Over a year ago we suggested that one look at investment in sustainable fracking technology. Recovery of petroleum from oil shale deposits has allowed the USA to reduce its reliance on foreign oil to the lowest level in more than twenty years. Today the USA imports forty percent of its oil, down from sixty percent just a few years ago. If predictions hold true the USA will continue to increase oil and gas production from fields in both the South and North of the country. All of this is possible because of the technology that allows oil and gas extraction from oil shale deposits. Before you decide to invest in oil shale consider just how to do it. There are exploration companies, drilling companies, big oil companies that refine and sell petroleum products, oil cleanup crews, and companies that make the robots that work a mile down in the sea to fix things. In short there are lots of ways to invest in oil shale and lots of profits to be made along the way. Let us look at a few figures.
Oil Shale Reserves
Here is a thumbnail sketch of oil shale deposits.
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Oil shale deposits of More Than 1 Billion Metric Tons (Wikipedia)
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Deposit |
Country |
Period |
In-place shale oil resources (million barrels) |
In-place oil shale resources (million metric tons) |
| Piceance Basin | United States | Cretaceous |
1,525,157 |
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| Green River Formation | United States | Paleogene |
1,444,992 |
213,000 |
| Uinta Basin | United States | Paleogene |
1,318,964 |
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| Phosphoria Formation | United States | Permian |
250,000 |
35,775 |
| Eastern Devonian | United States | Devonian |
189,000 |
27,000 |
| Heath Formation | United States | Early Carboniferous |
180,000 |
25,578 |
The largest known oil shale deposits in the world are in the geological formations of the USA. The sum total of known reserves as of today comes to just under $5 Trillion barrels. By comparison the known reserves of the top oil producing nations come to around 1.3 Trillion barrels. Invest in oil shale deposits, finding them, the technology for sustainable fracking, and delivery to the market and prosper. The fundamental analysis of the subjects tells us that if you invest in oil shale you will be investing in the largest petroleum energy resource on the planet.
Specifics
United States oil exploration and energy production in the Bakken formation of North Dakota and Montana and in other areas continues to be promising as the high price of oil supports the use of newer, more expensive drilling and recovery techniques. One is reminded of how the Russian oil fields were said to be played out. Then, with the collapse of the Iron Curtain, Western technology was applied and Russia is the world’s biggest producer of oil although the USA may regain the title as more and more companies invest in oil shale deposits. A unique feature of United State oil exploration in the Bakken is that the Bakken shale is a continuous formation, unlike many areas where the underlying geology has been broken up over the eons. USGS and Department of Energy reports state that the use of newer drilling techniques is increasing yields in the Williston Basin. Reports also state that with deep drilling there is currently no pressure depletion with continued pumping. Picking new winners in oil may well have to do with hitching a ride with the guys looking for recoverable oil in the Bakken shale or areas in Texas and Louisiana with similar geologic formations.