BETTING ON SHALE OIL FIRMS APPLY FOR FEDERAL PERMITS, LOOK TO SIMPLIFY EXTRACTION

The Rocky Mountain News ^ | September 21, 2005 | Gargi Chakrabarty

[Herosmith]

Eight U.S. companies have filed applications with the federal government to lease land in Colorado for oil-shale development, a sign that oil producers again are ready to gamble some 23 years after the last boom went bust.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the arm of the Interior Department that manages federal lands, has received 10 drilling applications, including three from Shell and one each from Exxon Mobil and Chevron. The companies want to develop technologies to extract oil from shale on 160-acre federal tracts in Rio Blanco County in northwestern Colorado.

[Herosmith]

Shale may be coming back...

[ClearCase_guy]

Wyatt's Torch.

[NameItClaimIt]

Green River shale deposits in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming are estimated to contain 1.5 trillion to 1.8 trillion barrels of oil, and while not all of it can be recovered, half that amount is nearly triple the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia.

Again, 4CJ, this is on Uncle Sam's land only, half that amount is nearly TRIPLE that Saudi Arabia--or the Middle East is what I heard on Lexix/Nexis??????

[DTogo]

Time for the Limousine Liberals and Enviro-whackos to decry this "land grab" by Big Oil! You wait, it'll be coming.

[4CJ]

Again, 4CJ, this is on Uncle Sam's land only, half that amount is nearly TRIPLE that Saudi Arabia--or the Middle East is what I heard on Lexix/Nexis??????

About time somebody jumped on this. Of course, some fruitcake enviro-wackos will protest, and the ACLU will file suit.

[ladtx]

Shale-oil is booming in Texas. My uncle is a drilling supervisor/consultant in his seventies and is more excited about this boom more than any of the others he has lived through here in Texas. He would be retired except that he lives to drill for oil and gas.

[cynicom]

Federal should limit import of foreign oil on an increasing percentage and open up the shale, even go partners with oil companies.

OPEC would always try to undercut in price but a limit on imports would cut those people out.

[joebuck]

Do they drill for shale oil or do they strip mine the shale and then extract the oil from it?

[domenad]

I need to come onto this site more. I read something like what you just wrote, and I get a smile.

[ladtx]

Shale-oil is booming in Texas.

Actually it's a gas boom. Producing more than a Bcf/day and growing.

[Andyman]

Quasi-drill, no strip mining. They superheat water, send it down the shaft, forcing the oil to the surface. They prevent superheated water from carrying oil into groundwater or rivers by super cooling water in other shafts to provide an "ice dam" around the area in which they are drilling. OK, more complex than that, but you get the idea. Shell has been testing this and say they can make economic sense of this at $30/barrel.

[NameItClaimIt]

Re: #10, 4CJ--8 wells within 10 miles from where I am plopped down.

[RightWhale]

Alaska North Slope heavy oil is about 25 billion barrels. Some of the natural gas will have to be diverted to recover this oil. BP is looking at the project.

[4CJ]

You should turn on some heaters!

[kidd]

Economic factors kicking in. I predict that 87 octane gas will never go over $4/gallon.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Why not just tariff the OPRICKS if they lower their prices to undercut us? That way we avoid quotas.

[ladtx]

My uncle lived most of his life in the San Angelo area, but recently because of the boom in N TX moved to Granbury so he wouldn't have so far to work. Right now I think he's got 8-10 rigs working and they're trying to give him more.

[Dead Corpse]

Wyatt's Torch.

Had the same thought.

[NameItClaimIt]

" moved to Granbury so he wouldn't have so far to work. Right now I think he's got 8-10 rigs working and they're trying to give him more."

In Alvarado--so he might be nearby, at a rig :>.

[ladtx]

he might be nearby, at a rig

Most likely. I talked to him at a family reunion earlier this summer and he was as excited as a little kid at Christmas about the boom. At 72 he says he can't wait to get to work in the mornings.