Unbelievably, according to the LA Times,
the oil shale extraction industry was included in the Federal $ 700 - billion bailout package.
Not exact matches
More bountiful still is
oil shale, a type of heavy
oil that lies between layers of rocks like North Dakota's
shale -
oil but requires oilsand - like
extraction and upgrading techniques.
Indeed, domestic
oil production — driven by
shale extraction — rose to an all - time high of 10.59 million barrels per day (bpd) last week, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said.
Credit distress is rampant among energy companies, which borrowed heavily against the promise of
shale oil and gas
extraction and are now reeling from what looks like a prolonged price crash.
In other cases, the story is more nuanced: For example,
oil and gas
extraction firms benefit, while the producers of petroleum and coal products lose, echoing the tension between refiners and
oil -
shale producers.
Concerns over hydraulic fracturing, an
oil and gas
extraction method that injects millions of gallons of freshwater and chemicals into
shale, have largely focused on potential impacts on water quality.
Hydraulic fracturing, or «fracking,» is a petroleum -
extraction procedure in which millions of gallons of water (as well as sand and chemicals) are injected deep into underground
shale beds to crack the rock and release natural gas and
oil.
The alternative pathway, which the world seems to be on now, is continued
extraction of all fossil fuels, including development of unconventional fossil fuels such as tar sands, tar
shale, hydrofracking to extract
oil and gas, and exploitation of methane hydrates.
However, the stark reality is that global emissions have accelerated (Fig. 1) and new efforts are underway to massively expand fossil fuel
extraction [7]--[9] by drilling to increasing ocean depths and into the Arctic, squeezing
oil from tar sands and tar
shale, hydro - fracking to expand
extraction of natural gas, developing exploitation of methane hydrates, and mining of coal via mountaintop removal and mechanized long - wall mining.
Oil shale is not a solution given its energy and water
extraction demands, environmental destruction (including residues), and GHG emissions.
His study attributes the expected growth in
oil output largely to a combination of high
oil prices and new technologies such as hydraulic fracturing that are opening up vast new areas and allowing
extraction of «unconventional»
oil such as tight
oil,
oil shale, tar sands and ultra-heavy
oil.
If the
oil prices stay low and U.S.
shale oil extraction becomes uneconomic, maybe
oil workers can find a new career in clean energy...
The dramatic rise in
shale - gas
extraction and the tight -
oil revolution (mostly crude
oil that is found in
shale deposits) happened in the United States and Canada because open access, sound government policy, stable property rights and the incentive offered by market pricing unleashed the skills of good engineers.
Since the peak of crude
oil production a decade ago, the fossil fuel industry has been forced to resort to costly and unconventional methods of
extraction — arctic drilling and
shale gas fracking among them — giving rise to unprecedented economic and environmental hazards.
Schlumberger, a leading oilfield services company, has acquired Raytheon's technology for the
extraction of
oil from
oil shale and
oil sands.
Gazprom's (OTCQX: GZPFY) reaction to
shale gas, until recently, has been to dismiss it as a short lived phenomenon while pushing ahead as hard as possible with the
extraction of coal bed methane and going full steam ahead with the game changing vista of Arctic
oil and gas, which I will look at in a separate blog.
In North Dakota, where
oil drillers lack the equipment and pipelines to capture the gas that accompanies
extraction of crude, the practice of flaring off the methane lights up some areas over the Bakken
shale like big cities at night.
Moreover, in a world where fossil fuel resources are shrinking every year, and where the
extraction of «residual» sources such as deepwater
oil, tar sands and
shale gas come with great environmental and safety risks, bioenergy production can also contribute to national energy security.
The alternative pathway, which the world seems to be on now, is continued
extraction of all fossil fuels, including development of unconventional fossil fuels such as tar sands, tar
shale, hydrofracking to extract
oil and gas, and exploitation of methane hydrates.
Meanwhile, numerous industry efforts are underway to further exploit stressed public lands and perpetuate fossil - fuel dependence through the
extraction of coal,
oil and gas,
oil shale and tar sands, and liquefied natural gas development — as well as uranium mining and milling and the construction of energy corridors and long - distance electric transmission lines.
It's no secret, and safe to say, that TreeHugger isn't supportive of
extraction oil from tar sands in Canada (or from
oil shale in the Rockies for the matter).