Shell always said it was commercial if the price of oil got above $50 a barrel. When it went well above that, Shell started tooling up to expand their pilot operation. Thats when the government shut them down.
If there is no way for it to be commercial, then no need for the government to shut them down.
In Utah a consortium of investors were developing an operation on private land, and the government shut that down too.
The politician who took charge of shutting it down was O’s pick to head up the Department of the Interior. So thats where that stands.
There are other countries going after their oil shale, Brazil, Argentina, Jordan signed a $20 billion dollar contract with Shell to develop theirs. For what its worth, Estonia generates 100% of its electricity burning oil shale like coal. The waste goes on their road beds.
“Shell always said it was commercial if the price of oil got above $50 a barrel”
Historically because the price of energy and other costs have gone up with the price of oil the costs to produce kerogen have gone up with it so it is a moving target. I don’t know what the current cost would be, but I am quite sure it is way above $50.
As one well known geologist once said, “ oil shale is the oil of the future and aways will be. “