was result of the Picket Act passed by Congress in 1910.

O

Oil shale extraction recovery

it recovers about ten times as much as mining the rock and crsushing and cooking it at the surface.

Oil Shale

Oil shale is a 40-50 million-year-old sedimentary rock, which contains a solid hydrocarbon, kerogen, within its structure of clay minerals. Kerogen is basically "fossilized algae" which has been formed during the deposit of sediments in ancient lake environments. The effects of time, pressure and temperature have transformed these sediments into a hydrocarbon-bearing rock, known as oil shale. In its natural state oil shale contains no liquid hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbon component is an organic solid which can only be liberated by the application of heat, in the order of 350 degrees Celsius or more. ^[1]

It is another fossil fuel energy source. It is neither, oil nor shale. Oil shale is a marlstone, which is a lithified mixture of clays and calcite. The hydrocarbon contained in the marlstone is known as kerogen. The oil shales of the Green River formation in western Colorado, northswestern Utah, and southwestern Wyoming were deposited in inland lakes over a period of 6 million years or more during the Eocene epoch. According to estimates, over 1,000 billion barrels of oil-equivalent resources exist in the Green River oil shales. This is more than the entire world's known resources of petroleum. However, much of it is not recoverable where the oil shale is very low grade and is spread over a large area. ^[1]

Oil Shale Approximate Production Pattern

to extract the oil shale, electric heaters have to be placed inside the heater wells. These will heat the rock between 600 and 700 degrees Farenheit. To protect the ground water, an ice barrier will be formed around the production area that is being heated. The ice barrier is generated through pumping refrigerants in the refrigerant wells. Ground water will not get in contact with the hot production fluids inside the boundary established by the ice barrier.

Oil Shale Production Estimates

5 million BPD by 2030. If oil prices went to $100/barrel, recoverable oil shale reserves would end up at 1 trillion barrels.

Oil Shale reserves

it is estimated that United States has 60-75% of world reserves of oil shale, mainly in Western Colorado and Eastern Utah.

Oil shale world reserves

the oil shales reserves are estimated at 11.5 × 10E12 tons. ^[1]

P

Piceance Basin

Basin in Colorado where Shell has been working on oil shale since laboratory research started in 1981.

Pod

or cell. It is the basic unit of oil shale acreage to get optimum production.

Prevention of ground water contamination

To prevent that ground water is contaminated a novell technique in the oild industry is used and in few consists of forming an ice-wall around the ground water reservoir.

R

RAND Corporation

The report by the RAND Corporation estimates that between 500 billion and 1.1 trillion barrels of oil are technically recoverable from the high-grade oil shale deposits located in the Green River geological formation. The mid-point of this estimate - 800 billion barrels - is three time the size of the Saudi Arabia's oil reserves. ^[1]

Reserves Estimate

Some estimate the amount oif oil-shale to be as high as 1 trillion to 1.8 trillion barrels.

Richness ^[1]

10 gal/ton Green River formation

22 gal/ton Athabasca tar, Alberta

30 gal/ton average Colorado and Utah

34-38 gal/ton yield found by Unocal during the life of a project

Rock Yield

Estimate from the Rock Springs BLM office.

• Wyoming oil shale would produce 15-30 gallons per ton of oil shale rock.
• Colorado and Utah, 30-40 gallons.
• Extraordinary site would produce 60 gallons per ton of oil shale.

rubilization

mining

S

Smart Carbon Sequestration

SHA

Super Heated Air. Oil shale extraction process patented by Petro Probe. It is heated air compressed in the surface that will flow through subterranean pipes to heat a radial area of the oil shale well. The heated air will return with oil shale fluids that are later separated and processed for industrial use.

SFE

Supercritical Fluid Extraction. Another method used in oil shale extraction.

T

Thermally Conductive In-situ Conversion

W

Water Consumption for in-situ retorting

Even though that in-situ retorting method for the extraction of oil shale requires much less amount of water when comparing with mining and surface retorting, still when the the oil shale production has reached a stable and continouos pace estimates range the use of water between 2 and 5 barrels of water for oil shale barrel. ^[1]

References