Royal Dutch Shell plc .com Rotating Header Image

Posts Tagged ‘Oil Shale’

Shell’s Yampa River water rights filing brings energy to forefront

Saturday, January 17, 2009: Denver — While one Colorado River District official called Shell Oil’s request for Yampa River water rights “just another water filing,” state lawmakers and other Capitol observers say it’s much more than that.

Shell Oil’s pursuit of local waters could have big impacts

Shell Frontier Oil and Gas filed in water court in Steamboat Springs in late December to stake its claim to skim 375 cubic feet per second from the Yampa during high flows fed by snowmelt in the spring and early summer.

U.S. Ban Being Lifted on Oil Shale in Wyoming, Utah

Companies such as Exxon-Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp. are studying production through a process that involves heating rock to extract oil. Western states may hold as much as 800 billion barrels of oil, potentially enough to fuel the U.S. for a century. Environmental groups have opposed such oil-shale production, saying it destroys pristine lands and requires great quantities of energy and water.

Shell seeks Yampa River water for oil-shale plans

Shell has yet to decide how much water it will need for oil shale development, and Boyd emphasized the company has yet to decide to seek commercial production. Company officials have said that decision is years away.

Million dollar question: how to get oil from shale

The in situ method being used in Shell Oil’s experimental tract involves drilling a well through the oil shale layer (about 2,000 feet) and lowering heated rods that will eventually heat the shale to 650 degrees Farenheit to release the oil.

Oil-Shale Waste ‘Non Hazardous,’ EPA Says

In November, the Department of the Interior opened the western U.S. to commercial oil shale development after the expiration of a congressional ban that had so far only allowed demonstration projects such as the one operated by Royal Dutch Shell.

Oil shale remains in the crosshairs

Boyd added that the company does not “speed up and slow down” its oil shale research development based on the short-term fluctuations on the price of oil, which has been plunging to lows not seen for years. Shell currently holds three 160-acre oil shale research and development leases in the Piceance Basin. American Shale Oil and Chevron both hold one.

Government offers discount royalty rates on shale

Shell is experimenting with a plan to heat oil shale in situ — in place underground — and then extract high quality oil suitable for uses such as jet fuel.

Oil-shale projects are going ahead in Utah — for now

Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Europe’s largest oil company, said last month that it was pushing back a decision on expanding an oil-sands project in Canada. But Shell’s Denver-based exploration and production company is moving its oil-shale development forward, said Tracy Boyd, communications and sustainability manager

COLORADO STATE RECEIVES $950,000 RESEARCH GRANT FROM SHELL OIL

FORT COLLINS – Colorado State University’s Warner College of Natural Resources announced today that it will receive $950,000 in the form of a research grant from Shell Oil Company…

Economies of shale

That excitement is likely to last as long as oil prices remain above $30 a barrel, a bottom-line benchmark once cited by leaseholder Royal Dutch Shell. With commercial production at least a decade away, the company has since backed away from that number even as a barrel of oil remains near $100.

Gas, Gas Everywhere

On Aug. 28, Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) closed on the $5.7 billion acquisition of Duvernay Oil, which holds similar prospects in Canada.

New reporting rules will boost oilpatch’s reserves: may lead to takeovers

The world’s second-largest non-government-controlled oil company by market value, Royal Dutch Shell, is likely to benefit most among the oil majors, analysts said. The company invested heavily in squeezing crude from bitumen-soaked soil in Alberta, and in extracting gas locked in coal beds in Australia and China, as it sought to rebuild its asset base after a reserves overbooking scandal in 2004.

Ritter, Salazar slam plan to set aside land for drilling

Companies, including Royal Dutch Shell Plc, are exploring ways of getting oil products from the rock formations. The oil shale acreage in question lies in Garfield, Rio Blanco and Mesa counties.

Oil shale stuck between rock and wild place

Over five years here, Shell Oil conducted a series of secretive experiments that have the potential to blow open the status quo of North American oil production, unlocking the vast reserves of oil shale that underlie Colorado’s Western Slope.