'Oil shale reserves' refer to
oil shale resources that are recoverable under current economic constraints. Oil shale deposits range from small non-economic occurrences to large commercially exploitable reserves. Defining oil shale reserves is difficult, as the chemical compound of different oil shales as also amount of kerogen and its extraction technologies vary significantly. The economic feasibility of
oil shale extraction is highly dependent on the oil price. Oil shale deposits in USA, Estonia, China and Brazil have been of distinguished importance over the past hundred years.
[ Presently few deposits can be exploited economically with out some subsidies while petroleum is still at its current price. However some countries such as Estonia, Brazil and China, and possibly soon Jordan operate an oil-shale industry. ]
Many oil shale deposits need more exploratory works to be done to determine their potential as reserves. However, technical recoverable reserves are estimated to be equal around 2.9-3.3 trillion barrels of shale oil with the largest reserves in the United States, which is thought to have 1.5-2.6 trillion barrels.[WEC, p. 81-82][ ][ ] Well explored deposits, which could be classified as reserves, include the Green River oil shale in western United States, the Tertiary deposits in Queensland, Australia, the deposits in Sweden and Estonia, the El-Lajjun deposit in Jordan, and also some deposits in France, Germany, Brazil, China, and Russia. It is expected that these deposits will yield at least 40 liters of shale oil per tonne of shale by Fischer assay.
Defining of reserves
Estimating shale oil reserves is complicated by several factors. First, the amount of kerogen contained in oil shale deposits varies considerably. Second, some nations report as reserves the total amount of kerogen in place, which means all kerogen regardless of technical or economic constraints, and not as an estimate of kerogen, which may be extracted from identified and assayed oil shale rock using available technology and under current economic conditions. Third, by definition, "reserves" refers only to the amount of resource which is technically exploitable and economically feasible under current economic conditions. Fourth, shale oil recovery technologies are still developing, so the amount of recoverable kerogen can only be estimated.
There is a wide variety of extraction methods where the recovery factor can vary greatly, the formations can vary in the amount of kerogen that is present in the oil shale and the figure is highly dependent on the oil price. There are several methods to determine the quality of the reserves extracted from the oil. At best the methods give an approximate value to the energy potential contained with-in the oil shale. The first used method is the Fischer assay which gives heating value of the oil which is a good indication to the quality of the oil. It however fails to indicate how much oil could be extract from the sample. This has been modified and been adapted by the American Institute of Petroleum and been standardized. Other methods for evaluating the oil are the ToscoII and Hytort process which can increase the yield by 2 to 4 times when compared to the Fischer Method.
'''Largest oil shale deposits (over 1 billion tonnes'''| Deposit | Country | Age | In-place shale oil resources (million barrels) | In-place oil shale resources (million tonnes) |
|---|
| Green River Formation | USA | Tertiary | 1,466,000 | 213,000 |
| Phosphoria Formation | USA | Permian | 250,000 | 35,775 |
| Eastern Devonian | USA | Devonian | 189,000 | 27,000 |
| Heath Formation | USA | Early Carboniferous | 180,000 | 25,578 |
| Olenyok Basin | Russia | Cambrian | 167,715 | 24,000 |
| Congo | Democratic Republic of Congo | ? | 100,000 | 14,310 |
| Irati Formation | Brazil | Permian | 80,000 | 11,448 |
| Sicily | Italy | ? | 63,000 | 9,015 |
| Tarfaya | Morocco | Cretaceous | 42,145 | 6,448 |
| Volga Basin | Russia | ? | 31,447 | 4,500 |
| St. Petersburg, Baltic Oil Shale Basin | Russia | Ordovician | 25,157 | 3,600 |
| Vychegodsk Basin | Russia | Jurassic | 19,580 | 2,800 |
| Wadi Maghar | Jordan | Cretaceous | 14,009 | 2,149 |
| Dictyonema shale | Estonia | Ordovician | 12,386 | 1,900 |
| Timahdit | Morocco | Cretaceous | 11,236 | 1,719 |
| Collingwood Shale | Canada | Ordovician | 12,300 | 1,717 |
| Italy | Italy | ? | 10,000 | 1,431 |
Geographical allocation
Oil shales are diversely spread through out the earth, being found on every continent with perhaps the exception Antarctica, which is not explored for oil shale yet. Oil shale resources can be either concentrated in a large confined deposit such as the Green River formations which was the result of a large inland lake and so can be many meters thick but limited by the size of the original lake. Or like the deposits found along the eastern American seaboard which were the product of a shallow marine deposition, they can are vertically quite thin but laterally expansive covering thousands of square kilometers.
