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112-490: The Superior multimineral process (also known as the McDowell–Wellman process or circular grate process ) is an above ground shale oil extraction technology designed for production of shale oil , a type of synthetic crude oil. The process heats oil shale in a sealed horizontal segmented vessel ( retort ) causing its decomposition into shale oil, oil shale gas and spent residue . The particularities of this process

224-412: A drilling rig , which contains all necessary equipment to circulate the drilling fluid, hoist and rotate the pipe, remove cuttings from the drilling fluid, and generate on-site power for these operations. After drilling and casing the well, it must be 'completed'. Completion is the process in which the well is prepared to produce oil or gas. In a cased-hole completion, small perforations are made in

336-480: A "sweep" effect to push hydrocarbons out of the reservoir. Such methods require the use of injection wells (often chosen from old production wells in a carefully determined pattern), and are used when facing problems with reservoir pressure depletion or high oil viscosity, sometimes being employed early in a field's life. In certain cases – depending on the reservoir's geomechanics – reservoir engineers may determine that ultimate recoverable oil may be increased by applying

448-512: A bed of shale moves from top to bottom by gravity. Horizontal retorts are usually horizontal rotating drums or screws where shale moves from one end to the other. As a general rule, vertical retorts process lumps using a gas heat carrier, while horizontal retorts process fines using solid heat carrier. By complexity of technology : In situ technologies are usually classified either as true in situ processes or modified in situ processes. True in situ processes do not involve mining or crushing

560-414: A conventional oil refinery . Particulates in the raw oil clog downstream processes; sulfur and nitrogen create air pollution . Sulfur and nitrogen, along with the arsenic and iron that may be present, also destroy the catalysts used in refining. Olefins form insoluble sediments and cause instability. The oxygen within the oil, present at higher levels than in crude oil , lends itself to

672-439: A diameter of less than 10 millimeters (0.4 in); some technologies use particles even smaller than 2.5 millimeters (0.10 in). The recycled particles are heated in a separate chamber or vessel to about 800 °C (1,470 °F) and then mixed with the raw oil shale to cause the shale to decompose at about 500 °C (932 °F). Oil vapour and shale oil gas are separated from the solids and cooled to condense and collect

784-401: A disposal problem at wells that are developed to produce oil. If there are no pipelines for natural gas near the wellhead it may be of no value to the oil well owner since it cannot reach the consumer markets. Such unwanted gas may then be burned off at the well site in a practice known as production flaring , but due to the energy resource waste and environmental damage concerns this practice

896-442: A given area of land than conventional ex situ processing technologies, as the wells can reach greater depths than surface mines. They present an opportunity to recover shale oil from low-grade deposits that traditional mining techniques could not extract. John Fell experimented with in situ extraction, at Newnes , In Australia, during 1921, with some success, but his ambitions were well ahead of technologies available at

1008-503: A gradual increase in output after the start of commercial production, the analysis projects a gradual reduction in processing costs to $ 30–40 per barrel ($ 190–250/m ) after achieving the milestone of 1 billion barrels (160 × 10 ^  m ). The United States Department of Energy estimates that the ex-situ processing would be economic at sustained average world oil prices above $ 54 per barrel and in-situ processing would be economic at prices above $ 35 per barrel. These estimates assume

1120-422: A high pressure, high-temperature well of duration 100 days can cost about US$ 30 million. Onshore wells can be considerably cheaper, particularly if the field is at a shallow depth, where costs range from less than $ 4.9 million to $ 8.3 million, and the average completion costing $ 2.9 million to $ 5.6 million per well. Completion makes up a larger portion of onshore well costs than offshore wells, which generally have

1232-506: A high-temperature stack of fuel cells . The cells, placed in the oil shale formation, are fueled by natural gas during a warm-up period and afterward by oil shale gas generated by its own waste heat . Externally generated hot gas in situ technologies use hot gases heated above-ground and then injected into the oil shale formation. The Chevron CRUSH process, which was researched by Chevron Corporation in partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory , injects heated carbon dioxide into

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1344-465: A horizontal segmented doughnut-shaped traveling-grate retort in the direct or indirect heating mode. The retort was originally designed by Davy McKee Corporation for iron ore pelletizing and it also known as the Dravo retort . In the direct retort, oil shale moves past ducts through which are provided hot inert gas for heating the raw oil shale, air for combustion of carbon residue (char or semi-coke) in

1456-602: A lack of locally available crude oil. National energy security issues have also played a role in its development. Critics of shale oil extraction pose questions about environmental management issues, such as waste disposal, extensive water use, waste water management, and air pollution. In the 10th century, the Assyrian physician Masawaih al-Mardini (Mesue the Younger) wrote of his experiments in extracting oil from "some kind of bituminous shale". The first shale oil extraction patent

1568-473: A large number of neglected or poorly maintained wellheads is a large environmental issue: they may leak methane or other toxic substances into local air, water and soil systems. This pollution often becomes worse when wells are abandoned or orphaned – i.e., where wells no longer economically viable are no longer maintained by their (former) owners. A 2020 estimate by Reuters suggested that there were at least 29 million abandoned wells internationally, creating

1680-426: A lower-temperature heating method similar to in situ processes by operating within the confines of an earthen structure. A hot gas circulated through parallel pipes heats the oil shale rubble. An installation within the empty space created by mining would permit rapid reclamation of the topography. A general drawback of conduction through a wall technologies is that the retorts are more costly when scaled-up due to

