History of The Oil Shale Industry - Latest Developments

Latest Developments

The global oil shale industry started to grow slightly in the mid-1990s although most of the industries were ceased in Russia where oil shale mining continued only on a small scale. In 1992 commercial shale oil production using Petrosix technology resumed in Brazil. Estonian oil shale production has continuously increased since 1995 and several new processing plants using modified Galoter technology were built. In 2005, China became the largest shale oil producer in the world with a increased number of companies involved in the shale oil extraction. In Russia,

In Australia, the Alberta Taciuk technology was used for the a demonstration-scale processing plant at the Stuart Deposit near Gladstone, Queensland, which produced between 2000 and 2004 over 1.5 million barrels (240×10^3 m3) of shale oil. In 2008–2009, the facility was dismantled and a new demonstration plant based on the Paraho II process was opened in September 2011.

In the United States, an oil shale development program was initiated in 2003. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 introduced a commercial leasing program for oil shale and tar sands resources on public lands within the states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.

In April 2010, the 4th Workshop on Regional Cooperation for Clean Utilization of Oil Shale was held in Egypt and later the same month an Oil Shale Cooperation Center was established in Amman by Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Syria and Turkey. In 2011, Israel closed the Mishor Rotem Power Plant.