The table below reports reserves by estimated amount of shale oil. Shale oil refers to synthetic oil obtained by heating organic material (kerogen) contained in oil shale to a temperature which will convert it to oil, combustible gas, and residual carbon that remains in the spent shale. All figures are presented in barrels and tonnes.[WEC, p. 80]
'''Shale oil: resources and production at end-2002 by regions and countries with resources over 10,000 million barrels of in-place shale oil'''| Region | In-place shale oil resources (million barrels) | In-place oil shale resources (million tonnes) | Production in 2002 (thousand tonnes (oil)) |
|---|
| Africa | 159,243 | 23,317 | - |
|---|
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | 100,000 | 14,310 | - |
| Morocco | 53,381 | 8,167 | - |
| Asia | 45,894 | 6,562 | 100 |
|---|
| China | 16,000 | 2,290 | 100 |
| Europe | 368,156 | 52,845 | 275 |
|---|
| Russia | 247,883 | 35,470 | - |
| Italy | 73,000 | 10,446 | - |
| Estonia | 16,286 | 2,494 | 275 |
| Middle East | 38,172 | 5,792 | - |
|---|
| Jordan | 34,172 | 5,242 | - |
| North America | 2,602,469 | 382,758 | - |
|---|
| United States | 2,587,228 | 380,566 | - |
| Canada | 15,241 | 2,192 | - |
| Oceania | 31,748 | 4,534 | 46 |
|---|
| Australia | 31,729 | 4,531 | 46 |
| South America | 82,421 | 11,794 | 157 |
|---|
| Brazil | 82,000 | 11,734 | 157 |
| World total | 3,328,103 | 487,602 | 578 |
|---|
Africa
Major oil shale deposits are located in the Democratic Republic of Congo (equal to 14.31 billion tonnes of shale oil) and Morocco (12.3 billion tonnes or 8.16 billion tonnes of shale oil). The biggest deposits in Morocco are Tarfaya and Timahdit. There are oil shale reserves also in Egypt, South Africa, Madagascar, and Nigeria.
Asia
Major oil shale deposits are located in China (total, 32 billion tonnes of which technically exploitable and economically feasible is 4.4 billion tonnes), Thailand (18.7 billion tonnes), Kazakhstan (several deposits; major deposit at Kenderlyk Field with 4 billion tonnes), and Turkey (2.2 billion tonnes).[ Thailand's oil shale deposits are near Mae Sot, Tak Province, and at Li, Lamphun Province. Deposits in Turkey are located mainly in middle and western Anatolia.]
Europe
Outcrop of
Ordovician kukersite oil shale, northern Estonia.
The biggest oil shale reserves in Europe are located in Russia (equal to 35.47 billion tonnes of shale oil). Main deposits are located in the Volga-Petchyorsk province and the Baltic Basin. Other major oil shale deposits in Europe are located in Italy (10.45 billion tonnes of shale oil), Estonia (2.49 billion tonnes of shale oil), France (1 billion tonnes of shale oil), Belarus (1 billion tonnes of shale oil), Sweden (875 million tonnes of shale oil), Ukraine (600 million tonnes of shale oil) and the United Kingdom (500 million tonnes of shale oil). There are oil shale reserves also in Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Albania, and Romania.[WEC p. 84-85]
Middle East
Major oil shale deposits are located in Jordan (5,242 million tonnes of shale oil or 65 billion tonnes of oil shale) and Israel (550 million tonnes of shale oil or 6.5 billion tonnes of oil shale). Jordanian oil shales are high quality, comparable to western US oil shale, with the exception of high sulfur content. The most explored deposits are El Lajjun, Sultani and the Juref ed Darawishare located in west-central Jordan, while Yarmouk close to the northern border extends into Syria.[WEC p. 88]
North America
At 3.3 trillion tonnes, the oil shale deposits in the United States are easily the largest in the world. There are two major deposits: the eastern US deposits, in Devonian-Mississippian shales, cover ; the western US deposits of the Green River Formation in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, are among the richest oil shale deposits in the world.[WEC p. 91] In Canada 19 deposits have been identified. The most explored deposits are in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.[WEC p. 84-85]
Oceania
Australia's oil shale resource is estimated to be around 58 billion tonnes or 4,531 million tonnes of shale oil. The deposits are located in the eastern and southern states with the biggest potential in the eastern Queensland deposits.[ There is also oil shale in New Zealand.][WEC p. 83-84]
South America
Brazil has the world's second largest known oil shale resources (the Irati shale and lacustrine deposits) and has the second largest shale oil production after Estonia. Oil shale resources occur in São Mateus do Sul, Paraná, and in Vale do Paraíba. Brazil developed the world’s largest surface oil shale pyrolysis retort Petrosix, an diameter vertical shaft retort. Production in 1999 was about 200 kilotonne.
[ ]
Small resources are also found in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
See also
★ Oil shale geology
★ Oil shale industry
★ Oil shale economics
Footnotes
References
★ Survey of energy resources, , , , World Energy Council (WEC), ,
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