Here is the summary (below), although there is also a bit on there about oil sand mining and it’s cost being ~$25 a barrel. $30 a barrel from shale extraction is still reasonably profitable at this point but will become more so as current supplies are heavily controlled (by coalition forces and anti and pro-western countries.) As our needs increase due to all of the SUVs now out there and Eastern countries industrialize to maximal potential (using loads of oil in the process), you will likely see controlled prices rise even more due to limited daily production. At that point $30 a barrel cost is negligible and the rest of the world is subject to our production of the badly needed surplus. That would be a very good way to reverse a problematic and nagging trade deficit with a large eastern industrializing country.
If heating is the major energy contribution involved in the process, nuclear means could handle the supply of energy needed very easily and could be subsidized by the govt. Just a theory but a politically reasonable one seeing that everyone in the world (mostly us!) is currently positioning for control of the world oil supply and we carry the possible trump card for the needed extra supply.
OIL SHALE
Legendary American geophysicist M. King Hubbert famously predicted in 1956 that U.S. oil production would peak in the early 1970s. Though ridiculed at the time, his prediction–today known as “Hubbert’s peak”–came true, and domestic production has declined ever since. In the coming decade, however, American oil production could be on the upswing again. It isn’t likely to be the controversial proposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that does the trick, though that would boost production. The bigger kick could come from oil hidden in sedimentary rock known as oil shale found in vast quantities throughout western Colorado and parts of Utah and Wyoming. Government scientists have estimated that the United States is sitting on 2.6 trillion barrels of reserves in oil shale form, spread across an area of nearly 16,000 square miles of federal and privately owned land. The oil-rich terrain is the single largest untapped petroleum reserve in the world.
Like oil sands, oil shale is witheringly expensive to exploit; such efforts in the late 1970s famously collapsed when oil prices dropped from the highs of the Iran hostage era. The technology for extracting oil from shale has improved drastically since those days; industry leader Shell has come closest to perfecting a commercial process but still remains several years away. Shell’s process involves drilling a series of holes, each as deep as 600 feet, which are then filled with heavy-duty electric heaters that warm the rock to 700 degrees Fahrenheit. The heating process releases a combination of oil and gas that can then be pumped out of the well. “We’re confident that high-quality crude can be produced from shale for roughly $30 per barrel,” says Shell spokeswoman Jill Davis.
Shell, Chevron, and six other firms have recently descended on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, submitting applications to the Bureau of Land Management, which manages most of the oil shale reserves, to drill test wells. The U.S. Energy Policy Act, passed in August, requires that the agency issue licenses for research and development by February. Prices will have to stay high for oil shale to pay off, but the upside could be enormous.
THE PLAY Extract hydrocarbons trapped in ancient rock
POTENTIAL PAYOFF 2.6 trillion barrels or more of recoverable reserves
1 BORE IN In a 30- by 20-foot field, a series of 600-foot-deep holes are drilled to reach oil shale–sedimentary rock containing hydrocarbons. The holes are spaced 5 feet apart around the perimeter and within the field.
2 FIRE UP Specialized heating tubes placed in the holes warm the rock to 700 degrees Fahrenheit, a process that can take anywhere from eight months to four years.
3 SPLIT OFF At the molecular level, the heat separates carbon–oil and gas–from the rock.
4 LIFT OUT The oil and gas are then sucked from the ground through holes equipped with pumps at the top.
