Oil Shale Economics - Capital Cost

Capital Cost

A comparison of the proposed American oil shale industry to the Alberta oil-sands industry has been drawn (the latter enterprise generated over 1 million barrels per day (160×10^3 m3/d) of oil in late 2007), stating that "the first-generation facility is the hardest, both technically and economically". According to the United States Department of Energy, in 1980s the costs of a 100,000 barrels per day (16,000 m3/d) ex-situ processing complex ranged from $8–12 billion at 2005 prices. It is estimated that the current capital costs are $3–10 billion at 2005 prices.

The new 100,000 tonnes shale oil per year retort built by VKG cost EEK 1.1 billion (€70.3 million); however, it is located in the existing production site and uses the existing infrastructure.

The RAND Corporation assumes that the development of 100,000 barrels per day (16,000 m3/d) processing plant in the United States will take 12 years, while to achieve the level of 1 million barrels per day (160×10^3 m3/d) will take at least 20 years and 3 million barrels per day (480×10^3 m3/d) around 30 years.