| Shale Oil as an Energy Solution - 20080807 - Fox News |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIt5-RFh6wQ&fm
t=18
The fine-grained sedimentary rock known as
oil shale contains significant amounts of
kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical
compounds), from which technology can extract
liquid hydrocarbons. (Geologists may regard
the name oil shale as a misnomer, since the
rock does not necessarily consist of a shale
and its kerogen differs from crude oil; it
requires more processing than crude oil,
which affects its economic viability as a
crude-oil substitute and increases its
environmental impact.[1][2]) Deposits of oil
shale are located around the world, including
major deposits in the United States of
America. Global deposits are estimated as
equivalent to 2.8 trillion to 3.3 trillion
barrels (450×109 to 520×109 m3) of
recoverable oil.
The chemical process of pyrolysis can convert
the kerogen in oil shale into synthetic crude
oil. Heating oil shale to a sufficiently high
temperature will drive off a vapor which
processing can distill (retort) to yield a
petroleum-like shale oil—a form of
non-conventional oil—and combustible shale
gas (the term shale gas can also refer to gas
occurring naturally in shales). Industry can
also burn oil shale directly as a low-grade
fuel for power generation and heating
purposes and can use it as a raw material in
chemical and construction-materials
processing.
Oil shale has gained attention as an energy
resource as the price of conventional sources
of petroleum has risen and as a way for some
areas to secure independence from external
suppliers of energy.[7][8] At the same time,
oil shale mining and processing involve a
number of environmental issues, such as land
use, waste disposal, water use, waste-water
management, greenhouse-gas emissions and air
pollution. Estonia and China have
well-established oil shale industries, and
Brazil, Germany, Israel and Russia also
utilize oil shale.
Oil shale consists of organic-rich
sedimentary rock: it belongs to the group of
sapropel fuels.[11] It differs from
bitumen-impregnated rocks (tar sands and
petroleum reservoir rocks), humic coals and
carbonaceous shale. While tar sands originate
from the biodegradation of oil, heat and
pressure have not (yet) transformed the
kerogen in oil shales into
petroleum.[2][12][13] Coal contains a higher
percentage of organic matter than oil shale.
In commercial grades of oil shale the ratio
of organic matter to mineral matter lies
approximately between 0.75:5 and 1.5:5. At
the same time, the organic matter in oil
shale has an atomic ratio of hydrogen to
carbon (H/C) approximately 1.2 to 1.8 times
lower than for crude oil and about 1.5 to 3
times higher than for coals.[2][11][14]
Oil shale does not have a definite geological
definition nor a specific chemical formula.
Oil shales vary considerably in their mineral
content, chemical composition, age, type of
kerogen, and depositional history.[15] Oil
shale seams do not always have discrete
boundaries and the carbonaceous content
varies. Scottish oil shales frequently
exhibit a change from no carbonaceous content
through a range of carbonaceous content and
back to non-carbonaceous shales. As a rule of
thumb, the better the oil shale, the more
chocolaty-brown the streak and the more woody
the sound when struck by a hammer.
The organic components of oil shale derive
from a variety of organisms, such as the
remains of algae, spores, pollen, plant
cuticles and corky fragments of herbaceous
and woody plants, and cellular debris from
other aquatic and land plants.[2][16] Some
deposits contain significant fossils;
Germany's Messel Pit has the status of a
Unesco World Heritage Site. The mineral
matter in oil shale includes various
fine-grained silicates and carbonates.[11][6]
Geologists can classify oil shales on the
basis of their composition as carbonate-rich
shales, siliceous shales, or cannel
shales.[17] Another classification, known as
the van Krevelen diagram, assigns kerogen
types, depending on the hydrogen, carbon, and
oxygen content of oil shales' original
organic matter.[15] The most commonly used
classification of oil shales, developed
between 1987 and 1991 by Adrian C. Hutton of
the University of Wollongong, adapts
petrographic terms from coal terminology.
