Gas, Oil, and Electricity from Oil Shale Kerogens Using In Situ Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Trillions of barrels of oil equivalent locked inside oil shale kerogens are waiting for a clean and profitable approach of production. We have discussed one likely approach -- high temperature gas cooled nuclear reactors -- which is likely to be an effective, clean, and profitable approach to oil shale kerogen production. But it is likely to take between 15 and 20 years of development before such a method is ready for the Green River formation in the US Rocky Mountain west.

A different approach was patented by Marshall Savage, utilising solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) placed within the rock at strategic locations. This approach would produce oil, gas, and electricity using an in situ process, without significant mining or rock removal.

The present invention is a subterranean heater composed of fuel cells. In the preferred embodiment, the apparatus comprises a plurality of fuel cells assembled in a vertical stack via plates generally referred to in the art as “interconnect plates”, or “bipolar plates”. Conduits throughout the stack supply the cells with fuel and air or other oxidant, and remove exhaust gases. Preferably, the fuel cell stack is enclosed in a casing adapted for insertion into a well bore. An electrical connection is provided to the far end (typically bottom) of the stack to allow completion of an electric circuit.

The encased fuel cell stack is inserted into a wellbore, preferably vertically, but potentially horizontally or at some other orientation. Preferably, the encased stack is cemented into the borehole by a suitably heat conducting grout. Fuel and air are pumped into the stack through the incorporated conduits to the fuel cells. Within the fuel cells, electrochemical reactions take place to produce electricity and heat. The electricity passes out of the stack through an electric circuit. Fuel cells, of the solid oxide type, which are preferred, operate at temperatures in the 800 to 1000 degree Centigrade range. This is also the preferred temperature range for many subterranean heating applications. Heat passes from the fuel cell stack to the underground formation by thermal conduction. Thus, the operating fuel cell stack acts as a down-hole conduction heater of enormous magnitude, perhaps taking a year of operation to prepare a resource layer for in situ mining.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, conduits for air, gaseous fuel, and exhaust are formed by aligning holes in the interconnect plates. Communication for circulation of these gases is provided by channels formed in the surface of the interconnect plates. _PatentsOnline

http://www.energytv.com/videos/view/4396

A small Colorado company is moving ahead with testing and development of this in situ fuel cell approach -- called Geothermic Fuel Cells because they put heat into the rock rather than taking it out.

A little-known energy technology company in Parker... stands at the forefront of a new era in domestic energy production. Independent Energy Partners Inc. is in the early stages of rolling out an industry game-changer, a device that holds tremendous promise in helping the United States harvest energy in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way.

The seven-employee firm with offices on Pine Drive is about to turn the oil shale industry upside down with its in-situ Geothermic Fuel Cell, a solid oxide fuel cell unit that heats subterranean rock formations to recover three energy components from “unconventional hydrocarbons,” said Al Forbes, chief executive officer of IEP.

The first, accounting for roughly two-thirds of the recovered hydrocarbon energy, is a high-quality oil from the processing of kerogen in the shale. The second is natural gas. The third is “baseload green electricity,” captured via the “electrochemical process” of fuel cells. The electricity is produced as a by-product of the process, with nearly 80 percent being surplus and sold to utility or industrial companies, which offsets some of the costs associated with the process and the manufacturing of the high-tech Geothermic Fuel Cells.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect is that the unit is designed to operate on a portion of the gases produced during the process, resulting in a low carbon footprint, especially when compared to antiquated methods that are still being used. The GFC becomes a self-sustaining device that requires only a small amount of natural gas to start the process.

After getting patents, IEP worked closely with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Labs on design and engineering to confirm the “technical feasibility” of the Geothermic Fuel Cell. IEP has also entered into agreements with Total Petroleum and the Colorado School of Mines, which has contributed technical support and will help conduct testing.

The partners have leases or options on oil shale resources in the Rocky Mountain Region that contain an estimated 16 billion barrels of oil; IEP owns mineral rights in the Piceance Creek Basin on the Western Slope that contain roughly 2 billion barrels of oil.

The low-emission process was developed by Marshall Savage, who approached Forbes with his idea in 2003. The founder of IEP was so convinced that the “revolutionary” product would succeed, that he dropped all other business ventures, including renewable energy, to strictly focus on the GFCs.

...The company, alongside the Colorado School of Mines, has begun an 18-month program to test the prototype prior to field demonstration, and Delphi has reconfigured some of its products to adapt to IEP's application. Forbes expects commercial production of GFCs by 2015 or 2016. _ColoradoNews

IEP's website

PDF comparison of oil shale production technologies, including a good look at the Geothermic Fuel Cell approach (PDF)

The in situ SOFCs are fueled by gas that is released from the rock once the fuel cells have warmed up. In other words, the process is self-sustaining once the SOFCs achieve operating temperature using an initial startup boos from natural gas.

The combined products of electric power, gas, and oil, provide the operation with multiple sources of cash flow.

Warm-up time required before commercial oil production can begin is estimated to be up to 2 years.

The total oil equivalent in the Green River kerogen deposit is estimated to be up to 3 trillion barrels.

US Oil Demand Dropping; Oil Production Rising

At the same time that US oil consumption is dropping:

...2012 is on pace to have the lowest monthly average oil consumption since 1996 despite sixteen years of sometimes uneven population, vehicle travel and GDP growth. For the first six months of 2012, US oil demand averaged 18.52 million barrels per day (mb/d), a decline of 11 percent from the 2004 peak of 20.8mb/d. _EnergyPolicyInfo

US oil production is rising:

U.S. production of oil and other liquid hydrocarbons is on track to rise 7 percent this year to an average of 10.9 million barrels per day. Energy experts say that within just a few years, the United States could top the Saudis. _WSJ

US imports from Canada are around 2.5 mbpd and rising. That means that North American oil is providing roughly 73% of US oil consumption.

Once the Keystone XL and other pipeline infrastructure are built and operating, the numbers should improve even further -- even while US exports of hydrocarbon fuels continue to rise.

More on how unconventional oil & gas are revolutionising the US energy future

Energy is the lifeblood of an industrial economy. Recent US and EU government policies of energy starvation have been counterproductive, based upon ideology rather than upon societal needs or empirically demonstrable scientific facts.

It is time to put an end to political dilettantes and unelected bureaucrats playing ideological games with the energy futures of entire civilisations.

North American Energy Colossus is Poorly Understood

The rapid ongoing rise in North American energy production is receiving a great deal of attention in the energy media. But very few analysts have accurately described the potential impact of the energy technologies which have made this growth in production possible. A recent report from the Manhattan Institute (PDF) seeks to place the North American Energy Colossus in perspective. (h/t Mark Perry)

NA Energy Colossus (PDF)

New energy tools and technologies are making large energy deposits accessible at affordable prices. As these tools and technologies themselves grow more affordable, the underlying commodity or product also grows more affordable.

