The problem with that is that it takes a substantial amount of energy to get those resources out of the ground. It may become feasable one day, but the "energy out" to "energy in" ratio will be nothing compared to what conventional oil is.
...would this be true if oil were $89? $111 or $262? At some point, it becomes financially feasible and the price of oil from the Middle East becomes someone else's problem.
"Wll if all of these are possible scenarios then bring on the technology that allows us to get oil from shale. The problem with that is that it takes a substantial amount of energy to get those resources out of the ground. It may become feasable one day, but the "energy out" to "energy in" ratio will be nothing compared to what conventional oil is."
Not really true. Energy balance for tar sands is good enough
for Canadian to process 1 million barrels a day economically, and oil shale may well be the same.
Shell says they have in situ technology that can extract oil shale for about $30 a barrel. See:
http://www.answers.com/topic/oil-shale
Also, see here:
http://ostseis.anl.gov/guide/oilshale/index.cfm
and here:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/business/article/0,1299,DRMN_4_4096676,00.html
Exxon Mobil, Shell and Chevron are among six companies that will develop an in-situ technology to extract shale oil, Feeney said. Two other companies - Natural Soda Inc. and Kennecott Exploration Co. - will use a traditional process in which shale is mined, crushed and then heated in giant ovens called retorts to extract the oil.
Shell is a pioneer of the in-situ process, in which it drills holes and inserts heaters in target underground zones to slowly heat the shale layers.
Once the shale is sufficiently heated, a chemical reaction starts and releases the lighter hydrocarbons, which rise. The heavier hydrocarbons remain within the formation. The lighter hydrocarbons, almost a gasolinelike product, are subsequently pumped from the ground through conventional means.
The advantage to in-situ is that it eliminates the problem of waste disposal and enables higher recovery of oil, Terry O'Connor, Shell's vice president of external and regulatory affairs, has said.
For at least the past five years, at Shell's 20,000-acre Cathedral Bluffs property in Rio Blanco County, the company has been testing its patented method of burying heaters encased in pipe hundreds of feet underground, then liquefying the oil trapped in porous rock so it can be pumped to the surface.
O'Connor said earlier this year Shell hoped to have a commercially viable operation in the area by 2010.