US has largest oil reserves in the world thanks to Israel

12 Comments / 12 Comments

1. here is another

   http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13737475/

   http://www.shalomctr.org/node/1176

   http://shomreihasviva.tribe.net/thread/0d139cf8-492e-47f5-933c-fe7991757ecd

2. Since this article the process and company hacve bee purchased by Ofer Glazer and Sheri Adelsen
   
   Saturday, November 11, 2006
   Israel to produce synthetic oil from low quality shale at $17 a
   Analysis: Israel sees shale replacing oil
   By LEAH KRAUSS UPI Energy Correspondent
   http://www.upi.com/Energy/view.php?StoryID=20061107-070924-5161r

   HAIFA, Israel, Nov. 7 (UPI) — The Israeli process for producing energy from
   oil shale will cut its oil imports by one-third, and will serve as a guide
   for other countries with oil shale deposits, according to one company.

   A.F.S.K. Hom Tov presented its oil shale processing method on Tuesday,
   outside Haifa and just down the street from one of the country’s two oil
   refinery facilities.

   “Because the patents for this process belong to (the company), Israel is the
   most advanced in the world in the effort to create energy from oil shale,”
   Moshe Shahal, a Hom Tov legal representative and a former Israeli energy
   minister, told United Press International.

   Shahal estimated that the company’s Negev Desert facility would begin
   full-scale production in three to four years, while other countries with oil
   shale deposits will need five to six years to reach production.

   Oil shale is limestone rock that contains hydrocarbons, or fossil fuels —
   about 20 percent of the amount of energy found in coal. Using the rock as a
   raw material and coating it with bitumen, a residue of the crude oil
   refining process, the company can produce natural gas, fuel, electricity, or
   a combination of the three.

   Older technologies squeezed the hydrocarbon material out of the rock, with
   extremely high pressure and at high temperatures.
   According to Professor Ze’ev Aizenshtat, an oil shale expert, the Hom Tov
   process is more environmentally friendly than other /methods of converting
   oil shale into energy. It also allows for more flexibility in the kind of
   fuel produced, produces less waste and operates at lower temperatures than
   other methods.

   Though the production process may be more environmentally friendly, the end
   product is still a fossil fuel, similar in quality to a high-grade diesel
   when in liquid form.

   Israel’s shale is low-quality, however — its “caloric value” is only about
   15 percent, while shale in other countries yields 20 percent, according to a
   report in BusinessWeek earlier this year. As a result, more Israeli shale is
   needed to produce the same amount of fuel.

   Hom Tov isn’t worried, however. “This is a much lighter (substance) than
   what gradually comes out of an oil field,” Aizenshtat told UPI, as Hom Tov
   company owners Israel Feldman and Shimon Kazansky posed for photographs with
   their fingers dipped in a plastic pitcher of the stuff.

   Because fewer refining processes are necessary with oil shale than with
   crude oil, the final product is a higher quality fuel at a lower price,
   Aizenshtat said.

   The company estimates it will consume 6 million tons of oil shale and 2
   million tons of refinery waste each year, for an annual production of 3
   million tons of product.

   It would cost about $17 to produce a barrel of synthetic oil at the Hom Tov
   facility, meaning giant profit margins in a world of $45 to $60 per barrel
   crude. Yearly earnings are forecasted to be between $159 million and $350
   million, Shahal said.

   Israel has 15 billion tons of oil shale reserves. Jordan, on the other hand,
   has about 25 billion tons, and the oil shale in Jordan is of higher quality.
   Shahal met with Jordanian Energy Minister Azmi Khreisat earlier this year,
   to discuss setting up a plant there.

   The United States also has a giant reserve, mostly in Colorado, and Hom Tov
   sees potential for its patented process there.

   The process, which Feldman and Kazansky developed in the mid-1990s, has
   lately attracted some high-powered investors, including Ofer Glazer — the
   third husband of Israel’s richest resident, billionaire Carnival Cruise
   heiress Shari Arison.

   “It’s a kind of dream” to invest in Hom Tov, Glazer told UPI. “It’s the type
   of investment where Israel needs the product, and it creates jobs.”

   Glazer added that it will be good for Israel not to be dependent on
   “external sources” for its energy needs, saying that “those countries aren’t
   exactly friendly (to Israel.)”

   As for his stake in the project, Glazer said he preferred “not to get into
   numbers.”

3. I have read a bit, admittedly not enough, about the Israeli shale process. As I understand it they mix raw shale with petroleum bottoms from a nearby refinery and then distill out a kind of synthetic crude. The process economics will depend on how they value the petroleum bottoms. My guess is zero value. I will dig for more details. If anyone can find a brief statement of the process steps in the Israeli scheme please pass them along.

4. The tar sands in Alberta, Canada, require a substantial amount of processing to be viable. Right now the money is on heat-energy, but for what it’s worth, in my estimation, that’s old thinking. It’s only the high cost of oil that makes them economically viable. Don’t know if the Israeli idea is applicable to Alberta.

5. When I originally did the post, I definitely read the $30 figure. Sorry I didn’t lnik to it. But you can search for it. Besides Israel can do it for $17.

6. Ted,

   I would like to know where the $30/bbl figure comes from. If this were really the case every major producer in the world, starting with Exxon Mobil and Chevron and Shell would be doing it. They already own reserves in Colorado. I suspect the number is closer to $60-70 but I’m just guessing.

7. There are other interesting fuel alternatives, many of which require substantial paradigm shifts (the most difficult action in the entire galaxy), both in developing the fuels themselves and in actually using them.

8. Shalom Yamit 82,

   The only shortage is viable political institutions.

   Fuel is plentiful, whether it is nuclear generated, coal, oil or windmills in Massachuettes.

   Just follow the el-gelt-o.

   Kol tuv,

9. Axiomatic?Do you want chapter and verse? The Tenach does not fuel the auto or airplanes, heat homes etc.Americans are not in love with nuke power and I am not either there is also a shortage of raw material for fuel down the road. it is I believe more accurate in moon phases though in this I concur.

10. Shalom Yamit 82,

    Your assumption is as accurate as the phases of the moon. You really offered an axiom.

    Ironic to all this is that the experimental commercial vessel, N.S. Savannah, launched to demonstrate the viability of nuclear power propulsion instead of oil for fuel, America’s key figure in nuclear power was Jewish: Admiral Hyman Rickover.

    The Tenach is more accurate than observations of the phases of the moon.

    Kol tuv,

11. Shalom Ted,

    Shucks; the Green River Formation range has LESS oil shale than Alberta, Canada’s boreal forest oil shale.

    Canada’s Soncor and Syncrude (with equity participation by ExxonMobile) have already started initial operations in Alberta (Fort McMurray area).

    Of course, Alberta’s oil shale, Colorado’s and Israel’s are priced out of the market if and when greenhouse gas emissions are codified as destroying human life and civilization (read: destroying preexisting Arab oil long-term contracts).

    Kol tuv,

12. If America does not go for this I could only assume it would threaten entrenched Big money interests, Just like Detroit killed the railroads in the 50’s. and with their Federal Lackeys put final nail in coffen when theu approved Inter State highway programs.