History of the oil shale industry

Cite paper
last =Dyni | first =John R.
title =Geology and resources of some world oil-shale deposits. Scientific Investigations Report 2005–5294
publisher = U.S. Department of the Interior. U.S. Geological Survey
year = 2006
url = http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2005/5294/pdf/sir5294_508.pdf
format=PDF
accessdate =2007-07-09] Oil shale has been used since ancient times. In 1596, the personal physician of Duke Frederick of Württemburg noted that a mineral oil distilled from oil shale could be used in healing.Cite paper
last = Moody | first = Richard
title = Oil & Gas Shales, Definitions & Distribution In Time & Space. In The History of On-Shore Hydrocarbon Use in the UK
date = 2007-04-20
publicher = The Geological Society
url = http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/webdav/site/GSL/shared/pdfs/specialist%20and%20regional%20groups/hogg_weymouth.pdf
format = PDF
accessdate = 2007-07-28] In 1637, Swedish alum shale dating from the Cambrian and Ordovician eras was used for extracting potassium aluminium sulfate.cite book
title = Survey of energy resources
publisher = World Energy Council (WEC)
year = 2007
edition = 21
url = http://www.worldenergy.org/documents/ser2007_final_online_version_1.pdf
format = PDF
isbn = 0946121265
accessdate = 2007-11-13] In 1694, British Crown Patent No. 330 on oil shale extraction was granted. Shale oil was produced by extracting Shropshire oil shale.cite paper
publisher = European Academies Science Advisory Council
url = http://www.easac.org/displaypagedoc.asp?id=78
title = A study on the EU oil shale industry viewed in the light of the Estonian experience. A report by EASAC to the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy of the European Parliament
format = PDF
date = May 2007
accessdate = 2007-11-25] At the same time, oil produced by the distillation of oil shale was being used to light the streets of Modena, Italy.

tart of the modern industry

The modern industrial use of oil shale for oil extraction dates to the mid-19th century. Oil shale pyrolysis was developed in France, where in 1832, a method for producing lighting oil was realized. Oil shale commercial mining began in Autun in 1837.Cite paper
last =Laherrère | first =Jean
title =Review on oil shale data
publisher = Hubbert Peak
year = 2005
url=http://www.hubbertpeak.com/laherrere/OilShaleReview200509.pdf
format = PDF
accessdate =2007-06-17] In 1847 the Scottish chemist James Young prepared "lighting oil," lubricating oil and wax from torbanite. In 1850 he patented the process of cracking oil.cite paper
publisher= Colorado School of Mines Press
author=Dr. James H. Gary, Editor
url= http://ds.uhoc.utah.edu/dspace/bitstream/123456789/703/1/12th%20CSM%20Oil%20shale%20proceedings.pdf
title = Twelfth Oil Shale Symposium Proceedings
format=PDF
date=August 1979
accessdate=2007-06-02] Commercial oil extraction in Scotland started in 1857, and at about the same time Germany began exploiting its deposits. During the second half of the 19th century shale oil extraction industries were initiated in Sweden, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Canada and the United States as well, but after crude oil was discovered in Pennsylvania, the United States and Canadian oil shale industries found it difficult to compete. They were shut down by 1861. In Australia, the first oil shale development started in 1865 at Mount Kembla in New South Wales, followed by the opening of a number of other mines in the areas of the Great Dividing Range. These mines operated until the turn of the 20th century when the importation of cheaper crude oil forced closure of the industry.cite web
publisher= Queensland Energy Resources
url= http://www.qer.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61&Itemid=70
title = History of Shale Oil
accessdate=2008-08-25]

First half of the 20th century

The oil shale industry started growing just before World War I because of the mass production of automobiles and trucks and the supposed shortage of gasoline for transportation needs. The Office of Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves of the United States was established in 1912. The reserves were seen as a possible emergency source of fuel for the military, particularly the Navy.cite web
publisher= Shale Oil Information Center, Inc.
url= http://www.shaleoilinfo.org/about/history.php
title = About Oil Shale
accessdate=2007-07-28] In 1915 an oil shale industry was established in Switzerland, and operations began in Estonia during 1918.

At Kilve in Somerset, England are the remains of a red brick retort, built in 1924, following the discovery in 1916 that the shale found in the cliffs was rich in oil. The beach is part of the Blue Anchor to Lilstock Coast SSSI [cite web
url=http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1003759.pdf
title=Blue Anchor to Lilstock Coast
publisher=English Nature
accessdate=2008-05-29] Site of Special Scientific Interest. Along this coast the cliffs are layered with compressed strata of oil-bearing shale and blue, yellow and brown lias embedded with fossils. In 1924 Dr Forbes-Leslie founded the Shaline Company to exploit them. This retort house is thought to be the first structure erected here for the conversion of shale to oil but the company was unable to raise sufficient capital and this is now all that remains of the anticipated Somerset oil boom. [cite web
title=Oil retort house
work=Images of England
url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?id=265166
accessdate=2007-10-07]

Between the World Wars oil shale projects were begun in Spain, China, Russia and South Africa; they restarted in Brazil and, for a short time, in Canada.Cite paper
last = Yin | first = Liang
title = Current status of oil shale industry in Fushun, China
date = 2006-11-07
place = Amman, Jordan
url = http://www.sdnp.jo/International_Oil_Conference/rtos-A106.pdf
format = PDF
accessdate = 2007-06-29] In 1924, the Tallinn Power Plant was the first power plant in the world to employ oil shale as its primary fuel.Cite journal
last =Ots | first =Arvo
title =Estonian oil shale properties and utilization in power plants
journal = Energetika
publisher = Lithuanian Academy of Sciences Publishers
volume = 53
issue = 2
pages = 8–18
year =2007
date = 2007-02-12
url= http://images.katalogas.lt/maleidykla/Ener72/Ener_008_018.pdf
format = PDF
accessdate =2007-11-07]

