Shell’s $30 per Barrel Oil Shale Process
January 3rd, 2008For years, I wanted to believe that Peak Oil could bring this horror show down. My problem, of course, was that I couldn’t ignore simple, observable realities and the fact that evil people have many plans up their sleeves.
Some of you view collapse due to Peak Oil as a given. I understand that desire. Unfortunately, it’s just not going to go that way. The people of the “developed world” are going to be handled in a manner similar to the way conventional Western medicine treats cancer patients. We’re going to be kept alive only to the extent that corporations can lift our wallets. And somehow, guess what: This system is going to limp on, creaking and grinding and murdering and polluting all the way into the grim dystopia of clean, green fascism.
Hell is going to be built right here. Shell has the patents. And their process works.
There’s no conspiracy in the world of Peak Oil. Corporations don’t do things in secret or hold back on technology in that reality.
We’re just running out of oil. Malthus. Scarcity. Etc.
It’s that simple for many Peaknics. (Mention enough absurdities surrounding the energy scarcity arguments and they’ll change the subject to topsoil. I agree, Peak Soil is a much more compelling issue than Peak Oil.)
In the real world, outside the blatherphere, it’s not that simple and after the energy corporations lift your wallet, they’re going to flip you upside down and shake loose any spare change that might have remained in your pockets. In addition to being closely monitored, tracked, traced and chipped, chances are, you’ll exist in a state of near financial ruin. You will, however, probably have enough money left over to pay an annual fart tax on your pets and children to whatever fascist nanny state you’re unfortunate enough to suffer under… Or else. The rumors of what really happens to people who don’t pay their fart taxes on time will be enough of an incentive to comply.
Note: The oily foilheads will jump up and down, screaming, “Natural gas. Natural gas. Shell uses natural gas in the process. And water. Die off! Overshoot!! DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!” They’re a twitchy lot, aren’t they? But the oily foilers can stick geothermal in their pipes and smoke it. And, while the Peaknic religion doesn’t allow it, they should check out Global Resource Corporation’s tuned microwave process that extracts oil and natural gas from any hydrocarbon source (stories: here and here). Yes, they have an insitu version as well. The psychopathic corporations even have nuclear power on the table for the tar sands! Sure, why not? And it takes lots of water. Rivers?! Who needs ’em? F-em. F-em twice. More oil.
The point is: If you think that energy scarcity is going to hinder the recovery of oil from the alternative deposits, you are flat out shitting yourself. It’s too big a prize.
Energy will be the last thing to take down this horror show. As for the much more serious top soil and water scarcity issues, that’s nothing a bit of kill off can’t solve.
Seriously, DO NOT TAKE MY WORD FOR IT. Read the Fortune article all the way through. Note the money and decades of research. Do you really think that the physicists doing this work just didn’t get the memo from the Peak Oil bloggers? Is Shell buying back its own shares because they think that things are going to get rough for them? No. Companies buy back their own shares when they know they’ve got something good. If your company had a way of getting oil out of a stone for some fraction of the current market price per barrel, you’d be buying back your own shares too.
My wishful thinking can only take me so far down the energy collapse fantasy. Unfortunately, this horror show grinds on, whether we want it to, or not. And those of us who survive the cull will all wish that Peak Oil could have done the job that we were afraid to do.
Via: CNN / Fortune:
The reason you probably haven’t heard about the Green River Formation is that most of the methods tried for turning oil shale into oil have been deeply flawed – economically, environmentally or usually both. Because there have been so many false starts, oil shale tends to get lumped with cold fusion, zero-point energy, and other “miracle” fuels perpetually just over the horizon.
“A lot of other companies have bent their spears trying to do what we’re now doing,” Vinegar says of his 28-year quest to turn oil shale into a commercial energy source. “We’re talking about the Holy Grail.”
Unlike the Grail, though, Shell is convinced that oil shale is no myth and that after years of secret research, it is close to achieving this oil-based alchemy. Shell is not alone in this assessment. “Harold has broken the code,” says oil shale expert Anton Dammer, director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves.
Vinegar has developed a cutting-edge technology that, according to Shell, will produce large quantities of high-quality oil without ravaging the local environment – and be profitable with prices around $30 a barrel. Now that oil is approaching $90, the odds on Shell’s speculative bet are beginning to look awfully good.
Shell declines to get too specific about how much oil it thinks it can pump at peak production levels, but one DOE study contends that the region can sustain two million barrels a day by 2020 and three million by 2040. Other government estimates have posited an upper range of five million. At that level, Western oil shale would rival the largest oilfields in the world.
Of course, considering the U.S. uses almost 21 million barrels a day and imports about ten million (and rising), even the most optimistic projections do not get the country to the nirvana of “energy independence.” What oil shale could do, though, is reduce the risk premium built into oil prices because energy traders could rest easy knowing that the flow of oil from Colorado or Utah won’t ever be cut off by Venezuelan dictators, Nigerian gunmen or strife in the Middle East. In a broader sense, U.S. energy security lies in diversity of supply, so enhancing domestic sources is appealing.