This classification designates oil shales as
terrestrial, lacustrine
(lake-bottom-deposited), or marine (ocean
bottom-deposited), based on the environment
where the initial biomass was deposited.
Hutton's classification scheme has proven
useful in estimating the yield and
composition of the extracted oil
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Affichage : 211
Durée : 188 s |
| Haynesville Shale Waiting to Sign Lessons from Fort Worth |
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As the potential boom of the Haynesville
shale approaches, my reporter and I headed
west to get first hand accounts from those
affected by the Barnett Shale in FORT WORTH
Texas. reporting from SHREVEPORT Louisiana
KSLA - The ArkLaTex is on the brink of a new
era of prosperity with increased drilling in
the Haynesville Shale, bringing with it
economic opportunity and a whole new set of
potential problems. We need only look to
North Texas to see what the future might hold
for ArkLaTex landowners- thanks to the race
for the rights to recover a precious mineral
trapped some two miles beneath our feet. Just
a few years ago, communities like those in
Fort Worth City Councilman Salvador Espino's
district were been right where the ArkLaTex
stands now, facing a frenzy of offers from
oil & gas companies to lease mineral rights.
"I think you saw more landmen coming into the
denser areas of the city where are a lot of
people and when people started receiving
offers to lease up their property it raised
concerns," Espino says.
Those neighborhoods turned out to be some of
the earliest to learn the mineral lease
lessons the hard way, as drilling companies
ran out of rural lands to prospect and began
a push into urban areas. "I think some
people signed on too early and received a
lower lease bonus and royalty than others."
The Wedgewood Neighborhood in Southwest Fort
Worth is one of the last holdouts in that
final urban frontier. Currently locked in
negotiations with two big oil & gas companies
competing for the chance to drill in their
community.
For resident Robin Keifer, it's not just
about the money, "I'm worried about by son's
health. We're going to be very close to the
place. I'm worried about the pollution
they're going to bring into my neighborhood
what they're going to put in the ground after
they take the gas out."
That's why she and many others in her
neighborhood are "waiting to sign,"
pronouncing their commitment on yellow signs
posted in their yards. They are a signal to
one another of their commitment to hold out
for the best deal possible in spite of
pressure to sign. "We've basically been
told, 'either sign or don't sign and if you
don't sin, you won't get any money.'"
Tolli thompson knows there's strength in
numbers, so she's organized her neighborhood,
"We decided that if their game plan was to
pick us off one person at a time, we could
unite as a neighborhood to do a better deal."
She went on to bring several surrounding
neighborhoods together form a "supergroup" of
sorts, the Wedgewood Square Neighborhood
Association, representing some 6,000 homes
and businesses, all for even more negotiating
power.
"We've had offers starting at$10,000, up to
$13,000...$15,000...$17,000 and $20,000 an
acre," Thompson says. "We believe that
something is worth what they're willing to
pay for it. The gas companies have already
said they're willing to pay $27,200 an acre
for gas leases, we feel like we should fit
that same standard."
A recent meeting to update negotiations
attracted more than 2,000 of Thompson's
neighbors. For now...they're not accepting
the latest offers. "We're gonna sit tight
and wait for them to come around."
This kind of organization is beginning to
take shape on a grassroots level in the
AkLaTex, as people begin to realizing they
are being targeted by what they call
'leasehounds:' prospectors looking to buy up
mineral leases for a quick flip and a big
profit when they turn them over to the
drilling companies. "We just want to be
treated fairly," says Keatchie land and
mineral owner Caroline Canady.
It's a steep learning curve for emerging
neighborhood leaders like Canady, looking to
head off the divide and conquer tactics she
says they've already begun to encounter here.
"Some of us were bullied. One man even
thought he was gonna lose his house because
there was oil and gas up under it."
Now, by looking at North Texas, people like
Canady and her kKatchie neighbors might be
able to make the most of the massive
opportunity beneath their land, without
making some of the mistakes of others who
have gone before.
Tolli Thompson can attest to that.