NA Energy Colossus (PDF) Executive Summary

It is not just the mere fact of this growing trove of affordable energy that is important to keep in mind. It is all of the economic effects which result from these affordable resources which must be kept in mind -- as well as the effect of ever newer technologies on affordability of resources (neglecting an ongoing governmental devaluation of currencies and other destructive governmental policies).

NA Energy Colossus (PDF)

When the increased jobs and local and regional government revenues are taken into account, the economic effects of these new energy resources become more obvious.

There is always the possibility that global energy prices might be driven so low as to render much of this unconventional energy production unprofitable. That is a point which has been pressed not only here at Al Fin Energy, but also in the energy media at large.

The shale gas-ification of oil, a recent article in Petroleum Economist, goes so far as to claim that unless Brent oil prices remain above $100, that most of this grand new North American unconventional energy production will go bust.

That claim has been widely made elsewhere, with the breakeven price varying from $60 a barrel up to $120 a barrel or more for unconventional production (including oil sands, CTL, GTL, oil shale, shale oil, etc).

But if unconventional energy production has a built-in economic stimulant incorporated in itself, much of this concern about an imminent oil bust may well be overwrought.

As long as governments do not insert themselves unduly into the production of unconventional liquids -- including offshore oil, tight oil & gas, CTL, GTL, oil sands etc. -- the natural boom and bust price swings are likely to work themselves out throughout the economy. Some enterprises will thrive, others will go bankrupt -- just as they have always done. Best to keep government out of the corrupting job of picking winners and losers.

Global Oil Production Hits Yet Another New Peak

Peak oil prognosticators, including Ken Deffeyes and the late Matt Simmons and King Hubbert, continue running up a long string of failed predictions for the global peak in oil production. It is almost as if they all suffered from severe conceptual deficits in their thought processes.....

Source

...the peak oil theorists, if not wrong in the long term, seem to have been premature in warning that the summit for production was upon us. In 2009, for instance, one forecast for global oil production via The Oil Drum warned that output was set to fall by more than two million barrels a year. A decade ago, geologist Ken Deffeyes’ widely read book Hubbert’s Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage opened by stating that “global oil production will probably reach a peak sometime during this decade.” The 2009 edition of the book makes the same forecast.

Deffeyes is hardly alone in warning that the end is near for raising global oil production, as a sampling of the many book titles in recent years on the peak oil subject remind: The Party’s Over, The End of Oil, and Profit from the Peak, for instance.

There is a peak out there somewhere, of course. Production for every commodity with a finite supply inevitably reaches a crest. The question, of course, is when? Estimating the date of the apex is problematic for several reasons. Technology, for instance, can change the analysis. If you can make cars more energy efficient, that’s the equivalent of finding more oil, all else equal. That leaves us with the troublesome task of predicting what technology will bring in terms of energy savings in the years ahead. _WallStreetPit

Source
Meanwhile, China is ramping up shale exploration and technology development, in preparation for the coming boom in Chinese shale oil & gas, and GTL, along with combined GTL and CTL.

Argentina is likewise gearing up to take advantage of the unconventional hydrocarbon bonanza.

The massive global supplies of unconventional hydrocarbons are waiting only for improved technologies of catalytic conversion to high quality chemicals, fuels, polymers, etc. Perhaps the coming boom in space mining of platinum and other precious metals will have a secondary effect on the eventual boom in GTL, CTL, BTL, KTL, BitTL, GHTL, and other XTL technologies? Particularly with the development of gen IV high temperature gas cooled modular nuclear reactors, which will send the myth of EROEI to the dustbin of history.

Gallery of World Hydrocarbon Endowment & Shale Gas Resources

The first two charts -- of global hydrocarbon endowment and US hydrocarbon endowment -- come from Gary Swindell Petroleum Engineering in Dallas, TX.

The next 4 maps come from an Autumn 2011 article in Oil Field Review (PDF)

The last two graphs provide two more cautious estimates of the global hydrocarbon resource -- one including renewable fuels and the approximate costs of production using today's technology.

The purpose of such graphic resource estimates is to provide a visual impact beyond what mere numbers often provide.

The very generous Swindell estimates on top come with several sources, provided at the link. The source of the shale gas maps data is listed on the maps. The data in the next to the last chart above is taken from BP estimates, and the data in the last one is taken from IEA sources.

Keep in mind that resource estimates are not proven reserves, but are rather a guesstimate of where future technologies may eventually lead based upon best available data. Proven reserves have always risen, and continue to do so as discoveries and new technologies warrant.

It should be easy to see from the charts how important liquefaction technologies (GTL, CTL, BTL etc) will become over the next few decades. As abundant and cheap process heat from advanced modular nuclear reactors becomes available, such liquefaction processes will come into their own, economically.

Gas-to-Liquids and Coal-to-Liquids: Bringing in a New Era of Energy?

Unconventional liquid fuels are slated to provide ever growing proportions of future demand for transportation fuels. The burgeoning success of plants such as Shell's Pearl GTL plant in Qatar herald a new era of liquid fuels production.

In terms of what GTL is, it is the process of chemically turning natural gas into cleaner-burning liquid products, including fuel, base oil for lubricants and feedstock for chemicals. To produce, the process firstly involves methane and oxygen which are converted into a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide known as synthesis gas or syngas. This is then fed to a reactor with a proprietary Shell catalyst that accelerates the conversion of the mixture to long-chained waxy hydrocarbons and water.

From the GTL reactor, the long-chained hydrocarbons are then reacted with hydrogen and ‘cracked,’ into a range of smaller molecules of various sizes using another proprietary Shell catalyst. This process is referred to as ‘hydrocracking.’ The final step is distillation. Various boiling points are reached to separate out the products, which can be in the form of GTL naphtha, GTL kerosene, GTL normal paraffins, GTL gas oil, or GTL base oils. These are then eventually fed to their own storage tanks ready for use.

...One of the products, GTL gasoil (diesel-type fuel), can contribute significantly to the diversification of the diesel fuel supply. This product can reduce local emissions of nitrogen and sulfur oxides and particulate matter. Because it contains virtually no sulfur or aromatic compounds and has a high cetane number – a measure of combustion quality – GTL gasoil burns more efficiently than conventional oil-based diesel and thus produces fewer local emissions and less black smoke than conventional diesel. The high cetane of GTL gasoil can lead to noise reductions in certain engines under certain driving conditions and improve cold start performance. GTL gasoil can also be blended with conventional diesel and/or biodiesel and used in the same vehicles and infrastructure, thus offering a low investment cost compared with other alternatives.

