More expensive but not extremely more expensive, especially when it comes to deep off-shore drilling. And the shale fields in Canada are easier to get to than in the U.S., so I’m for opening up the Canadian fields as well.
What you say is true: shale oil (and shale natural gas) are more expensive to get to, but not excessively so. The problem has been that the technology didn’t really exist until “relatively” recently to get at it. For example, they need to perform horizontal drilling and then crack the high density shale rock formations with high pressure water AND THEN prop open the cracks with “sand particles”. I have oversimplified the description. Nevertheless, the technology is now with us (and is being improved on a daily basis).
The specific techniques and technologies depend on the chemistry and physics of the specific oil and gas deposits involved. Viscosity, and all that.
When done with normal safeguards, extracting shale oil need not cause any more environmental problems than conventional oil and wells.
In some cases, the shale formation may be more like coal than a regular oil- or gas-bearing rock. And in those cases, it may be extracted with giant shovels (like coal) instead of as a liquid. But even then, with the appropriate technology, very often the oil can be removed as a liquid.
The key thing is for lay people to avoid jumping to conclusions and to learn how the specifics of each formation apply. Each situation is different.
And there is a temptation to apply broad brush, global statements that are inaccurate … to the point of being false.
I was looking at the ANWR oil and gas situation. Got to thinking about it. Common statements were that it would take ten years to get that oil to the “South 48”. But upon thinking about it, that would not be true. For example, there is an existing pipeline from Prudhoe Bay south to the port of Valdez. And from Prudhoe Bay, it’s only about 70 miles or so to ANWR. You could build a 70 mile pipeline in only a few months.
[When they first began talking about extracting oil from the North Slope of Alaska, the critics said there would not be meaningful quantities of oil. But many years later, they are still pumping oil and still discovering oil deposits. The pipeline does have available capacity from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, so it would be feasible to start moving oil right away.]
And then there is the drilling of oil wells.
It takes one month to drill an oil well. Only one month. [Because of the cold, it might take a little longer in Alaska.] [You would need more than one oil well, but you could use more than one drill rig.]
I mentioned new technology. Well, they do slant drilling all the time. So they could drill from outside ANWR and by using slant drilling start getting at that oil.
So instead of ten years, it would only take a few months.
[NOW … it is possible for someone to initiate one lawsuit after another and delay the proceedings. But that has nothing to do with the technology and everything to do with economic mischief.]