1792-516: A marked avoidance of areas near oil wells and seismic lines due to disturbances. Drilling often destroys wildlife habitat, causing wildlife stress, and breaks up large areas into smaller isolated ones, changing the environment, and forcing animals to migrate elsewhere. It can also bring in new species that compete with or prey on existing animals. Even though the actual area taken up by oil and gas equipment might be small, negative effects can spread. Animals like mule deer and elk try to stay away from

1904-463: A mild carcinogenic potential which is comparable to some intermediate refinery products, while upgraded shale oil has lower carcinogenic potential as most of the polycyclic aromatics are believed to broken down by hydrogenation. Although raw shale oil can be immediately burnt as a fuel oil, many of its applications require that it be upgraded. The differing properties of the raw oils call for correspondingly various pre-treatments before it can be sent to

2016-424: A mud motor while drilling to achieve a depth of over 12,000 metres (12 km; 39,000 ft; 7.5 mi). Until the 1970s, most oil wells were essentially vertical, although lithological variations cause most wells to deviate at least slightly from true vertical (see deviation survey ). However, modern directional drilling technologies allow for highly deviated wells that can, given sufficient depth and with

2128-450: A raw form known as associated petroleum gas , is almost always a by-product of producing oil. The short, light-gas carbon chains come out of solution when undergoing pressure reduction from the reservoir to the surface, similar to uncapping a bottle of soda where the carbon dioxide effervesces . If it escapes into the atmosphere intentionally it is known as vented gas , or if unintentionally as fugitive gas . Unwanted natural gas can be

2240-618: A return rate of 15%. Royal Dutch Shell announced in 2006 that its Shell ICP technology would realize a profit when crude oil prices are higher than $ 30 per barrel ($ 190/m ), while some technologies at full-scale production assert profitability at oil prices even lower than $ 20 per barrel ($ 130/m ). To increase the efficiency of oil shale retorting and by this the viability of the shale oil production, researchers have proposed and tested several co-pyrolysis processes, in which other materials such as biomass , peat , waste bitumen , or rubber and plastic wastes are retorted along with

2352-463: A shallow land well to millions of dollars for an offshore one. Thus the burden may fall on government agencies or surface landowners when a business entity can no longer be held responsible. Orphan wells are a potent contributor of greenhouse gas emissions , such as methane emissions , contributing to climate change . Much of this leakage can be attributed to failure to have them plugged properly or leaking plugs. A 2020 estimate of abandoned wells in

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2464-523: A shallower reservoir. Such remedial work can be performed using workover rigs – also known as pulling units , completion rigs or "service rigs" – to pull and replace tubing, or by the use of well intervention techniques utilizing coiled tubing . Depending on the type of lift system and wellhead a rod rig or flushby can be used to change a pump without pulling the tubing. Enhanced recovery methods such as water flooding, steam flooding, or CO 2 flooding may be used to increase reservoir pressure and provide

2576-539: A significant source of greenhouse gas emissions worsening climate change. The earliest known oil wells were drilled in China in 347 CE. These wells had depths of up to about 240 metres (790 ft) and were drilled using bits attached to bamboo poles. The oil was burned to evaporate brine producing salt . By the 10th century, extensive bamboo pipelines connected oil wells with salt springs. The ancient records of China and Japan are said to contain many allusions to

2688-603: A waterflooding strategy early in the field's development rather than later. Such enhanced recovery techniques are often called Secondary or " tertiary recovery ". Orphan , orphaned, or abandoned wells are oil or gas wells that have been abandoned by fossil fuel extraction industries . These wells may have been deactivated because had become uneconomic, failure to transfer ownerships (especially at bankruptcy of companies ), or neglect, and thus no longer have legal owners responsible for their care. Decommissioning wells effectively can be expensive, costing several thousands of dollars for

2800-399: A well depends mainly on the daily rate of the drilling rig, the extra services required to drill the well, the duration of the well program (including downtime and weather time), and the remoteness of the location (logistic supply costs). The daily rates of offshore drilling rigs vary by their depth capability, and the market availability. Rig rates reported by industry web service show that

2912-510: Is a by-product of coal mining such as at Fushun China, produce specialty chemicals as by Viru Keemia Grupp in Estonia, co-generate electricity from the waste heat and process high grade oil shale that yields more oil per shale processed. Oil well An oil well is a drillhole boring in Earth that is designed to bring petroleum oil hydrocarbons to the surface. Usually some natural gas

3024-540: Is a recovery of saline minerals from the oil shale, and a doughnut-shape of the retort. The process is suitable for processing of mineral-rich oil shales, such as in the Piceance Basin . It has a relatively high reliability and high oil yield. The technology was developed by the American oil company Superior Oil . The multimineral process was developed by Superior Oil Company , now part of ExxonMobil , for processing of

3136-410: Is becoming less common. Often, unwanted (or 'stranded' gas without a market) gas is returned back into the reservoir with an 'injection' well for storage or for re-pressurizing the producing formation. Another solution is to convert the natural gas to a liquid fuel. Gas to liquid (GTL) is a developing technology that converts stranded natural gas into synthetic gasoline, diesel or jet fuel through