GTL Kerosene is an alternative to conventional oil-based kerosene. Its primary use is expected for aviation. GTL kerosene can be used as a blend with traditional jet fuel without any modifications to existing aircraft and engines. Given that the aviation sector will rely on liquid hydrocarbons for decades, this fuel can help support the future energy needs of the industry, and offer customers fuel diversification. GTL kerosene has higher energy density than conventional oil-based kerosene and this reduces the required fuel payload, thus aircraft may be required to carry less fuel weight to cover the same distance. _QatarShell

When even pro-nuclear activists such as Rod Adams are speaking out in favour of a coal - nuclear partnership to produce liquid transportation fuels, you should understand that people are finally beginning to look at the possibilities.

Coal is a valuable resource that can be safely mined for centuries by well-trained and compensated miners. Instead of eliminating the use of coal, I would prefer to help coal miners and coal mine owners to recognize that they could make more money and sell a cleaner product if they upgraded their fuel at the mine rather than shipping a dirt-filled, unrefined product that sells for a huge discount in the energy market.

...My pitch to the coal industry would be to use cheap, clean nuclear heat to convert H2O and their carbon rich fuel into a refined hydrocarbon that could compete with petroleum products.

...Shipping oil instead of coal from our domestic mines would also be very beneficial to the US national security and to the prosperity of the world. Just think about the positive impact that substantially lower US demand would have on the price of diesel fuel delivered to a developing country. _RodAdams

Until more people are able to think of energy in multi-disciplinary, multi-industrial terms, societies will be forced to pay higher prices for fuels and energy than is necessary. By including cheap and unlimited nuclear reactor process heat into the fuel production mix, we can immediately bring CTL, GTL, bitumens to liquids, kerogens to liquids, and even biomass to liquids (BTL) into the feasible and profitable arena.

Fortunately, more nuclear advocates are beginning to understand the importance of cleanly integrating coal and gas into the overall energy and fuels mix. But we need more bright chemical engineers like Robert Rapier, and physicists like Tom Murphy, to crunch the numbers once again -- this time including the powerful impact of high temperature process heat from modular and mini-modular HT gas-cooled nuclear reactors.

By utilising scalable, factory produced reactors which can be sited at the point of production of gas, coal, bitumens, kerogens, methane hydrates -- and even biomass in some situations of intensive cultivation -- it should be clear to any objective observer that a new era of hydrocarbon production is quite feasible.

Government action could certainly prevent this development. The great carbon hysteria delusion -- if firmly enacted into law in the developed world -- would not only kill unconventional fuels, it would kill the economic viability of the underlying societies themselves. That is what several governments, from the UK to Obama's US to Australia to the EU are attempting to do in various ways.

A far less likely -- but still potentially effective -- way to stop the revolution in unconventional fuels, is for the national oil companies of OPEC and other oil dictatorships to route needed funds into oil field production, exploration, discovery, and development. It would be easy for existing oil fields and fields under development to ramp up production to overwhelm even the current inflated levels of global demand -- if the equipment, manpower, and funding were allotted for the purpose. But this will not be done, because governments from Russia to Venezuela to Saudi Arabia etc need oil prices to remain artificially high so that they can use oil profits to pacify unstable populations and pay off highly placed insiders.

New Oil & Gas Technologies Just Beginning to Pick Up Steam

Remarkably – and almost abruptly – it now appears that the enormous challenge of satisfying a doubling in world energy demand by 2050 will probably be met. But it won’t be through renewable energy sources like solar and wind, although the role of these renewables will indeed rise. The lion’s share of the new energy production will come instead from shale oil and shale gas, deepwater drilling, oil sands and other unconventional sources of fossil fuel.

The geopolitical impacts will be huge. Canada and the United States, Europe, India, China, Australia, and many countries in South America and Africa — few of them accustomed to energy wealth — stand to benefit tremendously.

...new technologies are providing the world and its individual countries with greater flexibility in meeting their energy needs – and significantly reducing environmental impacts.

Consider, for example, so-called GTL (gas to liquid) and CTL (coal to liquid) technologies. For a long time we have known it is possible to convert coal or natural gas to a liquid fuel that we can drop into the engines of today’s diesel-fueled automobiles. With GTL or CTL technology, we can also capture impurities like sulfur, nitrogen oxides, mercury, and soot in the production process – thereby creating a cleaner-burning fuel.

Not only have we known this, but in South Africa, Sasol Ltd. has actually been doing it – for more than 60 years. Now, at last, that technology is spreading. Sasol opened a joint venture GTL plant in Qatar in 2007, and is now planning or studying the construction of similar plants in Uzbekistan, Canada and Louisiana. And Shell began shipping product from its giant new Pearl GTL plant in Qatar just this past summer.

Meanwhile, China is planning a huge move – a $140 billion investment over five years – into a similar technology, in which coal is converted not into liquid fuels but into ammonia, methanol, and other chemical staples ordinarily derived from petroleum or natural gas. A few similar plants already exist in the United States, where more are under consideration.

Both of these new kinds of investments – GTL and coal-conversion plants – offer myriad potential benefits. The world’s passenger car fleet is expected to nearly double by 2035 to 1.7 billion; GTL and CTL could fill a substantial percentage of those tanks. Coal-to-chemicals can provide not only China but also other coal-rich countries like India and the United States with an abundant, cheap alternative source for chemicals essential to a wide range of industries. _Forbes

Mainstream analysts are just beginning to discover the massive potential of gas to liquids, coal to liquids, kerogens to liquids, biomass to liquids, and bitumens to liquids. Unfortunately, few of them have made the connection between high quality nuclear reactor process heat and abundant unconventional fuels, chemicals, fertilisers, and materials. But give them time.

Here is more on some of the underlying technologies which made the modern unconventional oil & gas avalanche possible:

Darcy’s Law, as applied to an oil well, says that the proprietor can do three things to improve the flow of his hydrocarbon treasure: (1) increase the pressure difference between the oil at the bottom of the hole relative to the surface; (2) enlarge the contact area between the sides of the well bore and the oil-bearing rock; or (3) open up the pores in the rock to channel more oil into the well (otherwise known as increasing the ‘permeability’).

...Hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’ in the parlance, is now being applied to horizontal wells with greater and greater precision. Tools, techniques and digital sensing equipment provide modern day ‘shooters’ with an ability to increase the permeability of deep rocks with remarkable control and accuracy. Mating fracking with horizontal drilling and pressure-enhancing production equipment means that the industry has entered an era when human intervention can alter and optimize all three variables inscribed in Darcy’s Law. In short, tinkering one more time with a 150-year old mathematical equation is fracturing our long-held assumptions of how much crude oil and natural gas is exploitable through innovation.

