Peak Oil

What about shale oil?

Recently we have seen claims of “huge” deposits of shale oil in Australia ('You're talking Saudi Arabia numbers. It's massive, it's just huge.').

We are told that Peak Oil is a myth because of discoveries of unconventional oil, and even some people who should know better, are believing the hype.

What is the reality? Part of the answer comes from this explanation from Mike Ruppert in Confronting Collapse.

Unless they've come up with some miraculous discovery to get around the laws of physics in the meantime, what was written some years ago still remains as true as when it was written.

--- Seemorerocks

“Here's the theoretical process to turn shale into oil:

“Production of oil from oil shale has been attempted at various times for nearly 100 years. So far, no venture has proved successful on a significantly large scale. One problem is there is no oil in oil shale. It is a material called kerogen. The shale has to be mined, transported, heated to about 4500C (8500F), and have hydrogen added to the product to make it flow. The shale pops like popcorn when heated so the resulting volume of shale after the kerogen is taken out is larger than when it was first mined. The waste disposal problem is large. Net energy recovery is low at best. It takes several barrels of water to produce one barrel of oil. The largest shale oil deposits in the world are in the Colorado Plateau, a markedly water-poor region. So far shale oil is, as the saying goes: “The fuel of the future and always will be”. Fleay (1995) states “Shale oil is like a mirage that retreats as it is approached. Shale oil will not replace oil”

Alternative Energy Sources” Walter Youngquist, Consulting Geologist, Eugene, Oregon, October, 2000, http://hubbertspeak.com/Youngquist/altenergy.htm....

....If it would take one ton of rocks to power one car for two weeks, how many tons of rock would it take to power 270 million cars for one year? Answer 7.02 trillion tons. Now add the hydrogen adn orobably the equivalent of all the fresh water flowing in the Colorado River every year and you migh thave something. Oops. We forgot about the infrastructure costs, didn't we?

We forgot about irrigating crop lands and drinking water. We forgot about the hydroelectric power generated at the Hoover Dam.

How much energy is used to heat shale to one third the temperature of the sun?"

(Michael C Ruppert, Confronting Collapse, Chelsea Greeen, 2009, P 129-31)