3248-485: Is diluted by combustion gases and particles smaller than 10 millimeters (0.4 in) can not be processed. Uneven distribution of gas across the retort can result in blockages when hot spots cause particles to fuse or disintegrate. Hot recycled solids technologies deliver heat to the oil shale by recycling hot solid particles—typically oil shale ash. These technologies usually employ rotating kiln or fluidized bed retorts, fed by fine oil shale particles generally having

3360-427: Is done above or below ground, and classifies the technologies broadly as ex situ (displaced) or in situ (in place). In ex situ processing, also known as above-ground retorting , the oil shale is mined either underground or at the surface and then transported to a processing facility. In contrast, in situ processing converts the kerogen while it is still in the form of an oil shale deposit, following which it

3472-548: Is far more costly than a comparable onshore well. These wells dot the Southern and Central Great Plains, Southwestern United States, and are the most common wells in the Middle East. Another way to classify oil wells is by their purpose in contributing to the development of a resource. They can be characterized as: At a producing well site, active wells may be further categorized as: Lahee classification [1] The cost to drill

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3584-445: Is not diluted with combustion exhaust gas. Another advantage is that there is no limit on the smallest particles that the retort can process, thus allowing all the crushed feed to be used. One disadvantage is that more water is used to handle the resulting finer shale ash. These technologies transfer heat to the oil shale by conducting it through the retort wall. The shale feed usually consists of fine particles. Their advantage lies in

3696-408: Is passed, and vertical wells, which provide both vertical heat transfer through refluxing of converted shale oil and a means to collect the produced hydrocarbons. Heat is supplied by combustion of natural gas or propane in the initial phase and by oil shale gas at a later stage. The Geothermic Fuels Cells Process (IEP GFC) proposed by Independent Energy Partners extracts shale oil by exploiting

3808-428: Is processing without using water. In situ technologies heat oil shale underground by injecting hot fluids into the rock formation, or by using linear or planar heating sources followed by thermal conduction and convection to distribute heat through the target area. Shale oil is then recovered through vertical wells drilled into the formation. These technologies are potentially able to extract more shale oil from

3920-504: Is released as associated petroleum gas along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce only gas may be termed a gas well . Wells are created by drilling down into an oil or gas reserve and if necessary equipped with extraction devices such as pumpjacks . Creating the wells can be an expensive process, costing at least hundreds of thousands of dollars, and costing much more when in difficult-to-access locations, e.g., offshore . The process of modern drilling for wells first started in

4032-423: Is then extracted via oil wells , where it rises in the same way as conventional crude oil. Unlike ex situ processing, it does not involve mining or spent oil shale disposal aboveground as spent oil shale stays underground. By heating method : The method of transferring heat from combustion products to the oil shale may be classified as direct or indirect. While methods that allow combustion products to contact

4144-477: Is tightly bound to the shale and resists dissolution by most solvents . Despite this constraint, extraction using especially reactive fluids has been tested, including those in a supercritical state. Reactive fluid technologies are suitable for processing oil shales with a low hydrogen content. In these technologies, hydrogen gas (H 2 ) or hydrogen donors (chemicals that donate hydrogen during chemical reactions) react with coke precursors (chemical structures in

4256-447: Is usually outfitted with a collection of valves called a Christmas tree or production tree. These valves regulate pressures, control flows, and allow access to the wellbore in case further completion work is needed. From the outlet valve of the production tree, the flow can be connected to a distribution network of pipelines and tanks to supply the product to refineries, natural gas compressor stations, or oil export terminals. As long as

4368-485: Is usually performed above ground ( ex situ processing) by mining the oil shale and then treating it in processing facilities . Other modern technologies perform the processing underground (on-site or in situ processing) by applying heat and extracting the oil via oil wells . The earliest description of the process dates to the 10th century. In 1684, England granted the first formal extraction process patent. Extraction industries and innovations became widespread during

4480-645: The Fischer–Tropsch process developed in World War II Germany. Like oil, such dense liquid fuels can be transported using conventional tankers for trucking to refineries or users. Proponents claim GTL fuels burn cleaner than comparable petroleum fuels. Most major international oil companies are in advanced development stages of GTL production, e.g. the 140,000 bbl/d (22,000 m /d) Pearl GTL plant in Qatar, scheduled to come online in 2011. In locations such as

4592-451: The Piceance Basin 's oil shale. The technology tests were carried out in pilot plants in Cleveland, Ohio . In the 1970s, Superior Oil planned a commercial-size demonstration plant in the northern Piceance Basin area with a capacity of 11,500 to 13,000 barrels (1,830 to 2,070 m) of shale oil per day; however, because of low crude oil price these plans were never implemented. The process

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4704-428: The hydraulic fractures created in the oil shale formation which then forms a heating element. Heating wells are placed in a parallel row with a second horizontal well intersecting them at their toe. This allows opposing electrical charges to be applied at either end. The Illinois Institute of Technology developed the concept of oil shale volumetric heating using radio waves (radio frequency processing) during

4816-424: The spent oil shale , and cold inert gas for cooling the spent oil shale. The oil pyrolysis takes place in the heating section. To minimize solubility of aluminium compounds in the oil shale, the heat control is a crucial factor. Necessary heat for pyrolysis is generated in the carbon recovery section by combustion of carbon residue (char or semi-coke) remained in the spent oil shale. While blowing inert gases through

