There are many different methods of extracting oil from the precious home we call Earth. The business of extracting oil from the ground has been unpredictable, messy, and dangerous. It all begins with the nature of the oil underground. There are deep pockets of oil, gas, and water that are imbedded in the rocks below the surface of the Earth, all at high temperatures and pressures. A vertical drill is then dug in stages into the ground where oil is expected, and if a range of tests give the right indications, steps are taken to prepare the flow of oil. Since the 1980’s “directional drilling” has added the ability to drill downward at an angle, expanding the well’s reach into an oilfield and increasing the quantity of oil obtained from a single site.
Many analysts and researchers believe that we may have reached “peak oil”, meaning the amount of conventional oil available throughout the world has declined. Others have tried more unconventional ways to drill up more crude. One of the more promising reserves of oil that hasn’t been commercially exploited yet is oil shale. Oil shale is defined as oil trapped in solid form within rock. Think of oil shale as a bowl of jello that has liquefied into a solid form. This is what happened to the oil as millions of years went by and it was subject to high temperatures and gravitational pressures. Oil shale must be mined using either underground or surface mining methods. After the excavation has occurred, the shale must undergo retorting which applies extreme heat without the presence of oxygen, producing a chemical change. At 650 to 700 degrees Fahrenheit, the fossil fuels trapped begin to liquefy and detach from the rock. The oil like substance that emerges can further be refined into a synthetic crude oil. Oil shale does represent environmental challenges however. It takes two barrels of water to produce one barrel of shale liquid. Without state of the art water treatment technology, the water discharge from the shale will increase salinity in the surrounding water, possibly poisoning the local area.
Oil shale hasn’t been commercially produced on a large scale because it’s currently more expensive and environmentally harmful than your conventional drilling. If we see the supply of crude diminish however, we could see the use of this new, alternative way of extracting oil from the ground.
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