History of the oil shale industry

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Production of oil shale in millions of metric tons from Estonia (Estonia deposit), Russia (Leningrad and Kashpir deposits), United Kingdom (Scotland, Lothians), Brazil (Iratí Formation), China (Maoming and Fushun deposits), and Germany (Dotternhausen) from 1880 to 2000.^[1]

Main article: Oil shale industry

Oil shale has been used since ancient times. In 1596, the personal physician of Duke Frederick of Württemburg noted that a mineral oil distilled from oil shale could be used in healing.^[2] In 1637, Swedish alum shale dating from the Cambrian and Ordovician eras was used for extracting potassium aluminum sulfate.^[3] In 1694, British Crown Patent No. 330 on oil shale extraction was granted.^[2] Shale oil was produced by extracting Shropshire oil shale.^[4] At the same time, oil produced by the distillation of oil shale was being used to light the streets of Modena, Italy.^[2]

[edit] Start of the modern industry

The modern industrial use of oil shale for oil extraction dates to the mid-19th century. Oil shale pyrolysis was developed in France, where in 1832, a method for producing lighting oil was realized.^[4] Oil shale commercial mining began in Autun in 1837.^[5] In 1847 the Scottish chemist James Young prepared "lighting oil," lubricating oil and wax from torbanite. In 1850 he patented the process of cracking oil.^[6] Commercial oil extraction in Scotland started in 1857, and at about the same time Germany began exploiting its deposits. During the second half of the 19th century shale oil extraction industries were initiated in Sweden, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Canada and the United States as well, but after crude oil was discovered in Pennsylvania, the United States and Canadian oil shale industries found it difficult to compete. They were shut down by 1861.^[3]

[edit] First half of the 20th century

Oil retort at Kilve

The oil shale industry started growing just before World War I because of the mass production of automobiles and trucks and the supposed shortage of gasoline for transportation needs. The Office of Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves of the United States was established in 1912. The reserves were seen as a possible emergency source of fuel for the military, particularly the Navy.^[7] In 1915 an oil shale industry was established in Switzerland, and operations began in Estonia during 1918.

At Kilve in Somerset, England are the remains of a red brick retort, built in 1924, following the discovery in 1916 that the shale found in the cliffs was rich in oil. The beach is part of the Blue Anchor to Lilstock Coast SSSI^[8] Site of Special Scientific Interest. Along this coast the cliffs are layered with compressed strata of oil-bearing shale and blue, yellow and brown lias embedded with fossils. In 1924 Dr Forbes-Leslie founded the Shaline Company to exploit them. This retort house is thought to be the first structure erected here for the conversion of shale to oil but the company was unable to raise sufficient capital and this is now all that remains of the anticipated Somerset oil boom.^[9]

Between the World Wars oil shale projects were begun in Spain, China, Russia and South Africa; they restarted in Brazil and, for a short time, in Canada.^[3][10] In 1924, the Tallinn Power Plant was the first power plant in the world to employ oil shale as its primary fuel.^[11]

[edit] 1950s–1960s

After World War II, the oil shale industry was phased out in several countries because of high processing costs and the discovery of large supplies of easily-accessible crude oil. The low cost of conventional oil made shale oil production uneconomic. During the 1950s and 1960s, the industry was closed in France, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Scotland and South Africa, while in Germany only Rohrbach Zement in Dotternhausen continued using oil shale for cement, power and thermal energy production. In Sweden the extraction of alum shale for uranium and vanadium continued until 1989.^[1][3][5] At the same time, oil shale production in Estonia, Russia, and China continued to grow. After World War II, Estonian-produced oil shale gas was used in Leningrad and in northern Estonia cities as a substitute for natural gas.^[12][13] The worlds's two largest oil shale-fired power stations were opened in 1965 and in 1973. Estonian oil shale production peaked in 1980 at 31.35 million tonnes.^[3]

The United States Bureau of Mines opened a demonstration mine at Anvils Point, just west of Rifle, Colorado, which operated at a small scale.^[7] In the early 1960s TOSCO (The Oil Shale Corporation) opened an underground mine and built an experimental plant near Parachute, Colorado. It was closed in 1972 because the price of production exceeded the cost of imported crude oil.^[5][14]

[edit] 1970s–1980s

Due to the 1973 oil crisis, the oil shale industry restarted in several countries. In 1974 the United States Department of the Interior announced an oil shale leasing program in the oil shale regions of Colorado and Utah, and by the early 1980s almost all of the major oil companies had established oil shale pilot projects. The United States oil shale industry began to collapse when oil prices fell in the early 1980s. On May 2, 1982, known as "Black Sunday," Exxon announced the termination of its Colony Oil Shale Project near Parachute, Colorado.^[15] Shale oil production decreased in Estonia during the 1990s as well, due to reduced demand from the power generation industry. Most Russian oil shale mines were closed in the 1990s and production continued only on a small scale.^[3]

[edit] Latest developments

The global oil shale industry started to grow slightly in the mid-1990s. In 1992 commercial shale oil production using Petrosix technology resumed in Brazil. Estonian oil shale production has continuously increased since 1995.^[3] In Australia, a demonstration-scale processing plant at the Stuart Deposit near Gladstone, Queensland produced over 1.5 million barrels of oil between 2000 and 2004. The facility is now on care-and-maintenance in an operable condition, and the operator of the plant—Queensland Energy Resources—is conducting research and design studies for the next phase of its oil shale operations.^[16] In the United States, an oil shale development program was initiated in 2003 in support of President George W. Bush’s National Energy Policy.^[17] The Energy Policy Act of 2005 introduced a commercial leasing program for oil shale and tar sands resources on public lands with an emphasis on the most geologically prospective lands within the states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.^[18]

[edit] See also

• Oil shale industry
• Oil shale extraction
• Oil shale reserves

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• (2004) Survey of energy resources (PDF), 20, World Energy Council (WEC). ISBN 9780080444109. Retrieved on 2007-07-20.