1950s–1960s

After World War II, the oil shale industry was phased out in several countries because of high processing costs and the discovery of large supplies of easily-accessible crude oil. The low cost of conventional oil made shale oil production uneconomic. During the 1950s and 1960s, the industry was closed in France, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Scotland and South Africa, while in Germany only Rohrbach Zement (now part of Holcim) in Dotternhausen continued using oil shale for cement, power and thermal energy production. In Sweden the extraction of alum shale for uranium and vanadium continued until 1989. At the same time, oil shale production in Estonia, Russia, and China continued to grow. After World War II, Estonian-produced oil shale gas was used in Leningrad and in northern Estonia cities as a substitute for natural gas.Cite web
author = Ingo Valgma
title = Map of oil shale mining history in Estonia
publisher = Mining Institute of Tallinn Technical University
url = http://www.ene.ttu.ee/maeinstituut/mgis/mapofhistory.htm
accessdate = 2007-07-21] cite web
publisher= Viru Keemia Grupp
url= http://www.vkg.ee/?id=1947
title = History of the company
accessdate=2007-07-21] The worlds's two largest oil shale-fired power stations were opened in 1965 and in 1973. Estonian oil shale production peaked in 1980 at 31.35 million tonnes.

The United States Bureau of Mines opened a demonstration mine at Anvils Point, west of Rifle, Colorado, which operated at a small scale. In the early 1960s TOSCO (The Oil Shale Corporation) opened an underground mine and built an experimental plant near Parachute, Colorado. It was closed in 1972 because the price of production exceeded the cost of imported crude oil.cite paper
last = Andrews | first = Anthony
title = Oil Shale: History, Incentives, and Policy
publisher = Congressional Research Service
date = 2006-04-13
url = http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33359.pdf
format = PDF
accessdate = 2007-06-25] Cite journal
last = Chandler | first = Graham
title = US eyes Alberta as model for developing oil shale
journal =Alberta Oil
volume = 2
issue =4
pages = 16–18
year = 2006
url = http://grahamchandler.ca/USEyesOilShaleAsModelforDeveloping%20Shale.pdf
format = PDF
accessdate = 2007-06-24]

1970s–1980s

Due to the 1973 oil crisis, the oil shale industry restarted in several countries. In 1974 the United States Department of the Interior announced an oil shale leasing program in the oil shale regions of Colorado and Utah, and by the early 1980s almost all of the major oil companies had established oil shale pilot projects. The United States oil shale industry began to collapse when oil prices fell in the early 1980s.

On 2 May 1982, known as "Black Sunday", Exxon canceled its US$5 billion Colony Shale Oil Project near Parachute, Colorado because of low oil-prices and increased expenses, laying off more than 2,000 workers and leaving a trail of home-foreclosures and small-business bankruptcies.Cite journal
title = Oil shale—enormous potential but...?
publisher = Division of Minerals and Geology of Colorado Geological Survey
journal= RockTalk
date=April 2004
volume=7
issue=2
url = http://geosurvey.state.co.us/pubs/rocktalk/rtv7n2.pdf
format=PDF
accessdate = 2007-07-28] cite news
author = Collier, Robert
title = Coaxing oil from huge U.S. shale deposits
publisher = San Francisco Chronicle
date = 2006-09-04
url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/09/04/MNGIEKV0D41.DTL
accessdate = 2008-05-14] In 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 which among other things abolished the United States' Synthetic Liquid Fuels Program.cite paper
last = Andrews
first = Anthony
title = Oil Shale: History, Incentives, and Policy
publisher = Congressional Research Service
date = 2006-04-13
url = http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33359.pdf
format = PDF
accessdate = 2007-06-25]

Shale oil production decreased in Estonia during the 1990s as well, due to reduced demand from the power generation industry. Most Russian oil shale mines were closed in the 1990s and production continued only on a small scale.

Latest developments

The global oil shale industry started to grow slightly in the mid-1990s. In 1992 commercial shale oil production using Petrosix technology resumed in Brazil. Estonian oil shale production has continuously increased since 1995. In Australia, a demonstration-scale processing plant at the Stuart Deposit near Gladstone, Queensland produced over 1.5 million barrels of oil between 2000 and 2004. The facility is now on care-and-maintenance in an operable condition, and the operator of the plant—Queensland Energy Resources—is conducting research and design studies for the next phase of its oil shale operations.cite web
publisher= Geoscience Australia
url= http://www.australianminesatlas.gov.au/info/aimr/shale_oil.jsp
title = Shale oil. AIMR Report 2006
accessdate=2007-05-30] In the United States, an oil shale development program was initiated in 2003 in support of President George W. Bush’s National Energy Policy.cite web
publisher= Bureau of Land Management
url= http://www.blm.gov/nhp/news/releases/pages/2005/pr050920_oilshale.htm
title = Nominations for Oil Shale Research Leases Demonstrate Significant Interest in Advancing Energy Technology. Press release
date = 2005-09-20
accessdate=2007-07-10] The Energy Policy Act of 2005 introduced a commercial leasing program for oil shale and tar sands resources on public lands with an emphasis on the most geologically prospective lands within the states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.cite web
publisher= Oil Shale and Tar Sands Leasing Programmatic EIS Information Center
url= http://ostseis.anl.gov/eis/what/index.cfm
title = What's in the Oil Shale and Tar Sands Leasing Programmatic EIS
accessdate=2007-07-10]

ee also

* Oil shale extraction
* Oil shale reserves

References