4928-512: The 12th century. Some sources claim that from the 9th century, oil fields were exploited in the area around modern Baku , Azerbaijan , to produce naphtha for the petroleum industry . These places were described by Marco Polo in the 13th century, who described the output of those oil wells as hundreds of shiploads. When Marco Polo in 1264 visited Baku, on the shores of the Caspian Sea , he saw oil being collected from seeps. He wrote that "on

5040-690: The 19th century but was made more efficient with advances to oil drilling rigs and technology during the 20th century. Wells are frequently sold or exchanged between different oil and gas companies as an asset – in large part because during falls in the price of oil and gas, a well may be unproductive, but if prices rise, even low-production wells may be economically valuable. Moreover, new methods, such as hydraulic fracturing (a process of injecting gas or liquid to force more oil or natural gas production) have made some wells viable. However, peak oil and climate policy surrounding fossil fuels have made fewer of these wells and costly techniques viable. However,

5152-484: The 19th century. The industry shrank in the mid-20th century following the discovery of large reserves of conventional oil , but high petroleum prices at the beginning of the 21st century have led to renewed interest, accompanied by the development and testing of newer technologies. As of 2010, major long-standing extraction industries are operating in Estonia , Brazil , and China . Its economic viability usually requires

5264-629: The United States was that methane emissions released from abandoned wells produced greenhouse gas impacts equivalent to three weeks of US oil consumption each year. The scale of leaking abandoned wells is well understood in the US and Canada because of public data and regulation; however, a Reuters investigation in 2020 could not find good estimates for Russia, Saudi Arabia and China—the next biggest oil and gas producers. However, they estimate there are 29 million abandoned wells internationally. Natural gas, in

5376-527: The United States with a high natural gas demand, pipelines are usually favored to take the gas from the well site to the end consumer . Wells can be located: Offshore wells can further be subdivided into While the location of the well will be a large factor in the type of equipment used to drill it, there is actually little downhole difference in the well itself. An offshore well targets a reservoir that happens to be underneath an ocean. Due to logistics and specialized equipment needed, drilling an offshore well

5488-479: The United States. The first modified in situ oil shale experiment in the United States was conducted by Occidental Petroleum in 1972 at Logan Wash, Colorado. Newer technologies are being explored that use a variety of heat sources and heat delivery systems. Wall conduction in situ technologies use heating elements or heating pipes placed within the oil shale formation. The Shell in situ conversion process (Shell ICP) uses electrical heating elements for heating

5600-516: The added cost burden of a surface platform. The total costs mentioned do not include the those associated with the risk of explosion and leakage of oil. Those costs include the cost of protecting against such disasters, the cost of the cleanup effort, and the hard-to-calculate cost of damage to the company's image. The impacts of oil exploration and drilling are often irreversible, particularly for wildlife. Research indicates that caribou in Alaska show

5712-524: The additional cost and complexity of hydrogen production and high-pressure retort vessels. Several experimental tests have been conducted for the oil-shale gasification by using plasma technologies. In these technologies, oil shale is bombarded by radicals ( ions ). The radicals crack kerogen molecules forming synthetic gas and oil. Air, hydrogen or nitrogen are used as plasma gas and processes may operate in an arc , plasma arc , or plasma electrolysis mode. The main benefit of these technologies

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5824-400: The borehole. Screens also control the migration of formation sands into production tubulars, which can lead to washouts and other problems, particularly from unconsolidated sand formations. After a flow path is made, acids and fracturing fluids may be pumped into the well to fracture , clean, or otherwise prepare and stimulate the reservoir rock to allow optimal production of hydrocarbons into

5936-437: The burning stage. During retorting, there is no relative movement of oil shale, which avoids dust creation, and therefore increase the quality of generated products. The oil recovery yields greater than 98% Fischer Assay . The technology has also a relatively high reliability. The sealed system of this process has environmental advantage as it prevents gas and mist leakage. Shale oil extraction Shale oil extraction

6048-404: The case of horizontal wells. These new systems allow casing to run into the lateral zone equipped with proper packer/frac-port placement for optimal hydrocarbon recovery. The production stage is the most important stage of a well's life: when the oil and gas are produced. By this time, the oil rigs and workover rigs used to drill and complete the well will have moved off the wellbore, and the top

6160-775: The casing from corrosive well fluids. In many wells, the natural pressure of the subsurface reservoir is high enough for the oil or gas to flow to the surface. However, this is not always the case, especially in depleted fields where the pressures have been lowered by other producing wells, or in low-permeability oil reservoirs. Installing a smaller diameter tubing may be enough to help the production, but artificial lift methods may also be needed. Common solutions include surface pump jacks , downhole hydraulic pumps or gas lift assistance. Many new systems in recent years have been introduced for well completion. Multiple packer systems with frac ports or port collars in an all-in-one system have cut completion costs and improved production, especially in

6272-582: The composition of the parent oil shale and the extraction technology used. Like conventional oil, shale oil is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons, and it is characterized using bulk properties of the oil. Shale oil usually contains large quantities of olefinic and aromatic hydrocarbons. Shale oil can also contain significant quantities of heteroatoms . A typical shale oil composition includes 0.5–1% of oxygen , 1.5–2% of nitrogen and 0.15–1% of sulfur , and some deposits contain more heteroatoms. Mineral particles and metals are often present as well. Generally,

6384-527: The confines toward Geirgine there is a fountain from which oil springs in great abundance, in as much as a hundred shiploads might be taken from it at one time." In 1846, Baku (settlement Bibi-Heybat ) the first ever well was drilled with percussion tools to a depth of 21 metres (69 ft) for oil exploration . In 1846–1848, the first modern oil wells were drilled on the Absheron Peninsula north-east of Baku, by Russian engineer Vasily Semyonov applying

