One of the problems with oil shale extraction has been the quantity of water required. The Colorado river flows through oil shale country but virtually all of the water is already spoken for by those downstream. Do you know if the Shell process addresses this concern?
I think the video in post #74 addresses the Colorado water issue.
My understanding is that it takes about three barrels of water to produce one of shale oil and it can be recycled on site. The constraint on the availability of water is purely economic. Water costs about a penny a cubic foot (if that), with about eight cubic feet per barrel. With water at $0.08/barrel and oil at $140.00, I think they’ll be glad to truck it in. (They would, of course, prefer to us available local supplies.)
It's my understanding they are going to recycle their water.