[extropy-chat] FWD (PvT) 1.1 trillion recoverable barrels--in the US

[Terry W. Colvin]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002463368_oilstudy01.html

Thursday, September 1, 2005 - 12:00 AM

Study reveals huge U.S. oil-shale field

By Jennifer Talhelm
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The United States has an oil reserve at least three 
times that of Saudi Arabia locked in oil-shale deposits beneath 
federal land in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, according to a study 
released yesterday.

But the researchers at the RAND think tank caution the federal 
government to go carefully, balancing the environmental and economic 
impacts with development pressure to prevent an oil-shale bust later.

"We've got more oil in this very compact area than the entire Middle 
East," said James Bartis, RAND senior policy researcher and the 
report's lead author. He added, "If we go faster, there's a good 
chance we're going to end up at a dead end."

For years, the industry and the government considered oil shale - a 
rock that produces petroleum when heated - too expensive to be a 
feasible source of oil.

However, oil prices, which spiked above $70 a barrel this week, 
combined with advances in technology could soon make it possible to 
tap the estimated 500 billion to 1.1 trillion recoverable barrels, 
the report found.

The study, sponsored in part by the U.S. Department of Energy, comes 
about a month after the president signed a new energy policy 
dramatically reversing the nation's approach to oil shale and opening 
the door within a few years to companies that want to tap deposits on 
public lands.

The report also says oil-shale mining, above-ground processing and 
disposing of spent shale cause significant adverse environmental 
impacts. Shell Oil is working on a process that would heat the oil 
shale in place, which could have less effect on the environment.



-- 
"Only a zit on the wart on the heinie of progress." Copyright 1992, Frank Rice


Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1 at mindspring.com >
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