6496-411: The decomposition of limestone and dolomite in the rock and thereby limits carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption. Hydrogenation and thermal dissolution (reactive fluid processes) extract the oil using hydrogen donors , solvents , or a combination of these. Thermal dissolution involves the application of solvents at elevated temperatures and pressures, increasing oil output by cracking

6608-458: The deepwater water floating drilling rigs are over twice the daily cost of the shallow water fleet, and rates for jack-up fleet can vary by factor of 3 depending upon capability. With deepwater drilling rig rates in 2015 of around $ 520,000/day, and similar additional spread costs, a deepwater well of a duration of 100 days can cost around US$ 100 million. With high-performance jackup rig rates in 2015 of around $ 177,000, and similar service costs,

6720-462: The dissolved organic matter. Different methods produce shale oil with different properties. Industry analysts have created several classifications of the technologies used to extract shale oil from oil shale. By process principles : Based on the treatment of raw oil shale by heat and solvents the methods are classified as pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. By location : A frequently used distinction considers whether processing

6832-437: The drilling location (extended reach drilling), allowing for the production of hydrocarbons located below locations that are difficult to place a drilling rig on, environmentally sensitive, or populated. The target (the endpoint of the well) will be matched with a surface location (the starting point of the well), and a trajectory between the two will be designed. There are many considerations to take into account when designing

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6944-558: The early 20th century. However, crude oil discoveries in Texas during the 1920s and in the Middle East in the mid 20th century brought most oil shale industries to a halt. In 1944, the US recommenced shale oil extraction as part of its Synthetic Liquid Fuels Program . These industries continued until oil prices fell sharply in the 1980s. The last oil shale retort in the US, operated by Unocal Corporation , closed in 1991. The US program

7056-596: The extraction process through the recovery of by-products, including ammonia , sulfur , aromatic compounds , pitch , asphalt , and waxes . Heating the oil shale to pyrolysis temperature and completing the endothermic kerogen decomposition reactions require a source of energy. Some technologies burn other fossil fuels such as natural gas, oil, or coal to generate this heat and experimental methods have used electricity, radio waves , microwaves , or reactive fluids for this purpose. Two strategies are used to reduce, and even eliminate, external heat energy requirements:

7168-524: The fact that retort vapors are not combined with combustion exhaust. The Combustion Resources process uses a hydrogen–fired rotating kiln, where hot gas is circulated through an outer annulus . The Oil-Tech staged electrically heated retort consists of individual inter-connected heating chambers, stacked atop each other. Its principal advantage lies in its modular design , which enhances its portability and adaptability. The Red Leaf Resources EcoShale In-Capsule Process combines surface mining with

7280-437: The formation of destructive free radicals . Hydrodesulfurization and hydrodenitrogenation can address these problems and result in a product comparable to benchmark crude oil . Phenols can be first be removed by water extraction. Upgrading shale oil into transport fuels requires adjusting hydrogen–carbon ratios by adding hydrogen ( hydrocracking ) or removing carbon ( coking ). Before World War II , most shale oil

7392-750: The formation via drilled wells and to heat the formation through a series of horizontal fractures through which the gas is circulated. General Synfuels International has proposed the Omnishale process involving injection of super-heated air into the oil shale formation. Mountain West Energy 's In Situ Vapor Extraction process uses similar principles of injection of high-temperature gas. ExxonMobil 's in situ technology ( ExxonMobil Electrofrac ) uses electrical heating with elements of both wall conduction and volumetric heating methods. It injects an electrically conductive material such as calcined petroleum coke into

7504-522: The ideas of Nikolay Voskoboynikov. Ignacy Łukasiewicz , a Polish pharmacist and petroleum industry pioneer drilled one of the world's first modern oil wells in 1854 in Polish village Bóbrka, Krosno County who in 1856 built one of the world's first oil refineries . In North America, the first commercial oil well entered operation in Oil Springs, Ontario in 1858, while the first offshore oil well

7616-478: The late 1970s. This technology was further developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory . Oil shale is heated by vertical electrode arrays . Deeper volumes could be processed at slower heating rates by installations spaced at tens of meters. The concept presumes a radio frequency at which the skin depth is many tens of meters, thereby overcoming the thermal diffusion times needed for conductive heating. Its drawbacks include intensive electrical demand and

7728-517: The late 19th century, plants were built in Australia, Brazil, Canada, and the United States. The 1894 invention of the Pumpherston retort , which was much less reliant on coal heat than its predecessors, marked the separation of the oil shale industry from the coal industry. China ( Manchuria ), Estonia, New Zealand , South Africa , Spain , Sweden , and Switzerland began extracting shale oil in

7840-471: The lighter hydrocarbons used in gasoline. The dominant question for shale oil production is under what conditions shale oil is economically viable. According to the United States Department of Energy , the capital costs of a 100,000 barrels per day (16,000 m /d) ex-situ processing complex are $ 3–10 billion. The various attempts to develop oil shale deposits have succeeded only when

