With demands for fuel, heating oil, and other petroleum-based products at an all time high in the United States, it is unsettling to reflect on the fact that the majority of our oil supply comes from overseas sources who could cut off ties with us at a moment’s notice.  Left without a steady inflow of what has effectively become the lifeblood of our economy, our nation could begin a downward spiral from which it might never recover. 

Clearly, relying on the vast oil reserves of Saudi Arabia for our energy needs is not the safest course of action.  Wouldn’t it be convenient if an oil supply as large as our overseas supplier existed right here in our own backyard?  Well, it does – and companies such as Triple Diamond Energy Corp. are diligently working to tap into this seemingly limitless supply known as shale oil.

Shale Oil: On The Brink Of Changing How We Buy Oil
                                                             

Shale oil is an unrefined fuel source that comes in a form much different than the bubbly crude oil that is extracted from oil reserves by the millions of barrels every day.  So different in fact that it is not a liquid at all.  Shale oil is a sedimentary rock that is in a pre-petroleum form that has never been subjected to the heat and pressure that crude supplies have.  In fact, shale oil has adopted a name that doesn’t quite describe it. The hydrocarbon that exists within this resource is not technically oil and the rock itself differs from the traditional definition of shale.  But the name has stuck regardless.

While shale oil can be burned without any refining at all, doing so is wasteful because it is a low-grade fuel in this form.  To extract the full value from this substance, a process called pyrolysis must take place.  This is similar to the distillation of crude oil where a high temperature draws vapor from the shale, which can yield a type of non-conventional oil as well as burnable shale gas. 

Shale oil can be found in over three dozen countries around the world, but the largest deposit by far is located in the western United States in the Green River Basin.  Almost two-thirds of the world’s total supply can be found here, and it represents the equivalent of roughly two trillion barrels of oil – enough to end the country’s dependence on foreign oil for more than a century.

At the present time, the only thing holding the United States back from extracting fuel from our seemingly limitless shale oil reserves is the cost of extraction itself.   It is far less expensive to import oil than it is to refine shale.  But rising oil prices spur companies like Triple Diamond Energy Corp. to invest in technologies to reduce the cost of refining shale, the price will eventually come down to a manageable level, and the country will finally be able to supply its energy needs from within.