Posted on 05/11/2012 4:09:24 PM PDT by jazusamo
Video at link
Rock Springs, Wyo. (BLM Photo)
(CNSNews.com) - The Green River Formation, a largely vacant area of mostly federal land that covers the territory where Colorado, Utah and Wyoming come together, contains about as much recoverable oil as all the rest the world’s proven reserves combined, an auditor from the Government Accountability Office told Congress on Thursday.
The GAO testimony stressed that the federal government was in “a unique position to influence the development of oil shale” because the Green River deposits were mostly beneath federal land.
It also noted that developing the oil would pose “socioeconomic challenges,” which included bringing “a sizable influx of workers who along with their families put additional stress on local infrastructure” and “making planning for growth difficult for local governments.”
“The Green River Formation--an assemblage of over 1,000 feet of sedimentary rocks that lie beneath parts of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming--contains the world's largest deposits of oil shale,”Anu K. Mittal, the GAO’s director of natural resources and environment said in written testimony submitted to the House Science Subcommittee on Energy and Environment.
“USGS estimates that the Green River Formation contains about 3 trillion barrels of oil, and about half of this may be recoverable, depending on available technology and economic conditions,” Mittal testified.
“The Rand Corporation, a nonprofit research organization, estimates that 30 to 60 percent of the oil shale in the Green River Formation can be recovered,” Mittal told the subcommittee. “At the midpoint of this estimate, almost half of the 3 trillion barrels of oil would be recoverable. This is an amount about equal to the entire world's proven oil reserves.”
In her oral statement before the subcommittee, Mittal said that developing the shale oil would create wealth and jobs for the country, but also challenges for government.
“Being able to tap this vast amount of oil locked within this formation will go a long way to help to meet our future demands for oil. The U.S. Geological Survey, as you noted, estimates that the formation contains about 3 trillion barrels of oil of which half may be recoverable,” she said.
“As you can imagine having the technology to develop this vast energy resource will lead to a number of important socioeconomic benefits including the creation of jobs, increases in wealth and increases in tax and royalty payments for federal and state governments,” she said.
“While large-scale oil-shale development offers socioeconomic opportunities it also poses certain socioeconomic challenges that also should not be overlooked,” she testified. “Oil shale development like other extractive industries can bring a sizable influx of workers who along with their families put additional stressed on local infrastructure. Development from expansion of extractive industries has historically followed a boom-and-bust cycle making planning for growth difficult for local governments.”
In her written testimony , Mittal noted that three-fourths of the Green River shale oil is under federal land.
“The federal government is in a unique position to influence the development of oil shale because nearly three-quarters of the oil shale within the Green River Formation lies beneath federal lands managed by the Department of the Interior’s (Interior) Bureau of Land Management (BLM),” she testified.
Recoverable vs Proven are 2 different animals ... but that being said “DRILL BABY DRILL”
TT
It is interesting that bho is so fixated on kneeling to the enviors that he is blind to the millions or billions of dollars in royalties that the federal government would get from this oil. Just like they seem to have no interest in the nearly 50% drop in royalty income from the closed oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico.
—don’t believe everything you see in the Denver Post—
Usually I don’t but this was a good article a few years ago. One guy I talked to at the gas pump said that the Dakota oil was $18/bbl.
Let's see: WHO is the head of the Dept. of the Interior?
Oh yeah, Ken Salazar; he who has been held in contempt of FEDERAL court TWICE and was Dear Leader's personally appointed, Far Left Environmentalist EXTREMIST wackjob who pines for us to pay the same for a gal of gas ($8-$10/gal) as Europe.
Anyone believe (HEY, DIOGENESIS AND ALL YOU OTHER HATE-ROMNEY FREEPERS, ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION?) that if the Fascist, Neo-Commie, Hate-America, Barack Hussein Obama gets re-elected, that there is a snowballs chance in hell that this land will EVER be allowed to be developed?
Yeah, all you so called "PRINCIPLED" Freepers: Go ahead, stay home or write in some others' name and feel good about your decision while the country suffers, if not ends up being destroyed.