Hydraulic fracturing is truly an ‘earth-shattering’ advance that has already shown its disruptive potential in North American natural gas supply and is showing similar patterns of change on the oil side too (see for example, Calgary Herald Blog Post, February 6th, 2012). If past tinkering with Darcy’s Law is any indication of future potential, the oil and gas industry is once again on a path to renewal for several decades to come. _CalgaryHerald

Darcy's law was just the beginning, in the growing comprehension of how to relieve the planet of its massive burden of hydrocarbon reserves.

The addition of virtually unlimited high quality process heat from modular gas-cooled nuclear reactors -- located at the hydrocarbon recovery site itself -- will tip the balance toward abundant unconventional fuels.

Here is an extra credit question for you: When human technology is capable of producing far more high quality unconventional hydrocarbons at prices that rival modern production of conventional hydrocarbons, what will become of Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the other kleptocratic oil dictatorships, and their politically mandated inflation of oil prices?

Making Up for the Incompetence and Corruption of National Oil Companies

Most of the world's oil reserves fall under the control of national oil companies. Most of these national oilcos are corrupt and incompetent, with failing and underinvested infrastructures, and a chronic lack of basic upkeep and maintenance. Given this basic condition -- plus the chronic ongoing devaluation of the US dollar -- it is no wonder that global oil markets are seeing a long-term edging up of oil prices in dollars.

The more competent multi-national oilcos have often been largely excluded from the world's largest and most promising oil fields. Consequently these oilcos are forced to drill relatively risky wells many thousands of feet below the sea, and anywhere else they are allowed access by corrupt governments and national oilcos.

But recently, multiple new ways of by-passing the restrictions and treacherous double-dealing of corrupt third world governments are presenting themselves to private oil concerns:

1. Tight oil & gas

...a new oil age is emerging....Tight oil, a catch-all for oil trapped in shale, carbonate or sand formations recoverable with the type of drilling methods that revolutionized the natural-gas side of the business, is reviving the oil sector on a scale that only a couple of years ago would have been unthinkable.

“It turns out there are a lot of big piles of oil in North America,” said Denver-based John Schopp, vice-president for the North Rockies and new ventures at Encana Corp., one of the companies in a hurry to turn it into new revenue.

Calgary-based Encana, a pure natural-gas producer that is feeling the pinch of low gas prices, hopes its new oil thrust will make it a more balanced gas/oil producer.

“With shale gas it took a few years to get it to work for everybody,” Mr. Schopp said. “With oil, obviously we are in an earlier inning than we are with gas, but the rate of change is quicker because of all the tricks that we have learned.”

The full potential of tight oil is not yet known. What is known is that the sector is repositioning itself to make the most of it, encouraged by the performance of fields such as the Bakken straddling North Dakota and Saskatchewan, one of the continent’s most significant sources of oil. If new plays such as the Niobrara in Colorado, the Eagle Ford in Texas, the Cardium in Alberta or the Viking in Saskatchewan have similar encores, and if the same pattern is repeated around the world, oil could be with us for a long time yet.

“We are finding oil in a lot of places that frankly, we knew it was there, we just didn’t know how to get it out,” said John Richels, president and CEO of Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy Corp. “Taking this new technology … and applying it to many of these areas is opening some new doors. In a world scene where we are producing 86 million barrels a day, it probably doesn’t have the same kind of impact as it did in the natural gas business, which was more of a North American market, but it certainly has some big potential in the right areas.” Devon, previously a natural gas focused company, directed 90% of its capital to oil and natural-gas liquids targets in 2011. _NatPost

The big multi-nationals are now trying to find ways to get in on this new technology -- and hoping to be able to transfer it to huge tight oil & gas finds in several other parts of the globe besides North America.

2. Gas to liquids (GTL)

Qatar has a head start in the coming global GTL bonanza, but it should not be long before nations with abundant tight gas supplies begin to utilise GTL technologies at all scales -- from the "shoebox" GTL microchannel approach of Oxford Catalysts, all the way up to the multi-billion dollar approach taken by Shell in Qatar and Malaysia.

3. Coal to liquids (CTL)

SRI's CTL approach is notable for its extremely low production of CO2 and very low use of water. The massive reserves of coal in North America would reasonably put that region in the best postion to take advantage of this huge potential source of liquid hydrocarbons.

4. Bitumens to liquids (oil sands and heavy oils)

Canada has a big head start in both surface mining of oil sands and in situ extraction of oil sands. But Venezuela's huge bitumen deposits will wait a long time for a more rational leadership of the nation's government, to replace the current clown regime.

5. Kerogens to liquids (PDF) (oil shales kerogen)

Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah possess significant deposits of kerogen rock. The most viable and economic approach to extraction at this point is by way of nuclear process heat in situ extraction. Several more years of development will be needed to make the appropriate on site small modular reactors available, and to perfect environmentally benign methods of extraction.

6. Methane hydrates This is the largest hydrocarbon resource in the planet's crust, and is also being constantly replenished from multiple sources -- both biogenic and abiogenic.

Considering that high quality liquid hydrocarbon can be obtained from CTL, GTL, oil sands, and (soon) oil shales at costs of around $30 to $40 a barrel, the production of such "synthetic fuels" would seem to be viable for as long as third world national oilcos remain corrupt and incompetent -- which is likely to be quite some time.

These technologies are either already here, or hot on your heels. The largest impediment to unconventional hydrocarbon production on a large scale, is governmental restriction, prohibition, regulation, and corruption -- political peak oil.

The question of EROEI in the production of unconventionals will eventually be made irrelevant by the abundant, high-value process heat from gas-cooled nuclear reactors -- particularly of the small modular type.

Without political corruption, duplicity, and incompetence, we would not be having this conversation. But since corruption, duplicity, and incompetence are such a commonplace ingredient of third world oil dictatorships such as Russia, Iran, Venezuela, etc etc, the creation of workarounds is just one of the costs of doing business.

Global Gas to Liquids Market Set to Skyrocket, CTL & Shales to Follow

According to Visiongain's The Gas to Liquids Market 2011-2021 report, the global gas to liquids market is set to reach about $6 billion in 2011. From there, it is set to skyrocket.

Visiongain's The Gas to Liquids Market 2011-2021 report details the prospects for this dynamic energy sector with detailed forecasts from 2011-2021. The report includes 141 tables, charts and graphs quantifying, analysing and forecasting the market in detail, and providing quantitative and qualitative information on the 7 regional markets and 13 leading national markets. In addition, the report offers profiles of 38 of the leading companies involved in the gas to liquids business. Furthermore, the analysis has been informed by extensive consultation with industry experts. Two full transcripts of interviews with leading companies are included from Syntroleum Corporation and Velocys Inc. The report will be valuable to those already involved in the gas to liquids market or to those wishing to enter this important market in the future.