"Absolutely, it pays to go last. We were one
of the last areas in our district that's
going through this process...and we can learn
from that and we can take that back to our
neighborhood and do better for everyone."
Tags : Haynesville Barnett shale natural gas hvx200 KSLA news mineral rights lease Carolyn Roy holdout |
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Affichage : 10538
Durée : 353 s |
| Haynesville Shale Economic Imact Barnett boom Houston HVX200 |
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Part two of our journey west to visit the
Barnett Shale and see first hand what the
boom offers: insight into Haynesville Shale
economic potential.
FORT WORTH, TX (KSLA) - The potentially
prolific Haynesville Shale is already drawing
comparisons to the Barnett Shale, which lies
about 8,000 feet below the surface of a 6,000
square mile area that covers 20 counties in
North Texas, including Tarrant, Johnson and
Wise.
It's not yet known exactly how much area the
Haynesville Shale covers, but it's generally
believed to stretch all they way from the
northern part of Sabine Parish, through
DeSoto, parts of Red River and Natchitoches,
all of Caddo and Bossier, and part of
southwest Webster Parish.
It's early in the game here in the ArkLatex,
but if the Haynesville hits natural gas gold,
it'll be more than just a flash in the pan,
if the Barnett Shale boom is any indication.
"It's very large and it's had a huge impact
on this economy," says Ed Ireland, Executive
Director of the Barnett Shale Energy
Education Council, a non-profit organization
subsidized by the major players in the oil
and gas industry.
Ireland says drilling operations in the
Barnett shale have already pumped billions of
dollars into the local economy in just a few
short years..with even bigger expectations
for the future, "In the next decade we'll be
well over 100,000 jobs and well over $10
billion each year in stimulus to the
economy."
And it very well could be a glimpse of the
future here in the ArkLaTex. "The economic
effects of the Barnett Shale here and what
will be true in your area as well is that the
money that comes in initially will be spent
over and over and over," Ireland predicts.
"Initially the economic impact is homeowners
and landowners who lease their property or
minerals and on to workers that get paid,
they spend the money they buy cars and
trucks, they buy houses and furniture, the go
out to restaurants, they stay in hotels, so
the effect, it does just spill over to all
aspects of the economy and it's been huge."
That kind of money has also stimulated quite
a bit of interest...and questions. The need
for education is what prompted Fort Worth
mayor Mike Moncrief to call for the creation
of the Barnett Shale Energy Education
Council. There are lots of questions here in
the ArkLaTex as well, and not just from
lease-hounded landowners. Shreveport's mayor
Cedric Glover and several other city leaders
recently made the trek to Fort Worth to meet
city leaders there. "We got a chance for our
lawyers to talk with their lawyers for our
managerial executive level folks to talk with
their folks and we're looking at a full range
of ideas that we have to deal with."
And there will be plenty of issues to deal
with, from how local government handles noise
and safety regulation to drilling permits,
something Fort Worth City Councilman Sal
Espino says is still an evolving process,
"How do we make this industry less impact on
our residents and neighborhoods, our quality
of life, and I think that continues to be a
concern and will be a concern."
Espino has seen the impact of the 675 sites
that have been drilled in the city since
2001. It's all expected to bring in some $800
million to $1 billion dollars to the city
coffers over the next 20 years, along with
plenty of new challenges. "We just have to be
careful and that's why we've been very
prudent with our fiscal policies," says
Espino.
"We've learned with each well that's been
drilled," says fellow councilman Jungus
Jordan. Now, their experience could become a
template for cities in the ArkLaTex, as it
has for cities surrounding Fort Worth as they
too struggle with a whole new set of rules.
Jordan says, "A large number of them have
taken the ordinance we wrote and used it and
incorporated it in their cities locally, and
we'd be happy to share that with the folks in
Shreveport."
Tags : Haynesville Barnett shale economic boom natural gas hvx200 KSLA news mineral rights lease Carolyn Roy holdout |
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Affichage : 7944
Durée : 246 s |
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