Canada Oil-Shale Deposits
United States Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2005-5294
By John R. Dyni
Canada's oil-shale deposits range from Ordovician to Cretaceous age and include deposits of lacustrine and marine origin; as many as 19 deposits have been identified (Macauley, 1981; Davies and Nassichuk, 1988). During the 1980s, a number of the deposits were explored by core drilling (Macauley, 1981, 1984a, 1984b; Macauley and others, 1985; Smith and Naylor, 1990). Investigations included geologic studies, Rock-Eval and X-ray diffraction analyses, organic petrology, gas chromatography and mass spectrometry of the shale oil, and hydroretorting analyses.
The oil shales of the New Brunswick Albert Formation, lamosites of Mississippian age, have the greatest potential for development. The Albert oil shale averages 100 l/t of shale oil and has potential for recovery of oil and may also be used for co-combustion with coal for electric power generation.
Marinites, including the Devonian Kettle Point Formation and the Ordovician Collingwood Shale of southern Ontario, yield relatively small amounts of shale oil (about 40 l/t), but the yield can be doubled by hydroretorting. The Cretaceous Boyne and Favel marinites form large resources of low-grade oil shale in the Prairie Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Upper Cretaceous oil shales on the Anderson Plain and the Mackenzie Delta in the Northwest Territories have been little explored, but may be of future economic interest.
Outcrops of Lower Carboniferous lacustrine oil shale on Grinnell Peninsula, Devon Island, in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, are as much as 100 m thick and samples yield up to 387 kilograms of shale oil per ton of rock by Rock-Eval (equivalent to about 406 l/t). For most Canadian deposits, the resources of in-situ shale oil remain poorly known.
The Jordanian Quest For Kerogen
Surface water for oil-shale operations is scarce in Jordan; therefore, ground water will need to be tapped for oil-shale operations. A shallow aquifer that underlies the El Lajjun deposit, and provides fresh water to Amman and other municipalities in central Jordan, is too small in capacity to also meet the demands of an oil-shale industry. A deeper aquifer in the Kurnub Formation, 1,000 m below the surface, may be capable of providing an adequate supply of water, but this and other potential ground-water sources need further study.
The Israeli Use Of Oil Shale
Utilizing oil shale from the Rotem-Yamin deposit, about 55 tons of oil shale per hour were burned in a fluidized bed boiler to power a steam turbo-generator in a 25-megawatt experimental electric power plant operated by PAMA Company. The plant began operation in 1989 (Fainberg and Hetsroni, 1996) but is now closed. The grade of the Rotem oil shale is not uniform; the heating values range from 650 to 1200 kcal/kg.
Estonian Oil Shale Legacy
The future of oil-shale mining in Estonia faces a number of problems including competition from natural gas, petroleum, and coal. The present open-pit mines in the kukersite deposits will eventually need to be converted to more expensive underground operations as the deeper oil shale is mined. Serious air and ground-water pollution have resulted from burning oil shale and leaching of trace metals and organic compounds from spoil piles left from many years of mining and processing the oil shales. Reclamation of mined-out areas and their associated piles of spent shale, and studies to ameliorate the environmental degradation of the mined lands by the oil-shale industry are underway. The geology, mining, and reclamation of the Estonia kukersite deposit were reviewed in detail by Kattai and others (2000).
So what exactly is oil shale?
Oddly enough, oil shale is neither oil nor shale; it's an immature source-rock which hasn't generated any oil. It seems more akin to coal or peat. The rock does contain a large amount of kerogen, from which hydrocarbons can be extracted.
And believe me, dear reader, there is plenty of oil to be found.
Although there's an estimated 2.6 trillion barrels of oil shale reserves scattered across the globe, I wouldn't be so quick to label the U.S. oil shale deposit as "reserves." That's a mistake made all too often.
In order to be considered reserves, the deposit needs to have proven economic value. Until that occurs — however unlikely — we'll just keep calling it a "resource."
Betting the farm on shale
I wish I could sit here and tell you that oil shale will solve all our energy problems.
The 800 billion barrels of "recoverable oil" in the Green River deposit has been the source of many wild claims.
You've probably heard them before:
* There's enough oil shale in the U.S. to satisfy our demand for thousands of years.
* Oil shale can be economically viable at $35 per barrel.
* The amount of oil shale is more than three times the amount of oil reserves in Saudi Arabia.
* There's more than 2 million barrels of oil per acre at some points.
* Companies are on the verge of using "in-situ" methods to extract oil on a commercial scale.
You get the idea...
But before you become distracted by the huge reserve numbers, remember that production is still far off in the distant future.
It could take decades to reach commercial production — and that's being generous.
I've read government reports that say the Green River oil shale will be producing up to 150,000 barrels per day by 2020.
That's nothing more than a case of wishful thinking.
Besides, you can probably squeeze more barrels of oil out of the Louisiana wildlife by now.
The harsh reality of oil shale
There are only two ways to extract the oil: surface retorting and in-situ retorting.
Basically, the source-rock needs to be heated to about 600ºC during a process known as retorting. Afterwards, the oil must then be upgraded again before it can be shipped to a refinery.
Like the oil sands resource in Alberta, the rock can be surface mined or heated underground (known as in-situ). In the latter operation, electric heaters are placed in vertical holes drilled into sections.
The "other" shale
Even though the oil shale deposits in the China and Green River formation are great for making wild assumptions; the cold, hard truth is that you should be wary of any investments in the area.
If you've made the mistake of believing those oil shale deposits were similar to the Bakken formation in North Dakota, don't feel too bad — you're not alone. A more appropriate comparison to the Bakken would be the Cardium formation, located in Alberta.