Energy in Jordan - Oil Shale

Oil Shale

Main article: Oil shale in Jordan See also: Jordan oil shale power plant

Oil shale represents a significant potential resource in Jordan. Oil shale deposits underlie more than 60% of Jordanian territory, and are estimated at 40 to 70 billion tonnes of oil shale. The deposits include a high quality marinite oil shale of Late Cretaceous to early Tertiary age. The most important and investigated deposits are located in west-central Jordan, where they occur at the surface and close to developed infrastructure.

Although oil shale was utilized in northern Jordan prior to and during World War I, intensive exploration and studies of Jordan's oil shale resource potential started in the 1970s and 1980s, being motivated by higher oil prices, modern technology and better economic potential. As of 2011, no oil shale industry exists in Jordan, but several companies are considering both shale oil extraction and oil shale combustion for thermal power generation.

A series of projects is set to make available 37,000 tonnes of shale oil in the central region of Attarat by 2015, 15,000 tonnes in Karak by 2017, and develop thousands of tonnes in potential shale reserves along the Jordanian-Iraqi border. A series of projects is set to make available 37,000 tonnes of shale oil in the central region of Attarat by 2015, 15,000 tonnes in Karak by 2017, and develop thousands of tonnes in potential shale reserves along the Jordanian-Iraqi border.