Oil shale is a rock that produces oil when heated to temperatures reaching 1000°F.

The United States is home to approximately 50% of the world’s oil shale deposits, most of which are located in the Green River Formation of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. The Piceance Basin in northwestern Colorado alone is estimated to hold nearly 500 billion barrels of recoverable shale oil, which is more than double the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia. Approximately 72% of the oil shale resources of the Green River Formation are under federal ownership and control; in the Piceance Basin, federal lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) overlie about 80% of the in-place shale resources.

Though the resource is huge, cost challenges and serious environmental concerns have so far kept this resource in the ground. Large-scale shale oil development does not currently take place anywhere on the globe.

Recent record-high gasoline prices have led the federal government to reevaluate oil shale as a potential source of domestic liquid fuel. Before commercial-scale oil shale development can be responsibly executed, detailed research and development based on the best available science is necessary. In December, 2006 the BLM issued five 160-acre research and development leases for oil shale that will allow companies to test experimental methods to turn shale into oil.

However, while the future of oil shale is still uncertain, the BLM remains ready to develop a commercial oil shale leasing program by 2009-2010. With the rush to extract this resource, companies may not be able to adequately develop their technology before BLM begins leasing.

Methods of Development

Oil shale can be converted into oil using two similar methods. The more traditional method involves mining the oil shale rock and then transporting it offsite where it is crushed and heated to temperatures topping 1000°F. The resulting oil is then separated from the waste material and removed for processing.

Another conversion method, called in-situ, involves heating the oil shale rock while it is still underground. After heating the rock to extreme temperatures, the oil and gas are extracted from the ground through conventional well technology. Several methods of in-situ production have been tried and abandoned. Over the last 20 years Shell Oil Company has conducted small-scale field tests on private land at its Mahogany Research Project in the Piceance Basin using a new process that slowly cooks the shale underground for a period of 2-3 years using electrical-resistance heaters. This method requires up to 25 heating holes per acre in order to heat the shale to 650 to 750° F, and it also requires installation of production wells, drilled between the heating wells, to pump produced oil and gas to the surface. Shell is also testing a “freeze wall” around the heating zone to prevent groundwater from mixing with produced hydrocarbons and residual pollutants, which will be created by circulating refrigerant through yet more wells around the project’s periphery.

Impacts

The Green River Basin is not just home to large scale oil shale deposits, but also supports some of the most valuable wildlife habitat in the U.S. The area supports an abundance of mule deer, elk, mountain lion, black bear, bald eagles and other outstanding wildlife species. It also offers unparalleled outdoor recreation opportunities, including hunting, fishing and hiking.

Commercial-scale oil shale production will require massive infrastructure including roads, pipelines, compressors, tanks, and drill rigs. As stated above, the in situ process requires up to 25 heating holes per acre, plus additional holes for wells. This level of development will likely spread over thousands of acres, decreasing and dividing this superb wildlife habitat.

Shell's experimental in-situ oil shale facility, Piceance Basin, Colorado / U.S. Geological Survey

The lands that hold the oil shale deposits also lie within the Colorado River Watershed system, which provides water that is used for drinking by humans, livestock and wildlife, for irrigating agricultural land and for outdoor recreation. As of now, the amount of water that will be required for oil shale production is currently unknown. However, a recent study suggests that producing 1 million barrels of oil from shale per day could use up to 300,000 acre-feet of water per year, enough to supply up to 365,000 families of four for an entire year (Argonne National Laboratory 2006). Furthermore, the BLM reported that oil shale development would reduce the annual flow of the White River up to 8.2% and would permanently wipe out or degrade almost 50% of the BLM stream fisheries, including Colorado River Cutthroat Trout (BLM 1996).

Finally, because the production of oil shale requires incredible heating and cooling, its demands for energy are huge. In fact, it has been reported that 1 million barrels per day will require the energy equivalent of roughly 10 giant new power plants and 5 giant new coal mines (Bartis et al. 2005). Power plants are the largest industrial source of pollutants. The heated oil shale also contains toxic substances that can seep into and pollute surface and ground water. Additionally, because the material expands during the heating process, it produces massive amounts of waste, creating waste storage problems.

Thus, although oil shale holds promise for increasing the United States' oil supply, the energy and water it will use, the pollution it will create, and wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities it will destroy in the process remain serious concerns.

Additional Resources: 

• Read the Bureau of Land Management's Plan to begin commerical oil shale development
• View a map of the oil shale resource in the Green River Region.
• Fact Sheet on Oil Shale Development

References

Bartis, James T. et al. "Oil Shale Development in the United States: Prospects and Policy Issues," Rand Corporation. 2005, p.23.

"Potential Ground Water and Surface Water Impacts from Oil Shale and Tar Sands Energy-Production Operations," Argonne National Laboratory, Report ANL/EVS/R-06/9 October 2006.

U.S. Bureau of Land Management, White River Resource Area Resource Management Plan, Final Environmental Impact Statement, June 1996.