7952-503: The noise and activity of drilling sites, sometimes moving miles away to find peace. This movement and avoidance can lead to less space for these animals affecting their numbers and health. The Sage-grouse is another example of an animal that tries to avoid areas with drilling, which can lead to fewer of them surviving and reproducing. Different studies show that drilling in their habitats negatively impacts sage-grouse populations. In Wyoming , sage grouse studied between 1984 and 2008 show

8064-439: The oil is less fluid than crude oil, becoming pourable at temperatures between 24 and 27 °C (75 and 81 °F), while conventional crude oil is pourable at temperatures between −60 and 30 °C (−76 and 86 °F); this property affects shale oil's ability to be transported in existing pipelines. Shale oil contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which are carcinogenic . It has been described that raw shale oil has

8176-461: The oil shale formation. The microwave heating process was tested by Global Resource Corporation . Electro-Petroleum proposes electrically enhanced oil recovery by the passage of direct current between cathodes in producing wells and anodes located either at the surface or at depth in other wells. The passage of the current through the oil shale formation results in resistive Joule heating . The properties of raw shale oil vary depending on

8288-412: The oil shale gas and char by-products generated by pyrolysis may be burned as a source of energy, and the heat contained in hot spent oil shale and oil shale ash may be used to pre-heat the raw oil shale. For ex situ processing, oil shale is crushed into smaller pieces, increasing surface area for better extraction. The temperature at which decomposition of oil shale occurs depends on the time-scale of

8400-477: The oil shale in a dryer before mixing with hot ash. The TOSCO II process uses ceramic balls instead of shale ash as the hot recycled solids. The distinguishing feature of the Alberta Taciuk Process (ATP) is that the entire process occurs in a single rotating multi–chamber horizontal vessel. Because the hot recycle solids are heated in a separate furnace, the oil shale gas from these technologies

8512-413: The oil shale layer to between 340 and 370 °C (650 and 700 °F) over a period of approximately four years. The processing area is isolated from surrounding groundwater by a freeze wall consisting of wells filled with a circulating super-chilled fluid. Disadvantages of this process are large electrical power consumption, extensive water use, and the risk of groundwater pollution . The process

8624-778: The oil shale that are prone to form char during retorting but have not yet done so). Reactive fluid technologies include the IGT Hytort (high-pressure H 2 ) process, donor solvent processes, and the Chattanooga fluidized bed reactor . In the IGT Hytort oil shale is processed in a high-pressure hydrogen environment. The Chattanooga process uses a fluidized bed reactor and an associated hydrogen-fired heater for oil shale thermal cracking and hydrogenation. Laboratory results indicate that these technologies can often obtain significantly higher oil yields than pyrolysis processes. Drawbacks are

8736-747: The oil shale within the retort are classified as direct , methods that burn materials external to the retort to heat another material that contacts the oil shale are described as indirect By heat carrier : Based on the material used to deliver heat energy to the oil shale, processing technologies have been classified into gas heat carrier, solid heat carrier, wall conduction, reactive fluid, and volumetric heating methods. Heat carrier methods can be sub-classified as direct or indirect. The following table shows extraction technologies classified by heating method, heat carrier and location ( in situ or ex situ ). By raw oil shale particle size : The various ex situ processing technologies may be differentiated by

8848-445: The oil shale. Some modified technologies propose combining a fluidized bed retort with a circulated fluidized bed furnace for burning the by-products of pyrolysis (char and oil shale gas) and thereby improving oil yield, increasing throughput, and decreasing retorting time. Other ways of improving the economics of shale oil extraction could be to increase the size of the operation to achieve economies of scale , use oil shale that

8960-552: The oil shale. Modified in situ processes involve drilling and fracturing the target oil shale deposit to create voids in the deposit. The voids enable a better flow of gases and fluids through the deposit, thereby increasing the volume and quality of the shale oil produced. Internal combustion technologies burn materials (typically char and oil shale gas) within a vertical shaft retort to supply heat for pyrolysis. Typically raw oil shale particles between 12 millimetres (0.5 in) and 75 millimetres (3.0 in) in size are fed into

9072-473: The oil. Heat recovered from the combustion gases and shale ash may be used to dry and preheat the raw oil shale before it is mixed with the hot recycle solids. In the Galoter and Enefit processes, the spent oil shale is burnt in a separate furnace and the resulting hot ash is separated from the combustion gas and mixed with oil shale particles in a rotating kiln. Combustion gases from the furnace are used to dry

9184-403: The portion of the casing across the production zone, to provide a path for the oil to flow from the surrounding rock into the production tubing. In open hole completion, often a 'sand screen' or 'gravel pack' is installed in the last-drilled but uncased reservoir section. These maintain structural integrity of the wellbore in the absence of casing, while still allowing flow from the reservoir into

9296-466: The possibility that groundwater or char would absorb undue amounts of the energy. Radio frequency processing in conjunction with critical fluids is being developed by Raytheon together with CF Technologies and tested by Schlumberger . Microwave heating technologies are based on the same principles as radio wave heating, although it is believed that radio wave heating is an improvement over microwave heating because its energy can penetrate farther into

9408-479: The potential heat of combusting the char on the spent shale and thus must burn more valuable fuels. However, due to the lack of combustion of the spent shale, the oil shale does not exceed 500 °C (932 °F) and significant carbonate mineral decomposition and subsequent CO 2 generation can be avoided for some oil shales. Also, these technologies tend to be the more stable and easier to control than internal combustion or hot solid recycle technologies. Kerogen

