[whataretheysaying] Mary Madigan: Israel Presses for Oil From Shale

[Email subscription to blog articles]

Posted by Mary Madigan:
Israel Presses for Oil From Shale
http://whataretheysaying.powerblogs.com/posts/1163267624.shtml


   Via [1]Business Week:

     With oil prices hovering around $70 a barrel, Israel is looking for
     ways to reduce its near-total dependence on energy imports. It's
     pondering the use of the nation's huge reserves of oil shaleâa
     dark, crumbly rock loaded with hydrocarbonsâlocated in the central
     and southern parts of the country. Thanks to a technical
     breakthrough, it should be possible to extract fuel oil from the
     shale for less than $20 a barrel. That could allow Israel
     eventually to cut its crude imports by up to one-third.

     Shale is already used as a fuel for power plants in Israel and
     Estonia, where the rock is burned like coal to drive steam
     turbines. Israel's small shale-fired power plant was built nearly
     20 years ago. But past attempts to extract liquid oil from shale
     weren't economically feasible: The process cost upwards of $50 per
     barrel at a time when oil was selling for less than half that.

     Now, the tables have turned. A Russian-born Israeli immigrant named
     Moshe Gvirtz developed a technique in the 1990s to squeeze oil from
     shale by mixing the rock with a residue from conventional oil
     refining and putting it through a catalytic process. The
     dramatically improved results, coupled with soaring crude prices,
     have inverted the economics of oil shale. That could help not just
     Israel but dozens of other countries, including the U.S., that are
     rich in shale reserves.

   [2]..more.

References

   1. http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2006/gb20060705_516609.htm
   2. http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2006/gb20060705_516609.htm