To view sample pages please visit www.visiongain.com/Report/709/The-Gas-to-Liquids-Market-2...

For further information please contact sara.peerun@visiongainglobal.com
_openPR

The global coal to liquids market is likewise set to take off, in an attempt to partially compensate for the capricious nature of pricing and supply from OPEC and other oil dictator states such as Russia.

Converting coal to a liquid fuel (CTL) – a process referred to as coal liquefaction – allows coal to be utilized as an alternative to oil.

There are two different methods for converting coal into liquid fuels like direct liquefaction and indirect liquefaction. An array of products can be made via these processes – ultra-clean petroleum and diesel, as well as synthetic waxes, lubricants, chemical feedstock’s and alternative liquid fuels such as methanol and dimethyl ether (DME).CTL fuel is readily useable today in existing transportation markets and can be delivered through existing pipelines in countries like USA.

Higher volatility in crude oil prices would lead to more investments in this new coal to liquid (CTL) market. This report segments CTL market by technology and geography. The report covers the following: Executive Summary, production process, Key drivers, constraints and opportunities, technology trends and raw materials trends. Competitive information includes profiles of leading manufacturers, M & A’s trends and patent analysis.

Releated Report : Energy and Power Market
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/energy-power-supplies-market-research-4.html

Global Coal to Liquid (Ctl) By Technology, Applications, Geography Trends & Forecasts 2016
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/ctl-market-360.html _sbwire

The US is putting itself in a better transition to move from combustion energies to post-combustion energies such as nuclear energy, by taking advantage of the abundant unconventional fossil fuels in North America.

Rather than rely on an increasingly insecure source of oil and gas from the turmoil-ridden Middle East and remain subject to the high probability risks of an oil supply cutoff like 1979’s, the United States now has the opportunity to develop a national energy surplus. By staying the course of tightening automobile efficiency standards and encouraging environmentally sensitive development of the massive reserves of shale gas, shale oil, deepwater oil and kerogen oil shale, the United States has the opportunity to eliminate the vast majority of its energy imports and thereby prevent any future Middle East oil crisis from causing financial turmoil and further loss of American jobs. _NYT

Rich US and Canadian unconventional resources are drawing producers from around the world, including Australia, China, Brazil, and several other regions.

And it looks as if huge new deposits of shale energy are just waiting to be found.

For the US energy industry and the US economy to rebound from its current Obama doldrums, it will first need to expel all traces of the energy starvation regime from Washington DC and all positions of authority. At that point, vigorous efforts to remove all traces of the energy starvation agenda from all government offices must be made. Only then will both the US and Canada be in a better position to take advantage of these "second chance" energy resources.

Will Putin Panic, Punked by Shale Oil & Gas?

Vladimir Putin is a man on a mission, aiming to return Russia to its glory days as a superpower. Mr. Putin plans to achieve this goal using Russia's vast oil & gas reserves. During the buildup in energy prices prior to August 2008, Putin was riding high -- going so far as to invade and partially ethnically cleanse the neighboring nation of Georgia.

But something annoying is getting in the way of Mr. Putin's grand plans of becoming Russia's first superpower tsar. The energy chokehold which Putin held over most of Europe is beginning to slip away. Abundant unconventional energy resources are beginning to pop up where least expected -- taking advantage of high global energy prices. And the unconventionals are just getting started:

The cost of developing these unconventional resources, meanwhile, continues to drop. In the case of Israel, which has developed an unusually clean and efficient drilling technology, oil is expected to flow at a cost of US$35 to US$40 per barrel, or less than half today’s world oil price of US$90 a barrel.

The diversified democracies of the world — the U.S. and European countries among others — will profit big time from the world’s endowment of unconventional oil and gas, partly because many of them will become energy exporters instead of importers and mainly because low energy prices will spur their advanced economies. Not so for today’s undiversified, energy-export dependent countries.

Russia, a largely undeveloped country that relies on energy exports to meet half of its federal government budget, would be dealt a crippling blow. In 2009, with falling energy prices following the 2008 financial crisis, Russia’s GDP fell by 8% as its energy export earnings dropped by 60%. As oil prices recovered following the crisis, so did Russia, but in a new world energy order of sustained low prices, Russia’s predicament would be dire.

Because Russia depends on its energy exports to the EU to meet its needs for manufactured goods, for food and for the capital required to maintain its energy infrastructure, its standard of living would plummet, along with its aspirations for status as a global or even regional superpower. As one example, Russia will have lost its ability to cow Europe, as it has on previous occasions by threatening to withhold, or actually withholding, gas deliveries. According to a study funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the market share of Russian gas exports to Western Europe could be cut in half in the coming decades.

Iran’s government, perhaps the greatest threat to world peace today, would likewise be crippled, perhaps fatally. With millions of Iranians living on $2 or less per day, with high unemployment, high inflation and an economy even more energy dependent than Russia’s, the Iranian government could be unable to keep calls for its overthrow at bay, let alone continue in its role as the world’s premier financier of terrorism. Other mischief-making Middle Eastern governments, and Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela, too, would find their sails trimmed in a world of plentiful energy. _GWPF Lawrence Solomon

It would not be the first time that western environmental organisations, and other anti-energy activist groups, had their strings pulled by foreign interests. Various entities both foreign and domestic would like to bring energy starvation to the west, for reasons of profit, power, and influence.

Much of the propaganda and protest with regard to unconventional energies such as oil sands, shale oil & gas, oil shale kerogens, etc. is influenced by persons with less than pristine motives. But that is the way of the world. Idealistic and gullible individuals are often lured into acting as cats paws and cannon fodder for the sake of other interests with more ambitious plans in mind.

How far would Putin go, when faced with the possibility of a Russian economic collapse in the face of abundant foreign unconventional energy and fuels?

An Infinite Supply of Hydrocarbons: Coal and Kerogen Beyond the Stars

Relatively complex, carbon-containing molecules are found in comets and on nearby planets, thought to have been made elsewhere in our Solar System.

But a report in Nature suggests even larger molecules may be forged near young stars and flung outwards. _BBC

Wired.uk.co

Researchers at the University of Hong Kong observed stars at different evolutionary phases and found that they are able to produce complex organic compounds and eject them into space, filling the regions between stars. The compounds are so complex that their chemical structures resemble the makeup of coal and petroleum, the study's lead author Sun Kwok, of the University of Hong Kong, said.

..."Coal and kerogen are products of life and it took a long time for them to form," Kwok said. "How do stars make such complicated organics under seemingly unfavorable conditions and [do] it so rapidly?" _CBS

If scientists can detect the signatures of complex hydrocarbons within the clouds of interstellar dust, then it is clear that the quantities of such materials in the universe must be truly immense.

