APPENDIX G - Detailed study of shale pyrolysis for oil production - A subpart of project oil shale pyrolysis and in situ modeling - Final Project Report - Reporting period: June 21, 2006 to October 21, 2009

The oil shale industry is going through a revolution of sorts. After the oil crisis in the 1970s, a great deal of effort was spent on research and development and on pilot scale technologies. Extensive research was conducted with on-surface and in-situ production methods. Even though some large pilot underground retorting operations were performed, the on-surface (mining and processing) methods were closest to full-scale (~10,000 barrels/day) commercial implementation. The oil price collapse in the early and mid-1980s led to the total discontinuation of oil shale research and development programs. In recent years, in-situ production methods have seen a significant revival due to technological advances. With these methods, the slow thermal pyrolysis of the organic matter in shale leads to a light oil product that does not require additional thermal upgrading.