While the world is depending on over priced oil from the turbulent and hostile Middle East, there is a possibility that the world can reduce its dependency from the Middle East and become more self sufficient with in their own boarders and give the world a bit more time to develop more modern technology in alternative fuels. Oil shale deposits are through many parts of th world, The Largest know deposit is located in th Green River area in western United states with 213 billion tons of oil shale which is about 1.5 trillion US barrels. Total deposits of oil shale in 33 countries is about 409 billion tons or 2.8 trillion US barrels of oil although the reserves have not been explored in depth and many reserves have not been mentioned in these figures so the total amounts are thought to be quite a bit larger than first mentioned.
Oil shale consists from 60 to 90% of organic matter compared to coal, which is usually about 40% of organic matter. The main difference between oil shale and coal is that oil shale derives is origin from algal matter. Some countries that do not have oil their selves, but can exploit oil shale; have been using oil shale to fuel power plants. The next concern is would oil shale be cost effective? Well the answer to that is, with the cost of oil from the Middle East reaching new record prices everyday; the prospect of oil shale is becoming more and more desirable. The other problem is that land use regulations and possibly the locations of oil shale may be a concern; the deposits are located in heavily populated areas and in Wildlife preserves, problems that are a great concern to many people, parties including the government, the regular citizen and the many environmental groups. Hopefully these groups could agree on all the concerns and hopefully a workable solution could come about.
There are six specific oil-shale types: cannel coal, lamosite, marinite, torbanite, tas­manite, and kukersite. The most abundant and largest deposits are marinites and lamosites.
Cannel coals originate in oxygen-deficient ponds or shallow lakes in peat-forming swamps and bogs.
lamal­ginite derived from lacustrine planktonic algae. Other minor components in lamosite include vitrinite, inertinite, telalginite, and bitumen. The Green River oil-shale deposits in western United States and a number of the Tertiary lacustrine deposits in eastern Queensland, Australia, are lamosites.
Marinites are deposited typi­cally in epeiric seas such as on broad shallow marine shelves or inland seas where wave action is restricted and currents are minimal. Such deposits are gener­ally widespread covering hundreds to thousands of square kilometers, but they are relatively thin, often less than about 100 m.
Torbanite, named after Torbane Hill in Scotland, is a black oil shale whose organic matter is composed mainly of telalginite derived largely from lipid-rich
Botryococcus and related algal forms found in fresh- to brackish-water lakes.
Tasman­ite, named from oil-shale deposits in Tasmania, is a brown to black oil shale. The organic matter consists of telalginite derived chiefly from unicellular tasmanitid algae of marine origin and lesser amounts of vitrinite, lamalginite, and iner­tinite
Kukersite, which takes its name from Kukruse Manor near the town of Kohtla-Järve, Estonia, is a light brown marine oil shale. Its principal organic component is telalginite derived from the green alga,
The United State have been studying oil shale since 1967 then stopped than revisited oil shale during the oil embargo in the early 70's then subsidized several oil companies to manufacture oil shale and did so successfully, so what is the problem? why are we not developing this abundant resource to relieve the American citizen from extremely high oil from the Middle East?
It is past time for the United States to come up with an alternative on being dependent on fossil fuels from other countries; the possibility of oil shale saving the day is a good bet. The deposits of oil shale all across the United States is extensive and with in our reach. Some folks might say that it would cost to much to explore and develop the areas, I say it would be cheaper than funding the Iraq war of George Bush remember his war for oil. It would save many American serviceman's lives, Shale oil would not only produce the needed energy but it would create construction jobs, mining jobs, and jobs in refinery's and cause a trickle down boost in our economy and relieve our dependency on foreign oil and foreign governments. We need to do something fast, I think that we need to take a good look at developing oil shale into a much needed energy at this time.