Holy Land rocked by search for oil

Robin Pagnamenta

Energy Editor

Last updated August 23 2010 12:01AM

Attempt to extract shale faces bitter opposition

An American-backed plan to extract oil shale from rocks beneath the Holy Land hastriggered fierce opposition in Israel.The Union for Environmental Defence is seeking an injunction from the country’sSupreme Court to block the project, which intends to produce a type of crude from a vastdeposit in the Adullam valley, west of Jerusalem.Israel Energy Initiatives (IEI), a company funded by American Oil Shale, is spearheadingthe drive to develop some of the huge reserves of oil shale that exist in Israel. The IsraeliMinistry of Infrastructure estimates that “15 per cent of the country is underlain by oilshale beds”.The country, which imports all its oil, is thought to have 15 billion tonnes of the material— a type of rock rich in hydrocarbons — enough to supply Israel with fuel for about 50 years.But extracting oil shale and processing it into a useable fuel is an energy-intensive andenvironmentally fraught process. It has aroused vigorous opposition for its potentialimpact on the water table, local environment and high greenhouse gas emissionsassociated with production.Rachel Jacobson, a local resident, helped to form Save Adullam, the site where in Biblicaltimes David slew Goliath. She said: “It’s a beautiful area and an exceedingly importanthistorical site. The company has gained blanket rights to a very large area and they areunder no obligation to submit an environmental impact study.”She said that the application to the Supreme Court questioned the legal grounds on whichthe licence was awarded.Relik Shafir, the chief executive of IEI, rejected the concerns. “The injunction has no basisand we expect the court to reject it,” he said, adding that the company was committed to“very stringent environmental measures”.He emphasised that IEI proposed using a new technology that would allow the oil shale to be extracted in situ, rather than by conventional strip mining. The method involvesdrilling horizontal wells deep underground that criss-cross the area beneath the deposit.