There is reason to believe that a significant amount of hydrocarbon was incorporated into the deep planetary structures of the Earth in the earliest stages of planetary formation. Theorists such as Thomas Gold, and Sergey and Alexey Marakushev have maintained that much of the oil & gas that is produced commercially, came from this pre-biotic hydrocarbon.

Other bodies in our solar system, such as Titan, possess oceans of hydrocarbon -- clearly not of biological origin. In fact, as we are discovering, complex hydrocarbons appear to be ubiquitous wherever one looks in the universe.

The Deep Carbon Observatory of the Carnegie Institution for Science is engaged in the study of the deep Earth carbon cycle, and hopes to learn more about the different forms of carbon which cycle through the deep planet and up into the crust.

The true story of the origin and extent of our world's hydrocarbons has not yet been written -- much less understood. It is far too early for humans to claim to know the limits of their planet's resources.

The Fossil Fuel Age Is Being Extended Another 60 Years

“The fossil fuel age will be extended for decades,” said Ivan Sandrea, president of the Energy Intelligence Group, a research publisher. “Unconventional oil and gas are at the beginning of a technological cycle that can last 60 years. They are really in their infancy.” _NYT

Unconventional energy resources are putting the lie to peak oil doomers and global scarcity enthusiasts. New technologies for drilling oil & gas deep offshore, high in the arctic, and horizontally into tight shale and rock, are creating another global oil & gas boom cycle that will last decades. Throw in all the oil sands, heavy oils, and oil shale kerogens, and you are talking about real energy resources.

Now add all the methane hydrates, all the coal, all the new biomass resources, and the potential of a nuclear renaissance in modular reactors, molten salt reactors, fast integral reactors, LENR, and small scale fusion -- and we are talking about a lot of very versatile energy.

Large numbers of leftists and greens have become addicted to a philosophy of global scarcity, doom, and collapse. The doomers of peak oil and the carbon hysterics of climate doom have taken over the media, the academy, and many of the world's governments and inter-governmental institutions. Hundreds of billions of dollars are squandered yearly on this philosophy of doom -- to the point that it threatens to become self-fulfilling. Pessimism becomes a habit, an addiction. The doomers, the greens, the dieoff.orgiasts have invested themselves so deeply in doom, that they are unable to pull themselves out of the quagmire. And so they are trying to pull all the rest of us in with them.

There are a number of solutions to this problem of contagious top-down indoctrination into doom philosophy. But if the Obama economic depression goes on for much longer, many people around the world will began to grow desperate and call for scapegoat sacrifices. Should that process begin, it will signal the beginning of a rush to societal suicide. At that point, you would need to be located within a zone of relative sanity and safety.

On the other hand, all of the powerfully placed doomers, energy starvationists, and dieoff.orgiasts may be pushed aside by a wave of prosperity so powerful that they cannot hold it back. That would mean that Barack Obama is no longer in the White House, and that the global economic powerhouse was being unleashed once again, freed from self-destructive, suicidal policies of the lefty-Luddites.

Alta and Blackstone Aim to Turn EROEI On Its Head

The conventional wisdom among peak oil doomers and religionists says that the EROEI -- energy returned on energy invested -- is too low to allow most unconventional substitutes for crude oil to become economical.

But Blackstone Group and Alta Resources are teaming up -- investing US$ 1 billion -- to prove that unconventionals can indeed substitute for crude oil and other conventional fuels.

Blackstone Group LP (BX), the world’s biggest private-equity firm, agreed to form a joint venture with natural-gas explorer Alta Resources LLC to invest $1 billion in North American gas fields.

The entity will be called Alta Energy Partners, the companies said today in a joint statement. The new company will focus on acquiring leases and drilling wells in so-called unconventional fields, or geologic formations previously regarded as too hard to penetrate. _Bloomberg

More:

Blackstone Group (BX.N) is investing in the lucrative area of shale, following rivals such as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR.N).

North American shale fields are drawing billions of dollars from companies that are eager to learn the techniques to tap into the difficult geological formations.

...Unconventional assets include shale rock fields that may hold vast quantities of oil and gas but are more expensive to tap than traditional energy reservoirs. _Reuters

Devoted believers in EROEI as a sort of "barrier wall" preventing the economic use of difficult fossil fuel resources, have been unable to wrap their minds around the concept of dynamic technology -- on many levels. At one time, the EROEI for conventional crude oils in Texas or Saudi Arabia were much too low for profitable production at any scale. At one time, the EROEI for coal in most coal mines of England was far too miniscule to allow Englishmen to substitute coal for wood as a common fuel. And so it goes.

EROEI is not a static ratio. It changes over time, as society's needs drive both technology and the broad range of economic and political considerations.

Alta and Blackstone are attempting to push EROEI to its limits in regard to various forms of unconventional fossil fuels. They are putting significant resources behind the attempt. By doing so, they are likely to push ahead of some significantly better financed -- but less bold -- multi-national oil giants.

Current artificially inflated oil prices will tend to drive investments into alternative fuels acroass the entire wide spectrum of possibilities. Until the speculative bubble of political peak oil pops, of course. Then the cyclic process begins again -- but on a somewhat higher cost level, reflecting the ongoing phenomenon of political peak oil (designed energy starvation) and the ongoing intentional debasing of fiat currencies by central banks.

North American Unconventional Hydrocarbons Coming on Strong

Growth in Unconventional Hydrocarbons
North America contains a huge portion of global hydrocarbons, when unconventionals are taken into account. As the price of oil creeps ever higher over time, engineers and technologists are developing cleaner and more economical ways to utilise unconventional hydrocarbons.

Heavy Oils via Ivanhoe Energy
Canada's economic growth is being driven largely by oil sands. As the importance of this resource is slowly sinking into the thick skulls of Canadian politicians, various Canadian governments are beginning to take a more realistic view of oil sands production.

Both Canada and the US possess huge coal resources. Many different approaches are being considered, in order to use the resource more cleanly and economically, including coal-to-liquids technologies and in situ gasification technologies.

Image from Earth; an introduction to physical geology, 6th Edition, Tarbuck & Lutgens Prentice-Hall, 1999.

North America's huge oil shale resource will also be exploited eventually, along with oil shales the world over. The global oil shale market is projected to approach US$ 12 billion by 2015.

Gas-to-liquids is another unconventional liquid fuel likely to be scaled up in areas with rich conventional and unconventional gas resources -- such as North America.

OPEC nations control a huge volume of both conventional and unconventional hydrocarbons around the world. But as non-OPEC nations discover how to utilise their unconventional hydrocarbons more efficiently and cleanly, the power of OPEC and the Asian oil dictatorships to hold the world hostage to energy shortages, will diminish.

