Shale Could Rock Oil Supply

Scientists hope that by perfecting technology that squeezes oil from a stone we can greatly increase the domestic U.S. oil supply.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory and Chevron are developing technology that can improve the yield of material from shale that can be turned into crude oil. The research will be undertaken in Piceance Basin in Colorado. According to Chevron "The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the United States holds 2 trillion barrels of oil shale resources, with about 1.5 trillion barrels of those resources located in the western United States, primarily in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah."

The companies want the process to be "environmentally responsible and commercially viable process." Of course that the only way petroleum companies operate, right?

According to the Associated Press, two other oil companies have gotten approval to likewise lease government land to dig for oil shale.

AP says:

Oil shale is said to be "rich" when it contains 30 gallons of petroleum for each ton of rock, but pound for pound that amounts to only 1/10th of the energy of liquid crude oil. Those tough economics have defied efforts at oil shale development for more than a century, most recently in 1982, when Exxon shut down its $5 billion Colony project in western Colorado and laid off 2,200 workers.

That means rolling over a lot of stones to recover the oil, but the perceived need for domestically supplied oil and higher crude oil prices could be enough for these projects to go ahead.