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The Study 'Oil Shale Investments - Opportunities in Resource Acquisition, Extraction, Processing, and Distribution' Examines at Length the Analogous Example of the Canadian Oil Sands Industry

Posted on: Wednesday, 11 June 2008, 12:00 CDT

Research and Markets http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/605c70/oil_shale_investme has announced the addition of the "Oil Shale Investments - Opportunities in Resource Acquisition, Extraction, Processing, and Distribution" report to their offering.

Oil Shale Investments: Opportunities in Resource Acquisition, Extraction, Processing and Distribution is a 300 page study which provides a comprehensive overview of the oil shale industry as it is today and as it might be in the future. It is intended to serve as the single source of information for the informed investor and speculator as well as for those already engaged in development efforts.

The study is focused on the potential of the resource and on the means for achieving the production levels that will realize that potential. The study acknowledges that limited development has already occurred in a number of regional markets and examines the methods of production in use today in those local industries, but emphasizes that the resource as a whole is almost entirely undeveloped and that the time is at hand for renewed efforts toward full and massive commercialization.

The study includes a concise but thorough discussion of the nature of the resource and the bearing that this has on the production processes. Oil shale serves as a feedstock for products that are virtually indistinguishable from those derived from conventional petroleum, but oil shale itself requires radically different production technologies, technologies that are still evolving and to that extent immature.

The report contains a full investigation of the business case for developing oil shale as it is today, and enumerates all of the principal arguments pro and con as well as discussing the motives and current degrees of involvement of the chief stakeholders. It makes clear that physical infrastructure and network of support services are not now in place to undergird large scale production, and that the industry must pass a number of critical milestones in order to reach the threshold of profitability and indeed of viability.

It also provides is a much needed historical perspective, one that encompasses the industry's many failures and false starts along with its few but significant successes. Oil shale commercialization in the seventies and eighties enlisted the efforts of the majority of major oil producers in the U.S. as well as many other large, diversified manufacturers and engineering firms, and it represents perhaps the largest effort ever to develop a single new energy source. Given the near unanimity within the energy industry as to oil shale's favorable prospects one needs to understand the reasons for its ultimate failure and then determine if the constraints of the past still apply. It is the conclusion of this survey that they do not.

The study also examines at length the analogous example of the Canadian oil sands industry where an apparently similarly unpromising resource was successfully brought into full commercial production, greatly profiting the stalwart pioneers. The chief finding here is that while a number of aspects of the Canadian oil sands effort are worthy of emulation, the fundamentally different nature of the resource and of the locale in which it is located dictate somewhat different strategies for building a successful industry.

The study also looks at coal-to-liquids synfuels, an industry that has had more failures than successes, and gleans what cautionary caveats might apply to oil shale development.

The report includes dozens of charts and table outlining the economics of production with current technologies and the concentration of resources around the world. It also provides includes discussions of the environmental impact of production and the competitive positioning of oil shale vis a vis other fuel sources.

Daniel Sweeney, the author of the report, has been active in the area of new energy technologies both as an analyst and as a journalist since 2001. He has published previous studies on hydrogen fuel and ethanol fuel and ethanol. He is known for his hard nosed, hype free forecasts, and correctly predicted today's high oil prices and the failure of hydrogen fuel cells to gain significant market share in transportation. Mr. Sweeney has also been engaged in the larger discipline of technology forecasting particularly with respect to electronic media.

Content Outline: SECTION ONE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SECTION TWO THE BASICS - A HIGH LEVEL DISCUSSION OF THE NATURE OF THE RESOURCE SECTION THREE THE STATE OF THE INDUSTRY TODAY SECTION FOUR OIL SHALE, THE CASES FOR AND AGAINST DEVELOPMENT SECTION FIVE THE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY OF OIL SHALE SECTION SIX THE TECHNOLOGY OF OIL SHALE EXTRACTION AND PROCESSING AND ITS ECONOMICS SECTION SEVEN MARKETING AND INVESTMENT SECTION EIGHT OIL SHALE IN THE OVERALL CONTEXT OF LIQUID AND GASEOUS FUELS SECTION NINE SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS SECTION TEN APPENDIX: THE PEAK OIL ARGUMENT

Companies Mentioned: Blue Ensign Chattanooga Corporation ChevronTexaco Earth Energy Resources Electro-Petroleum ExxonMobil Global Resources Hom-Tov Independent Energy Partners IveySol Lurgi-Ruhrgas Netvah Capital Management Petro Probe Petrobras Phoenix Wyoming Redleaf Resources Shell Oil Sinopec Southern Pacific Petroleum

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/605c70/oil_shale_investme

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Source: Business Wire

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