Oil Shale Mining and Research Picking Up Steam

Estonia's largest oil shale mining company, Eesti Energia, reported the largest oil shale production figures in 18 years for 2010 - 17 million tons, up 3 million tons from the year before.

The bulk of the national power company Eesti Energia's mining subsidiary's production is used in the furnaces of the Narva power plants, which have significantly geared up electricity production due to a sharp decline in imports after the closure of Lithuania's Ignalina nuclear plant. _ERRNews

The short quote above illustrates several points. First, Estonia is using its own oil shale resources to generate electrical power -- by burning oil shale (kerogen) in furnaces to drive steam turbines -- similar to one of the ways that coal is used to generate electrical power. Second, the EU's misguided drive to shut down European nuclear plants will have the effect of increasing the use of fossil fuels use. Third, oil shale kerogens are located all over the world. Most countries are not burdened by an Obama-style energy starvation regime. They will use their fossil fuel resources if they must.

Oil shale is reported from nearly 40 countries, with the largest deposits being located in the United States, Russia and China. Middle Eastern and North African resources also are large in aggregate.

Active commercial shale oil production occurs in Estonia, Brazil and China, with total global production of shale oil about 20,000 barrels per day. Informal current and future production numbers (figure 1) indicate that shale oil is unlikely to be a significant part of global production for a decade or more.

China has set aggressive goals for production over the next two decades, and the figures for the United States could be conservative, depending on the political environment.

The United States, Jordan, Israel and Morocco are nonproducing areas likely to see future shale oil production.

The United States, with over half the estimated world resources of oil shale, remains a central focus. The current political environment encourages caution, and companies are still conducting research, development and demonstration (RD&D). _AAPG

In the US, companies can find it difficult to get permits for even the most rudimentary research into improved methods of oil shales in situ production or mining. As long as that is the case, energy producers will find it slow going to develop cleaner and more efficient methods of producing a more environmentally friendly shale oil product. In other words, should it become necessary to use this resource, we will use far more environmentally destructive processes -- thanks to the faux environmental regime of Obama - Salazar and its constraints on basic energy research.

Gigantic unconventional reserves lie virtually untapped across the planet. But the massive amounts of energy needed to get at them -- and hence, the greenhouse gases released -- is a thought that makes environmentalists bolt awake at night.

...The American Petroleum Institute right now is wracking its members' brains to figure out how to blast a substance called Kerogen from solid rock in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. If this modern-day alchemy proves commercially viable, the United States could begin exploiting crude oil reserves three times the size of Saudi Arabia's. Just never mind that turning Kerogen into fuel requires massive energy inputs -- code for greenhouse gases -- and up to 3.2 barrels of water for each barrel of shale oil.

That hasn't stopped the parched Middle Eastern country of Jordan from signing two major project agreements in the past three years. And recent reports indicate a third is coming soon. _Tyee

Yes, Jordan is another country besides Estonia that will not hesitate to use its oil shale kerogens in whatever way will help the country survive and prosper.

...Jordan, where Royal Dutch Shell is thinking so far out it has signed a contract with the authorities that has the potential, given contract renewals and so on, to last more than 100 years, according to Mr Shaw. The contract, signed in 2009, grants Shell exclusive oil shale exploration rights to a concession area, where it already is drilling for oil shale samples, analyzing them and developing a geological model of Jordan’s deep oil shale resources. Shell says, “There is still a lot to be learnt about the geology and nature of the Jordan oil shale resources” before a decision on a commercial project can be taken.

That is true, as it is about oil shale resources globally. Nonetheless, it already seems clear why the majors have never gotten caught up in the peak oil arguments. Given all the potential source rocks out there, and the industry’s record of technologial advancements, they are a long way from pronouncing the last drop of oil has been produced. _GWPF

A Series of articles on Oil Shale from Bit Tooth Energy

A set of papers covering various symposia on Colorado Oil Shale by the Colorado Energy Research Institute

Kerogens are simply precursors to petroleum which have not been sufficiently heat and pressure treated to make the conversion to crude oil and gas. But the use of nuclear reactor heat -- to finish the job -- for in situ oil shale extraction is likely to make a big difference in global hydrocarbon resources within the next 30 years. The coming wave of small modular reactors are likely to boost oil sands production in Canada, heavy oils in Venezuela, and oil shales in the US and elsewhere -- if the energy starvationists can ever be removed from positions of power and influence.

Massive Shale Gas Deposits Found Off Israel's Coast

A gigantic natural gas field that could yield millions of barrels of oil was recently discovered on the maritime border between Israel, Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, Cyprus, and Northern Cyprus. _FastCompany

FastCompany

While it is one of the world's richest natural gas reserves, the Levant Basin Province is located between countries with endless amounts of mutual hatred. It straddles the sea borders of Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

The largest section discovered so far, the Leviathan gas field, is believed to possibly contain, alongside natural gas, 4.2 billion barrels of oil. Leviathan straddles the Israeli-Lebanese maritime border. Israel is currently in a state of war with Lebanon and does not recognize the de-facto Hamas Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip.

... _FastCompany

More on the technical apsects of the discovery and planned exploration and production from Green Car Congress:

Texas-based Noble Energy, Inc. announced a significant natural gas discovery at the Leviathan exploration prospect offshore Israel. The results from the well confirm the pre-drill estimated resource range, with a gross mean for Leviathan of 16 trillion cubic feet (450 billion cubic meters). The Leviathan field is estimated to cover approximately 125 square miles (325 square kilometers) and, as a result of its size, will require two or more appraisal wells to further define total gas resources, according to Noble.

Leviathan-1, located in approximately 5,400 feet (1,645 meters) of water, is about 80 miles (130 kilometers) offshore of Haifa and 29 miles (47 kilometers) southwest of the Tamar discovery. Drilled in the Rachel license, the well encountered a minimum of 220 feet (67 meters) of net natural gas pay in several subsalt Miocene intervals. Apparent reservoir quality is very good, and the intervals discovered are geologically similar to those intersected at Tamar.

Drilling at Leviathan-1 will continue to a planned total depth of 23,600 feet (7,200 meters) to evaluate two additional intervals. Current well depth is 16,960 feet (5,170 meters). Results from the deeper tests, which have a low chance of success, are expected over the next couple of months.

Noble’s second contracted rig will arrive in the Eastern Mediterranean in early 2011 to spud a Leviathan appraisal well located 8 miles (13 kilometers) northeast of the discovery well. _GCC

The huge shale gas finds in North America -- with ever-growing reserves -- are only the beginning of the unconventional hydrocarbons revolution.

When oil prices are spuriously run up in the fashion of 2007-2008, and in the current run-up in price, the marketplace is likely to respond as soon as it can.

