ROCK SPRINGS – As many of the older residents of Rock Springs know, oil shale has its ups and downs. The bust in the early 1980s not only cost jobs, but cost the entire community of Rock Springs and Sweetwater County. Although controversial, industry is looking for better ways to develop oil shale.
Glenn Vawter with National Oil Shale Association presented information on the current Oil Shale Industry on November 7th at the Outlaw Inn in Rock Springs. The event was sponsored by the Enterprise Committee of the Rock Springs Chamber of Commerce.
A proponent of development and veteran of the oil shale industry since 1958, Vawter cleared up some myths and gave some positive news about the development of oil shale. The popular belief is it can only be recovered by fracking or horizontal drilling, but Vawter said it is also recovered by mining and heating the rock, turning it into a liquid.
The largest deposits of oil shale are found in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. It is estimated in these deposits there are approximately 4.3 trillion barrels but currently only about 350 to 1,100 billion barrels are recoverable.
According to Vawter, one big problem is that 70 percent of these deposits are controlled by the Bureau of Land Management.
“One question is why the BLM is not leasing,” Vawter said.
Wyoming has the largest acreage but, as any one here knows, the checkerboard land ownership can pose several unique problems. However, Wyoming carries about 500,000 barrels per acre.
While development in Wyoming is limited at this time, Vawter said there are a lot of projects in Utah which are moving forward. One project, south of Vernal is pulling 10,000 barrels a day.
“There are a lot of great ideas to crack the nut on oil shale development,” Vawter said.
While Estonia, China, Brazil and Australia are all producing oil shale commercially, United States production has been hampered by several issues. Vawter said recently Shell Oil dropped out of oil shale in Colorado. He added the bust in 1982 is still very fresh and carries a lot of baggage with it. Finally, the government has played a role.
After President George W. Bush left office and leadership changed, BLM leases were shut off. In 2005, congress passed the Energy Policy Act which re-opened some of the BLM leases. In 2007, four companies were awarded oil Shale Research, Development and Demonstration leases. A second round of R,D&D leases were offered in 2009 and two more awarded in 2012. The BLM also promulgated regulations for commercial oil shale leasing and completed a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for oil shale and tar sands in 2008. However, in 2012 the earlier PEIS was discarded by the BLM and a new version was issued that dramatically reduced the acreage available for application for leasing.
“Oil shale is treated so much different that any other mineral,” Vawter said.
Vawter also spoke about several misconceptions of oil shale and the recovery of the mineral. One myth is oil shale processes use more energy. Vawter said early tests figures showed oil shale produces three units of energy to every one unit spent. Recently studies increased that to a 6 to 1 ratio.
Vawter said another misconception is that shale is a dirty, inferior hydrocarbon fuel. He claimed the deposits in the western United States are the most concentrated hydrocarbon resource in the world. One ton of oil shale will produce 25 gallons or more of shale oil that can be upgraded and refined into excellent gasoline, jet fuel, clean diesel and other petroleum products. The energy content in a ton of oil shale is 2.3 times greater than the oil contained in a ton of sandstone rock from a conventional oil reservoir like the oil fields in Alaska.
Vawter said there are many other myths like the dangers, bad for fish and wildlife and water issues but said all are just that, myths. He urged people to learn more about the positive side of oil shale by visiting www.oilshaleassoc.org.
