Shell executives believe they can now produce oil from shale at a profit
Updated: 11:38 a.m. ET Aug. 23, 2006
We have an energy problem. There’s no argument about it. Of course, the argument lies in how to fix it, whether it’s fixable at all, and when it can be fixed. On Colorado’s western slope, under the big sky, near a town called Meeker, quietly and often secretly, for decades scientists have been probing hundreds of feet into the Earth.
They’re trying to extract what is believed to be the largest oil reserve in the world. More oil than in Saudi Arabia or Iraq. But, there’s just one problem: It’s trapped in rock called shale.
With a barrel of crude selling at more than $70 dollars these days, Shell executives believe they can now produce oil form shale at a profit. The oil from shale is like any other oil. At Shell’s labs in Houston, scientists studying core samples say this could eventually turn into a conventional oil field – it just would take 100 million years.
The oil is extracted by cooking it out of the ground. The unit used is an electric heater, and works like an old fashioned coffee percolator. At 650 to 700 degrees, the oil vaporizes and seeps through the rock. It flows to a well and then rises to the surface where it cools and liquefies. Too good to be true?
At a recent hearing in Colorado, residents told members of the Senate Energy Committee that while extracting the oil from shale may be profitable, it puts a heavy tax on the environment. The biggest fear: damage to the water supply.
“The cumulative impact is going to make this whole area an industrial area. That’s the bottom line and there’s no way around it”, said rancher Bob Elderkin.
One U.S. government study says for every 1,000 pounds of shale, there’s 15 to 25 gallons of oil trapped inside. That would mean, say experts, that there’s 1.5 trillion barrels of oil right under our feet. Eight percent of the oil shale is on federal land. If government leases are approved, oil could begin to flow in five years, but some here in Colorado say it comes at too high a cost.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14482017/
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