In the modern Obama regime atmosphere of energy starvation, and the carbon hysteric regimes of EU countries, the energy markets can be quite arthritic and slow to respond. Nevertheless, eventually things begin to move, where money can be made.

Canadian Oil Sands Going In Situ

For oil sands that are too deep for surface mining operations, some form of "in-situ" is needed to extract the oil. Most in-situ operations involve the injection of steam into the oil sands deep underground.

The steam warms the bitumen, making it more mobile, so that it can then be extracted through drilling.

Some sources say 20 per cent of this area will be mined versus 80 per cent being developed in situ. (The Alberta government disagrees, telling The Tyee the number is more like 2.5 per cent mining and 97.5 per cent in situ.) _TheTyee

... the number of in situ or thermal projects continued to multiply as foreign investors lined up to inject dollars. _CalgaryHerald

Cenovus Foster Creek
There are several approaches to mining oil sands. Not all oil sands projects are equally economical to construct. Some of the most economical approaches involve in situ extraction of bitumen from the sands.

Ten years ago, big mining projects were the only game in town - now there are choices not only between mining and in situ but sophisticated money is also seeking out the projects with the best reservoir quality.

What they are finding is that in situ technologies, through which 80 per cent of the oilsands will be accessed, are gaining an economic advantage.

Capital intensity, for example, at Imperial Oil's under-construction Kearl mine project is about $70,000 per flowing barrel - it'll cost about $8 billion for a project expected to produce 110,000 barrels of bitumen per day.

Suncor has said its oilsands mines will cost around $60,000 per barrel to build while its multiple Firebag thermal in situ projects will come in for between $30,000 and $35,000 per barrel.

"People like Cenovus are saying that, in some cases, they can add in situ capacity at about $20,000 per daily barrel," Dunbar said. _Calgary Herald

As technologies improve and become cleaner and more economical, expect Canadian oil sands production to grow exponentially. A giant new pipeline going all the way to the Gulf of Mexico should speed up the process, once completed and running.

Just as North American shale gas technology has revolutionised the energy industry, so will Canadian oil sands technology.

Other unconventional forms of hydrocarbons will also likely step in to provide liquid and gaseous fuels, as needed. There are trillions of barrels of oil equivalent in known unconventional reserves around the world, with variable accessibility. Many trillions more barrels are undoubtedly sitting around, unsuspected, waiting for better technologies of exploration and production.

Shale Gas Reserves Grow to Compensate for Obama Energy Starvation

Update 22Dec2010: I intended to link to the Geoffrey Styles article: Natural Gas and the Gulf Hiatus as a part of this article, but was distracted in the middle of writing and forgot to include the link. The information in the Styles article provides important information about the adverse impact of the Obama Gulf Moratorium on US production of both oil and gas.

GCCThe US Energy Information Agency (EIA) is reporting in its Annual Energy Outlook report that shale gas reserves are growing to compensate for losses of offshore gas brought about by Obama's de facto moratorium on new deepwater production in the Gulf.

The technically recoverable unproved shale gas resource is 827 trillion cubic feet (as of 1 January 2009) in the AEO2011 Reference case, 474 trillion cubic feet larger than in the AEO2010 Reference case, reflecting additional information that has become available with more drilling activity in new and existing shale plays. This larger resource leads to about double the shale gas production and more than 20% higher total lower-48 natural gas production in 2035, with lower natural gas prices, than was projected in the AEO2010 Reference case.

Our Reference case projection shows the growing importance of natural gas from domestic shale gas resources in meeting US energy demand and lowering natural gas prices. Energy efficiency improvements and the increased use of renewables are other key factors that moderate the projected growth in energy-related greenhouse gas emissions.
—EIA Administrator Richard Newell

_GCC

This news will be greeted with dismay from lefty-Luddites, faux environmentalists, peak energy doomers, and others who feel ill will toward the US and the US economy. Those who acknowledge and accept the vital role of energy for the well-being of a society, on the other hand, will welcome the growing resource.

The Obama administration has shut down significant US coal production, has shut down most new or planned offshore oil & gas production, is working on stopping the importation of Canadian oil sands, and has plans to limit shale oil & gas production -- or stop it entirely. New safer, cleaner, less expensive nuclear energy reactors are dead in the water under Obama's foot-dragging NRC. Mr. Obama always intended to institute a comprehensive plan of energy starvation over the US economy, but he had not counted on the recent explosion in unconventional energy resources.

The WikiLeaks scandal helped to reveal how deeply the Obama regime is tied up with the carbon hysteria movement -- and how far they are willing to go to force carbon hysteria on the entire world, if possible. But right under their noses, shale gas has come along and thrown their plans off schedule.

Salazar, Holdren, Obama, Boxer, and the other usual suspects have been caught flat-footed by these new energy supplies, and are working extremely hard behind-the-scenes to shut them down by any means or technicality possible. Watch them closely.

Dian Chu Predicts a New Oil Peak due to Shale Oil

Economic forecaster Dian Chu gives a presentation on the future of shale energy in the US.

Large deposits of gas and oil in US onshore shale formations are forming the foundation for a new fossil fuel energy rush inside the continental US.

Thanks to the Obama moratorium on new drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, oil producers and investors are looking toward fossil fuel deposits in shale formations from North Dakota to Texas to Pennsylvania.

Technological advances in exploration, recovery, production, and refinement of unconventional fossil fuels will only get better and more economical with time.

New timeline for Peak Oil? Sometime after the year 2100.

Of course by then, advanced fission and fusion will provide most of the world's electricity, and microbial producers will provide the bulk of the world's transportation fuels, high value chemicals, plastics, and animal feeds -- using everything from biomass to solid waste to liquid waste as feedstocks.

Getting to Oil Shales, Oil Sands, Heavy Oils, More

Extracting the energy from deposits of shale oil, oil sands, and heavy oil can be expensive. More than half of the oil in a conventional oil well is never recovered, due to expense. Various ingenious ways have been developed to get at that oil, but here is a new one that might get the biggest chunk of that energy out: seed the "exhausted" wells with micro-organisms that convert oil to natural gas.

The OU researchers found that they can use their organisms to convert hydrocarbons in oil reservoirs to natural gas. "Because two-thirds of U.S. oil is still in place, we can use these organisms to convert residual hydrocarbons into natural gas and create a new source of domestic energy. The concept of anaerobic metabolism is an innovative process and the OU initiative is the only one of its kind in the United States at the present time. We are also experimenting with shales and other unconventional reservoirs." _Bioenergy

Micro-organisms can also convert coal, oil shale, and oil sands to natural gas. That is extremely important for where the deposits are difficult to get to by conventional mining methods.

Natural gas can be converted to liquid fuels, to plastics, or to any other organic materials. Or the gas can be used to produce electricity, to drive transportation vehicles, or to cook your lunch.