Talk:American Shale Oil

Fracturing?
AMSO's lease is based on the following description of its technology (Environmental Assessment EGL Resources, Inc., Oil Shale Research, Development and Demonstration Tract, CO-110-2006-118-EA: EGL has proposed a research project to evaluate the feasibility and commercial viability of developing oil shale resources in-situ. The intent of this proposal is to achieve a “proof of concept.” That is, while laboratory experiments and theoretical calculations indicate that various in-situ methodologies are viable commercial options, none have been thoroughly field tested to evaluate the practical application. The proposed action provides the opportunity to practically apply those specific technologies under field conditions. The project results will advance knowledge of these methodologies regardless of whether or not they prove commercially viable.

EGL research will gather additional data on oil shale recovery using gentle, uniform heating of the shale to the desired temperature to convert kerogen to oil and gas. The intent of the EGL proposal is to prove an in-situ development and production method using drilling and fracturing technology to install conduit pipes into and beneath the target zone. A closed circulation system would circulate pressurized heating fluid. The methodology requires circulating various heating fluids through the system. EGL plans to test the sequential use of different heating fluids during different phases of the project. BLM has concluded that analyzing EGL’s proposed sequential recovery processes is warranted and may advance knowledge regarding the commercial viability of in-situ technologies for hydrocarbon recovery from oil shale.(p. 10)

....The hydraulic conductivity in the retorted portion of the production zone would be locally increased by hydraulic fracturing. This would provide an extensive fracture system to allow flow of fluids from the point of generation near the energy delivery system toward the product recovery wells. It is not known how far the hydraulic fracturing would extend from the retorted portion of the oil shale zone into adjacent aquifers, but it would not likely extend to the R5 unit.

If AMSO no longer plans to use hydraulic fracturing, this change in their plans needs to have a citation. The article currently states that there will be "thermomechanical fracturing." If this does not include hydraulic fracturing, then it is not clear how the process will achieve greater fracturing than that providing by Shell ICP. Jdkag (talk) 08:57, 11 October 2011 (UTC)

Refluxing?
The current description reads: "The process combines horizontal wells, which are heated by a downhole burner or other means, and other horizontal or vertical wells, which provide both heat transfer through refluxing of generated oil and a means to collect and produce the oil." This is confusing (perhaps intentionally?). The wells providing heat provide that heat by injecting hot oil and/or by resistive heating of electrical coils (or perhaps by injecting oxygen to ignite the existing gas and oil). The hot oil is then supposedly refluxed in the fractured formation. Perhaps the fractured formation will also include bore holes that provide space for the refluxing to proceed, but if so, these bore holes should be distinguished from the heating wells.Jdkag (talk) 14:30, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

Perhaps Akburnham can provide more details. He added the sentence that "The only fluids injected into the formation are recycled fractions of the produced oil..." However, a news article here states that the fluids are injected before any oil is produced.Jdkag (talk) 17:32, 11 July 2012 (UTC)


 * As Mr Burnham is not very active in the Wikipedia, I suggest that you are sending e-mail to him with a request to comment this issue at the article's talk page. Beagel (talk) 18:45, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 1 one external link on American Shale Oil. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120903003907/http://www.businessweek.com:80/ap/2012-08-31/blm-oks-2-more-colo-dot-oil-shale-research-leases to http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-08-31/blm-oks-2-more-colo-dot-oil-shale-research-leases
 * Added tag to http://archivos.labcontrol.cl/wcce8/offline/techsched/manuscripts%5Caklexf.pdf

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 12:56, 11 October 2016 (UTC)