Shale Oil - Reserves and Production

Reserves and Production

Global technically-recoverable oil shale reserves have recently been estimated at about 2.8 to 3.3 trillion barrels (450×10^9 to 520×10^9 m3) of shale oil, with the largest reserves in the United States, which is thought to have 1.5–2.6 trillion barrels (240×10^9–410×10^9 m3). Worldwide production of shale oil was estimated at 11,600 barrels per day (1,840 m3/d) in 2002. The leading producers were Estonia (5,500 barrels per day (870 m3/d)), Brazil (3,100 barrels per day (490 m3/d)), and China (2,000 barrels per day (320 m3/d)). In 2008, China led production with 470 million liters (ML), followed by Estonia (445 ML) and Brazil (250 ML).

The production of shale oil has been hindered because of technical difficulties and costs. In March 2011, the United States Bureau of Land Management called into question proposals in the U.S. for commercial operations, stating that "There are no economically viable ways yet known to extract and process oil shale for commercial purposes."