Newly Discovered Oil Reserves Would Make US Leading World Oil Producer

[Nitro Express]

Having an oil field somewhere is one thing but you still have to get to it and refine it. The world's cheap oil is still the Persian Gulf. You pump it and pipe it to a dock. It gets no cheaper.

Alberta has a lot of oil but it's trapped in sand. They actually strip mine it and then the oil has to be sepparated. It's an expensive process that requires a good price for oil to make it profitable.

[Romeo Delight]

Originally posted by FORD
No it isn't. Alberta has a huge reserve of oil. Problem is that it's all in sand, so it's harder to extract than the normal means of just pumping it out of a hole in the ground.

It requires alot of water

[Ally_Kat]

I had my doubts, but I was wrong

05/28/2006
U.S. Senators to visit oil shale operations as energy prices rise
Associated Press


WASHINGTON -- As sky-high energy prices continue to worry lawmakers in Congress, senators are taking a field trip to see oil shale operations in the West that they hope will one day provide a rich domestic source of oil.


Sen. Pete Domenici, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and others next week will tour sites in Colorado and Utah where some energy companies think there is a good chance they can tap the petroleum locked in vast rock deposits beneath federal land.


The senators also are expected to hear from industry and residents. Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Ken Salazar, D-Colo., also have said they will attend.


Their interest comes at a time when lawmakers are eager to show they are taking action to stem soaring gas prices and reduce the country's reliance on foreign energy.


"One sure way to drive oil prices down is to increase the supply of oil, especially here at home," said Hatch, a longtime champion of oil shale development. "We have more recoverable oil in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado than there is in the Middle East, and this field hearing will help us learn how to tap into this resource as quickly and responsibly as possible."


Shale yields oil when heated. Parts of northern Colorado and Utah and a corner of Wyoming contain an estimated 500 billion to 1.1 trillion recoverable barrels, a reserve at least three times that of Saudi Arabia.


Industry and government have long considered getting oil from shale too expensive to be economically feasible. But with conventional oil hovering around $70 a barrel -- and unlikely to drop far any time soon -- there is new excitement about the prospect.


The energy policy approved by Congress and the president last year dramatically reversed the nation's approach to shale development, opening the door within a few years to companies that want to tap deposits on public lands.


The Bureau of Land Management expects to issue leases by late summer to a handful of companies that want to try research and development projects. BLM officials are analyzing the environmental impacts now.


Domenici wants to see the area and better understand the technology used to get oil from the rock, said his spokeswoman Marnie Funk. Details are still being worked out, but the trip is expected to begin May 31 in Colorado. The group will visit sites near Vernal, Utah, on June 1.


As senators are growing more excited about the potential, residents are concerned about the effect oil shale development could have on their communities.


Many remember the last time industry and government tried to take advantage of oil shale deposits.


High oil prices in the 1970s led Congress under President Carter to create the Synthetic Fuels Corp., to find new, domestic sources of crude. Entire towns in Colorado were created and all but abandoned after oil prices bottomed out in the 1980s.


Garfield County, Colo., Commissioner Tresi Houpt worries the government is pushing development too fast. She said residents want government to encourage industry to carefully develop its methods before issuing commercial leases.


"The people who were here remember the loss of not only numerous jobs related to the industry but also all of the jobs that were started to serve the people who were working in the industry," said Houpt, who grew up in Denver. "It really plunged the area into a deep depression that took some time to climb out of."


Houpt and others also are concerned about how oil shale development will affect the environment.


Salazar spokesman Cody Wertz said Salazar shares residents' fears and is especially interested in ensuring the government does everything it can to avoid a repeat of the boom and bust of the 1970s.


"There's a lot of potential, and the potential is great," Wertz said. "But hearing from local people and making sure their concerns are heard (by government) is one of Senator Salazar's major interests