Would someone please tell the MSM idiots this FACT. Even FNS misrepresents this detail on a daily basis.
OOOOOOO, I could just scream. Bwahahahahaha
No votes for gun-grabbing baby killers.
If you want to support a gun grabbing baby killer that's your business but don't come on this thread disparaging FReepers who don't agree with your view.
Flip flopper Romney hasn't even gotten the nomination yet.
The present administration doesn’t want American oil, because it would reduce the payments to Muslim countries.
Obviously.
obama does everything to weaken the U.S. and strengthen Islam.
90% of that federal land should have been turned over to the staes and sold to the people 100 years ago.
Wouldn't the oil-per-ton and the amount of dispersal both be factored into the cost calculations to determine if the oil can be considered recoverable? I'd think that they would have to be included in order to get any reasonable estimate for extraction costs.
and the EPA will make it off limits in 5...4...3...2..1...
Who is John Galt?
—couple of problems with the “shale” oil-—there isn’t much of it per ton of material and it is VERY well dispersed in the rock also-—
I worked for a BIG Oil Company in the 80’s and 90’s and we owned the leases for the Green River Shale. The oil is extracted after drilling about 2,000 feet and then injecting steam to liquefy the oil. Then it is a simple task to get it to the surface.
The Break even point was calculated at about $30 - $32 dollars per barrel, so it is long over due to stop buying oil from countries that would do us harm if they could.
It is estimated that the Green River Oil Shale is about 75% of the worlds supply of Oil Shale and Louisiana has another 10%.
Original article here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2882067/posts
Well....(no pun intended) they seem to be doing OK in South Texas....
Eagle Ford Activity Generates over $25B in Economic Output in South Tx.
Rig Zone ^ | May 09, 2012 | Karen Boman Posted on May 10, 2012 6:37:06 AM PDT by thackney
Eagle Ford shale activity in 2011 alone generated over $25 billion in economic output, supported over 47,000 full-time jobs and provided $257 million in local government revenue, according to a new study by the Center for Community and Business Research, part of the University of Texas at San Antonio's Institute for Economic Development.
The findings are the result of research into the economic impact of Eagle Ford shale activity in 2011 on a 20-county region in South Texas.
The study found that:
Eagle Ford development resulted in $3.1 billion in salaries and benefits to workers
Provided more than $12.6 billion in gross regional product
Added more than $358 million in state revenues, including $120.4 million in severance taxes
Generated a triple-digit sales tax revenue increase in local counties.
The Eagle Ford presents "an economic opportunity of a lifetime," Mario Hernandez, president of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation, said.
"The key goal is to increase in investment and jobs. And if the communities will partner with the private companies that are creating these jobs, it can be a win-win for everybody," Hernandez said in a statement.
And all of the above on a rate of 160,000 barrels a day by end 2011.
The Eagle. Ford is “shale oil” not “oil shale” (kerogen) like the Green River Formation. You are falling for the same misinformation that I spoke about in my earlier posts.
OK...Thanks....but if they can get it out from 2000 ft with steam injection....that’s going to be a lot of water.....tanker drivers pick up the phone...there’s going to be lots of work.
Green River Formation, kerogen that must be produced by mining and high heat in at a very high cost. They have been working on this idea since the 60’s and it seems every time that the price of oil gets high enough to make it economically viable the costs go up. Maybe some day, but not at today’s price of oil.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_shale
Eagle Ford, real oil that can be produced economically by horizontal drilling and multistage fracking. BTW fracking is NOT a new technolgy, we have been doing it safely without any environmental damage since the 1940’s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Ford_Formation
“OK...Thanks....but if they can get it out from 2000 ft with steam injection....that’s going to be a lot of water.....tanker drivers pick up the phone...there’s going to be lots of work.”
More misinformation, stream simply is not hot enough to convert kerogen to oil. Read my link above. Besides if it would work the next great shortage for our civilization is going to be water.
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