9520-439: The pressure in the reservoir remains high enough, the production tree is all that is required to produce the well. If the pressure depletes and it is considered economically viable, an artificial lift method mentioned in the completions section can be employed. Workovers are often necessary in older wells, which may need smaller diameter tubing, scale or paraffin removal, acid matrix jobs, or completion in new zones of interest in

9632-443: The process, sections of steel pipe ( casing ), slightly smaller in diameter than the borehole at that point, are placed in the hole. Cement slurry will be pumped down the inside to rise in the annulus between the borehole and the outside of the casing. The casing provides structural integrity to that portion of the newly drilled wellbore, in addition to isolating potentially dangerous high pressure zones from lower-pressure ones, and from

9744-610: The process. In ex situ retorting processes, it begins at 300 °C (570 °F) and proceeds more rapidly and completely at higher temperatures. The amount of oil produced is the highest when the temperature ranges between 480 and 520 °C (900 and 970 °F). The ratio of oil shale gas to shale oil generally increases along with retorting temperatures. For a modern in situ process, which might take several months of heating, decomposition may be conducted at temperatures as low as 250 °C (480 °F). Temperatures below 600 °C (1,110 °F) are preferable, as this prevents

9856-448: The proper tools, actually become horizontal. This is of great value as the reservoir rocks that contain hydrocarbons are usually horizontal or nearly horizontal; a horizontal wellbore placed in a production zone has more surface area in the production zone than a vertical well, resulting in a higher production rate. The use of deviated and horizontal drilling has also made it possible to reach reservoirs several kilometers or miles away from

9968-590: The resulting large amount of heat conducting walls made of high-temperature alloys. In general, externally generated hot gas technologies are similar to internal combustion technologies in that they also process oil shale lumps in vertical shaft kilns. Significantly, though, the heat in these technologies is delivered by gases heated outside the retort vessel, and therefore the retort vapors are not diluted with combustion exhaust. The Petrosix and Paraho Indirect employ this technology. In addition to not accepting fine particles as feed, these technologies do not utilize

10080-444: The results of a Fischer Assay performed on a sample of the shale. The oldest and the most common extraction method involves pyrolysis (also known as retorting or destructive distillation ). In this process, oil shale is heated in the absence of oxygen until its kerogen decomposes into condensable shale oil vapors and non-condensable combustible oil shale gas . Oil vapors and oil shale gas are then collected and cooled, causing

10192-512: The retort and a pump moves it upward. In the Superior Direct process, oil shale is processed in a horizontal, segmented, doughnut-shaped traveling-grate retort . Internal combustion technologies such as the Paraho Direct are thermally efficient , since combustion of char on the spent shale and heat recovered from the shale ash and evolved gases can provide all the heat requirements of

10304-451: The retort. In the lower part of the retort, air is injected for the combustion which heats the spent oil shale and gases to between 700 °C (1,292 °F) and 900 °C (1,650 °F). Cold recycled gas may enter the bottom of the retort to cool the shale ash. The Union A and Superior Direct processes depart from this pattern. In the Union A process, oil shale is fed through the bottom of

10416-406: The retort. These technologies can achieve 80–90% of Fischer assay yield. Two well-established shale oil industries use internal combustion technologies: Kiviter process facilities have been operated continuously in Estonia since the 1920s, and a number of Chinese companies operate Fushun process facilities. Common drawbacks of internal combustion technologies are that the combustible oil shale gas

10528-420: The same. Only four processes are in commercial use: Kiviter , Galoter , Fushun , and Petrosix . Shale oil extraction process decomposes oil shale and converts its kerogen into shale oil—a petroleum -like synthetic crude oil. The process is conducted by pyrolysis , hydrogenation , or thermal dissolution . The efficiencies of extraction processes are often evaluated by comparing their yields to

10640-435: The shale oil to condense . In addition, oil shale processing produces spent oil shale, which is a solid residue. Spent shale consists of inorganic compounds ( minerals ) and char —a carbonaceous residue formed from kerogen. Burning the char off the spent shale produces oil shale ash. Spent shale and shale ash can be used as ingredients in cement or brick manufacture. The composition of the oil shale may lend added value to

10752-527: The shale-oil production cost in a given region is lower than the price of petroleum or its other substitutes. According to a survey conducted by the RAND Corporation , the cost of producing shale oil at a hypothetical surface retorting complex in the United States (comprising a mine, retorting plant, upgrading plant , supporting utilities, and spent oil shale reclamation), would be in a range of $ 70–95 per barrel ($ 440–600/m ), adjusted to 2005 values. Assuming

10864-494: The size of the oil shale particles that are fed into the retorts. As a rule, gas heat carrier technologies process oil shale lumps varying in diameter from 10 to 100 millimeters (0.4 to 3.9 in), while solid heat carrier and wall conduction technologies process fines which are particles less than 10 millimeters (0.4 in) in diameter. By retort orientation : "Ex-situ" technologies are sometimes classified as vertical or horizontal. Vertical retorts are usually shaft kilns where

10976-515: The spent oil shale, the spent oil shale is cooled and gases are heated to cause pyrolysis. The indirect mode is similar; the difference is that combustion of carbonaceous residue takes place in separate vessel. The last section is for discharging of oil shale ash. Aluminium oxide and sodium carbonate are recovered from calcined dawsonite and calcined nahcolite in the oil shale ash. The traveling-grate retort allows close temperature control, and therefore better control of dawsonite's solubility during

