Petroleum unconventional sources

The decrease in petroleum and natural gas reserves has encouraged interest in and discovery and development of unconventional sources of these hydrocarbons. Principal alternatives to conventional petroleum reserves include oil shale (qv) and tar sands (qv). Oil shale reserves in the United States are estimated at 20,000 EJ (19.4 x 10 Btu) and estimates of tar sands and oil sands reserves are on the order of 11 EJ (10 x 10 Btu) (see Tarsands Shale oil). Of particular interest are the McKittrick, EeUows, and Taft quadrangles of Cahfomia, the Asphalt Ridge area of Utah, the Asphalt, Kentucky area, and related geographic regions. 

The production of domestic sulfur values (elemental recovered sulfur and the sulfur content of acid) will total about 18 million long tons per year by the year 2000. By region (Petroleum Administration for Defense districts), except for the east coast (PAD I), there will be no deficit areas in the U. S. Major contributors are sour natural gas and the refining of heavier, sour, crude oil. Proximate, scenario dependent sources, are electric utilities and coal-based synfuels. Shale oil, domestic tar sands and heavy oil, and unconventional sources of natural gas will be small suppliers. 

Another consideration of petroleum assessment analysts is whether, and to what degree, the vast resources of unconventional petroleum in the world can be captured by advances in petroleum production technologies, thereby converting them into conventional sources of petroleum. It is a simple fact that the ia-place resources of petroleum in tar sands, heavy oils, and oil shale can guarantee the future supply of petroleum for hundreds of years at the current rate of consumption, provided they can be produced at competitive costs. 

Process research and development in shale oil production has gone on for decades, but the once plentiful supply of low cost petroleum crudes made the economics of such processes very unfavorable. The recent shortages and cost escalation of petroleum crudes have renewed interests in "unconventional" raw material sources such as coal and oil shale. 

INAN, S., Yalcin, M. N. Mann, U. 1998. Expulsion of oil from petroleum source rocks, inferences from pyrolysis of samples of unconventional grain size. In Horsfield, B., Radke, M., Schaefer, R. G. Wilkes, H. (eds) Advances in Organic Geochemistry 1997. Organic Geochemistry, 29,45-61. 

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