WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- A U.S. Department of Energy project has demonstrated the viability of a new technology that might unlock the nation's largest potential source of oil.
Government scientists say the United States holds more than three-fourths of the world's estimated 2.6 trillion barrels of oil-in-place of oil shale, with 1.1 trillion barrels of oil equivalent believed recoverable in the richest single deposit -- the Green River formation of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming -- a volume nearly 50 percent greater than the conventional oil reserves of the entire Middle East.
Oil shale contains a substance called kerogen that is thought to be a precursor to petroleum. Kerogen cannot be extracted like oil that is pumped from a reservoir. The oil shale rock must be heated to a high temperature and the resulting liquid must be separated and collected.
The project involves a technology that can heat oil shale in situ, several thousand feet below the surface, separating kerogen without mining the oil shale rock.
By eliminating mining and large-scale processing aspects of oil shale development, such in situ technology could slash recovery costs by half or more while minimizing disturbance of the land, researchers said.
