Oil shale exploitation

The increasing high costs of energy have led to great interest in the use of oil shale in Jordan. Questions concerning the economic and environmental viability for using this resource are core questions to be answered when assessing when we should start to exploiting it. An important document by the late Yousef Hamarneh explaining the important issues concerning this subject is posted on the Natural Resource Authority website.

Oil shale is a sedimentary rock (in Jordan it is mostly limestone) that contains high concentrations of organic materials. The organic content of these resources hovers around 10% by weight. These rocks are present as part of a belt extending from the Yarmouk River in the north to the Jurf al Darawish escarpment to the east of the town of Shobak (map). The amount of energy tied up in these deposits can literally last us for hundreds of years at our current consumption levels.

There are actually two approaches to exploiting these deposits. The simpler but less economic way is direct combustion, where the oil shale is thrown into furnaces to generate electricity. The more interesting approach is trying to extract the hydrocarbons for use as conventional crude oil (retorting). It is estimated that retorting of oil at the Lajjoun site alone can yield 50000 barrels of oil a day for a period of 30 years. Since the retorting process is not 100% efficient, the residual rock material might be used for direct combustion and power generation. This has been estimated to have the potential to generate 350 MW of electricity. The major environmental concerns related to both approaches are related to the high volume of ash residue, relatively high sulfur contents in the organic material and the need for water in the retorting and cooling processes. While challenges, the obstacles are not insurmountable

The majority of studies relating to the viability of use for these resources were conducted in the1980's. At the time, petroleum was still cheap and we were getting much of it for free. Had we started mining the Lajjoun mine at the time, the resource would now be close to depletion. The NRA report suggests that the cost of a barrel of oil extracted in this way (in 1998 dollars) would be about 22 dollars. While this number might be significantly larger now, it is probably substantially lower than the current 70$ per barrel at which oil is now sold.

World oil production has either peaked or is close to that point. This means that while demand continues to increase, the ability to produce more oil is not there. Petroleum prices will continue to rise from now on, and there is no choice for the world but to adjust to this new reality. This means more efficient use, and looking for new resources, be they renewable (such as solar and wind) or non renewable such as our oil shale. This will happen because the world energy situation dictates it.