Thoughts - United States Should Be Energy Independent in 5-Years
Green River Formation
According to USGS publication, Geology and Resources of Some World Oil-Shale Deposits , the Green River Formation, located in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, has 1.5 trillion barrels of oil. At a 30 MMBO (million barrels of oil) per day consumption rate, this single formation could provide the United States with crude oil for the next 136 years. Again, let me state, the United States would be energy independent in crude oil for the next 136 years from this single formation.
This deposit is not a recent discovery. Since the turn of the century geologists have explored and assessed the oil potential of this formation. The oil is inside of a rock called oil shale. There is plenty of oil, but until recently, due to technology limitations and costs, the extraction of this oil was both technologically difficult and not cost effective. The primary extraction method was to dig oil shale out of the ground and by using heat, the oil could be induced to flow from the shale. A recent innovation is sideways drilling. The vertical drilling takes place until the oil shale is reached. Then a near 90 degree angle is accomplished and the drilling continues sideways. Some deep deposits in the Williston Basin (North & South Dakota and Montana) are 10,000 feet vertical and another 10,000 feet horizontal. The horizontal pipe has holes throughout it's length. Once in place, the perforated pipe is heated allowing the trapped oil to flow.
I'll bet you, if I had invested 1.5 trillion dollars (the cost to fight the Iraqi War which ultimately will allows us to purchase Iraqi oil) in oil shale extraction over the last 5-years, I would now be pumping all of the oil the United States would ever need, 30 MMBO per day.. We could be sellers of petrochemical products, if we so desired. And the best part, our oil could be extracted and sold to our citizens for considerably less than $140 a barrel. Companies extracting oil from oil shale estimate $60 to $70 per barrel of oil would allow for handsome profit margins for those involved in all aspects of crude oil to gasoline.
I wish Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Nigeria the best. I hope their crude oil deposits continue to bring riches into their respective countries for many years to come. Not our riches though. It is time that the United States takes charge of our own energy supply situation. Establish a national goal of energy independence within the next 5-years. We need to perfect the technology to extract and process our very own crude oil from our very own oil shale. Make it a national priority. When we become energy independent, at that time we can reclaim our self-respect and pride in our American "Can Do" attitude.
Enjoy!
P.S. - I know this has nothing to do with islands, mapping or EVS precision, but it is my blog and I can share whatever info I wish.
Labels: crude oil, energy independence, Green River formation, oil shale, USGS
The ultimate reason that formation hasn't been exploited isn't technology or investment...
The problem is the enormous amount of water the extraction process demands. Water the region doesn't have. Water in such vast quantities that it would be difficult to obtain even if the formation was on the banks of the Mississippi. Then the water has to be purified to prevent scale from clogging your pipes. Then you have to spend a fair fraction of the oil you recover has to burned to heat the water to the temperatures needed. (And it's high sulfur oil to boot...)
Many people know about this formation, many people trumpet it loudly.
Few bother to educate themselves on the messy details.
Posted by
Anonymous |
7/01/2008 07:47:00 AM