11088-401: The surface. With these zones safely isolated and the formation protected by the casing, the well can be drilled deeper (into potentially higher-pressure or more-unstable formations) with a smaller bit, and then cased with a smaller size pipe. Modern wells generally have two to as many as five sets of subsequently smaller hole sizes, each cemented with casing. This process is all facilitated by

11200-450: The target. These properties may include lithology pore pressure , fracture gradient, wellbore stability, porosity and permeability . These assumptions are used by a well engineering team designing the casing and completion programs for the well. Also considered in the detailed planning are selection of the drill bits, Bottom hole assembly , and the drilling fluid Step-by-step procedures are written to provide guidelines for executing

11312-527: The time. During World War II a modified in situ extraction process was implemented without significant success in Germany. One of the earliest successful in situ processes was underground gasification by electrical energy ( Ljungström method)—a process exploited between 1940 and 1966 for shale oil extraction at Kvarntorp in Sweden. Prior to the 1980s, many variations of the in situ process were explored in

11424-419: The top of the retort and are heated by the rising hot gases, which pass through the descending oil shale, thereby causing decomposition of the kerogen at about 500 °C (932 °F) . Shale oil mist, evolved gases and cooled combustion gases are removed from the top of the retort then moved to separation equipment. Condensed shale oil is collected, while non-condensable gas is recycled and used to carry heat up

11536-406: The trajectory such as the clearance from any nearby wells (anti-collision) or future wellpaths. Before a well is drilled, a geologic target is identified by a geologist or geophysicist to meet the objectives of the well. When the well path is identified, a team of geoscientists and engineers will develop a set of presumed characteristics of the subsurface path that will be drilled through to reach

11648-726: The use of natural gas for lighting and heating. Petroleum was known as burning water in Japan in the 7th century. According to Kasem Ajram, petroleum was distilled by the Persian alchemist Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi (Rhazes) in the 9th century, producing chemicals such as kerosene in the alembic ( al-ambiq ), and which was mainly used for kerosene lamps . Arab and Persian chemists also distilled crude oil in order to produce flammable products for military purposes. Through Islamic Spain , distillation became available in Western Europe by

11760-410: The well in a safe and cost-efficient manner. With the interplay with many of the elements in a well's design, trajectories and designs often go through several iterations before the plan is finalized. The well is created by drilling a hole 12 cm to 1 meter (5 in to 40 in) in diameter into the earth with a drilling rig that rotates a drill string with a bit attached. At depths during

11872-481: The wellbore. Usually the area above the producing section of the well is packed off inside the casing, and connected to the surface via a smaller diameter pipe called tubing. This arrangement provides a redundant barrier to leaks of hydrocarbons as well as allowing damaged sections to be replaced. Also, the smaller cross-sectional area of the tubing gives reservoir fluids an increased velocity to minimize liquid fallback that would create additional back pressure, and shields

11984-634: Was developed to combine the shale oil production with production of sodium bicarbonate , sodium carbonate , and aluminum from nahcolite and dawsonite , occurring in oil shales of the Piceance Basin. In this process, the nahcolite is recovered from the raw oil shale by crushing it to lumps smaller than 8 inches (200 mm). As a result, most of the nahcolite in the oil shale becomes a fine powder what could screened out. Screened oil shale lumps are further crushed to particles smaller than 3 inches (76 mm). Oil shale particles are further processed in

12096-538: Was drilled in 1896 in the Summerland Oil Field on the California Coast. The earliest oil wells in modern times were drilled percussively, by repeatedly raising and dropping a bit on the bottom of a cable into the borehole. In the 20th century, cable tools were largely replaced with rotary drilling , which could drill boreholes to much greater depths and in less time. The record-depth Kola Borehole used

12208-561: Was granted by the English Crown in 1684 to three people who had "found a way to extract and make great quantities of pitch, tarr, and oyle out of a sort of stone". Modern industrial extraction of shale oil originated in France with the implementation of a process invented by Alexander Selligue in 1838, improved upon a decade later in Scotland using a process invented by James Young . During

12320-649: Was restarted in 2003, followed by a commercial leasing program in 2005 permitting the extraction of oil shale and oil sands on federal lands in accordance with the Energy Policy Act of 2005 . As of 2010 , shale oil extraction is in operation in Estonia, Brazil, and China. In 2008, their industries produced about 930,000  tonnes (17,700 barrels per day) of shale oil. Australia, the US, and Canada have tested shale oil extraction techniques via demonstration projects and are planning commercial implementation; Morocco and Jordan have announced their intent to do

12432-563: Was tested since the early 1980s at the Mahogany test site in the Piceance Basin . 270 cubic meters (1,700 bbl) of oil were extracted in 2004 at a 9-by-12-meter (30 by 40 ft) testing area. In the CCR Process proposed by American Shale Oil , superheated steam or another heat transfer medium is circulated through a series of pipes placed below the oil shale layer to be extracted. The system combines horizontal wells, through which steam

12544-517: Was upgraded for use as transport fuels. Afterwards, it was used as a raw material for chemical intermediates, pure chemicals and industrial resins, and as a railroad wood preservative . As of 2008, it is primarily used as a heating oil and marine fuel, and to a lesser extent in the production of various chemicals. Shale oil's concentration of high-boiling point compounds is suited for the production of middle distillates such as kerosene , jet fuel and diesel fuel . Additional cracking can create

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