Oil Shale vs.

Shale Oil
June 18, 2013

OIL SHALE: Rock That Turns into Oil

VS
Photo Scott Thode

The difference between oil shale and shale oil: Its not like the two
ways you can say tomato. Its more like the distinction between
apples and oranges. Lets break their differences down to the basics.

OIL SHALE

SHALE OIL

Oil Shale is an organic-rich, fine-grained sedimentary rock that contains a solid organic compound known as kerogen.
Oil shale generally contains enough oil that it will burn, earning it the nickname, the rock that burns. Kerogen is one
of the first stages of organic matter processing into petroleum, and all oil and gas are ultimately derived from kerogen.
Oil shale contains the remains of algae and plankton deposited millions of years ago that have not been buried deep
enough to become hot enough to break down into the hydrocarbons targeted in conventional oil projects.
To generate oil, the kerogen-rich rock is heated in the absence of oxygen. This process is called retorting. At high
temperatures, kerogen undergoes a complex set of chemical reactions, which result in producing a vapor containing a
mix of hydrocarbons and other organic compounds. When it then condenses, it becomes oil (with some natural gas)
that can be refined to make liquid fuels and lubricants. Oil shale can be either mined like coal, crushed, and retorted on
the surface. Or it can be heated underground, known as in situ retorting, to encourage it to flow and be pumped to the
surface. The rapid surface processing requires high temperatures (as high as 950 Fahrenheit), and creates a dense oil that
can be used as fuel oil, or it can be upgraded. In situ oil is produced by slower heating (to about 700 F), and results in
a high quality product. Like most oil, it can require a bit more upgrading and refining to turn it into the final product.
Spent shale is disposed or returned to its source through reclamation, and all mined land is eventually reclaimed. The
latest published estimate of costs to produce oil from oil shale suggests costs in the range of $40 to 80 per barrel. It is
not clear that production is more costly than for oil sand oil.
Deposits of oil shale occur around the world and estimates range around 5 trillion
barrels of recoverable oil. One of the largest reserves in the world is found in the
Green River Formation, federal lands where Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado meet
and contains about 4.29 trillion barrels.At current U.S. consumption rates, this
would last several hundred years. However, of the 4 trillion barrels in the Green
River Formation, three quarters of the oil is in rock that is probably too lean to
be commercially produced, even with the new technology now being tested. With
ongoing research and new technological advancements, oil shale is becoming more
promising.

2013 Colorado Oil & Gas Association. All rights reserved.

PO Box 540, Denver, CO 80201 Phone: 303.861.0362 www.COGA.org

SHALE OIL: Oil Locked in Rock

Shale Oil is more accurately termed as oil-bearing shale. Unlike oil shale, oil-bearing shale contains oil (and some
gas), trapped in relatively low porosity and permeability rock, commonly shale or tight siltstone limestone or dolomite,
that typically resides a mile below the earths surface. These rocks have been buried deeply enough to convert part of
their kerogen into oil and gas. Because the hydrocarbons are locked in place so tightly that they cannot be released in
economic quantities simply by drilling, shale-hosted oil plays are considered unconventional..
Oil-bearing shale formations include U.S. plays such as the Bakken Shale, Niobrara Formation, Barnett Shale, and the
Eagle Ford, and world formations like the RMah in Syria, Sargelu in the northern Persian Gulf region, Athel in Oman,
Bazhenov and Achimov in Russia, the Coober Peby in Australia, Vaca Muerta in Argentina, and the Chicontepec in
Mexico. Experts are routinely assessing deposits around the world and the estimates for technically recoverable reserves
constantly increase.
Producers have refined two developed and historically used technologies to unlock shale resources: horizontal drilling
and hydraulic fracturing. Horizontal drilling involves actively turning the direction of drilling a well from the vertical
into the horizontal, which enables a larger area of the very tight rock layers that contain the oil or gas to be exposed.
Hydraulic fracturing induces fractures in the rock that further increase the ability of hydrocarbons to flow out of the
rock into the borehole. Once out of the ground, the oil is typically refined in the same way as oil from conventional oil
fields. This is due to its general category as a light sweet crude: Light means it flows quite readily, and sweet means it
contains little sulfur, which makes it compatible with conventional refineries designed to process low-sulfur oils.
Due to major technological advancements, the shale-hosted oil (and shale gas) revolution has redefined our known
petroleum reserves. Production from these new fields has surpassed one million barrels per day. Less than a decade ago,
we worried that world oil and gas production had peaked and begun to decline (peak oil); we now know there are
enough oil and gas reserves to support current energy needs for generations to come.

2013 Colorado Oil & Gas Association. All rights reserved.

PO Box 540, Denver, CO 80201 Phone: 303.861.0362 www.COGA.org