The Oil Shale Market 2012-2022
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Oil Shale Market 2012-2022 Table 4.26 Brazilian Oil Shale Market Forecast 2012-2022 ($m, AGR %) 20112012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Capex ($m) 35 36 37 38 37 36 36 35 34 32 32 32 AGR(%) 3 3 2 -1 -3 -2 -2 -3 -4 -2 -1 Source: Visiongain 2012 Table 4.27 Brazilian Oil Shale Market Forecast CAGR (%) 2012-2022, 2012-2017, and 2017-2022 2012-2022 2012-2017 2017-2022 CAGR (%) -1.3 -0.2 -2.4 Source: Visiongain 2012 Figure 4.29 Brazilian Oil Shale Market Forecast 2012-2022 ($m) 40 35 30 25 20 Capex ($m) Capex 15 10 5 0 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Year Source: Visiongain 2012 www.visiongain.com Page 95 The Oil Shale Market 2012-2022 7. Expert Opinion 7.1 Global Oil Shale Group Limited (GOS) Global Oil Shale Group Limited established in 2011, is a global oil shale processing company currently engaged in Estonia, Jordan, Australia and Morocco. The company focuses exclusively on oil shale and has its own oil shale research laboratories in Kohtla Järve, Estonia. GOS is looking develop one of the first commercial oil shale processing facilities in Australia and Jordan after entering into a Heads of Terms with regard to processing Xtract Energy PLC’s oil shale tenements at Julia Creek in Queensland, Australia and in the process of entering into a MoU for an oil shale project with the Natural Resources Authority of Jordan. Anton Eiguine is Operations Director at GOS. Visiongain interviewed Anton in August 2012 and is grateful for the valuable insight provided for this report. 7.1.1 GOS Technology and Projects in Australia Visiongain: Many companies are investing in in-situ extraction methods while GOS chose the more established Galoter process UTT 3000 units. What are the benefits of this technology? Anton Eiguine: GOS is a relatively new player on the market. We have only been around for two years but I think the uniqueness of GOS is that we try to incorporate the whole product-chain, from the deposit extraction, to processing, and then marketing the end product. The end product could be anything on the petrochemical scale, mainly oil, plus diesel, and petrol. We are favouring the retorting technology because it gives us the flexibility to produce more value-added products than just producing oil, which is the prerogative of the in-situ technology. With in-situ, whether it is heating or some other process, it is all done underground. You bring the oil to the surface and that is your end gain. Our end gain is to produce to a wide range of petroleum products from shale oil, produced from a retort or an in-situ approach, which will depend on the downstream hydrogenation process. Visiongain: If your head of terms agreement for the project in the Julia Creek is adopted you will begin a 3 year programme involving exploration and development. By what time do you think you will be able to begin commercial production and at what cost? www.visiongain.com Page 137 The Oil Shale Market 2012-2022 8. Leading Companies in the Oil Shale Market 8.1 Alstom Headquarters: Levallois-Perret, France Alstom is a French multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation and transport markets. The company has previously supplied electrostatic precipitators to Eesti Energia and, since the year 2000, has had a long-term agreement with the Estonian company to service the Narva power plants, which consists of the world's two largest oil shale-fired thermal power plants. In January 2011, Alstom signed a further agreement with Eesti Energia, worth $1.3bn, to supply two 300 MW units, based on Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) boiler technology, to a plant in Auvere in north-eastern Estonia. The first phase of the project is due to be completed in 2015. 8.2 Ambre Energy North America Inc. Headquarters: Salt Lake City, Utah, US Ambre Energy North America is part of Australian coal and oil shale company Ambre Energy Limited. The company has developed an Oil-Tech vertical surface retort technology, which it uses at a small shale oil extraction pilot plant 64 km southeast of Vermal, Utah, where the company holds 153 square km of oil shale leases. The technology works by mining the oil shale, crushing it, then feeding it into a heating column or “retort”, which causes the rock to release hydrocarbon vapours. These vapours are then vacuumed into a condensing unit, which produces raw shale oil. The company is currently testing and improving its technology in the hope of moving to commercial operations within a few years. 8.3 American Shale Oil LLC (AMSO) Headquarters: Rifle, Colorado, US American Shale Oil, LLC is a developer of in-situ shale oil extraction technology, jointly owned by IDT Corporation and Total. Formerly known as EGL Resources, the company changed to its current name in 2008. In 2006, the company was awarded a lease by the United States Bureau of Land Management to develop and demonstrate its in-situ oil shale extraction technology in Western Colorado, where it targets oil shale that is more than 2,000 feet below the surface. The company currently holds a 0.6 square km lease and has developed a multi-phase 9-year plan, which will lead from the pilot stage to the conversion of their lease to a commercial lease. Under this plan, AMSO anticipates transitioning to the commercial stage as early as 2014, and to produce 100,000 barrels per day in 2018 www.visiongain.com Page 145 .