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Some estimates say that 90% of earth's oil is in shale rock.
by the_economist 8y ago
Some estimates say that 90% of earth's oil is in shale rock.
- jandrese 8y agoMaybe, but we can't use it without killing the planet. We've already burned too much oil.
- philwelch 8y agoPetroleum has many uses that don't involve burning it as fuel.
- numtel 8y agoIt's the extraction process that's the problem with shale, moreso than the burning of the gas.
- whatshisface 8y agoAccording to this Wikipedia page[0], 81% of every barrel of oil is used for fuel. Although dropping to 1/5th size is not the same as going away, it won't be a very enjoyable ride. The picture might get even worse for petroleum as a chemical precursor once the economies of scale supported by fuel use go away. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_product https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_product
- bluGill 8y agoYes and no. Yes there are a lot of uses, but they amount to a small amount of our current oil use. If I read https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=41&t=6 https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=41&t=6 right 75% of crude oil is burned directly as fuel. edit: note that my numbers are different than the wiki below. I suspect that is because of a difference in what counts for what...
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- jeffreyrogers 8y agoShale oil and oil shale are different things. You're talking about oil shale, which the US has a ton of, but it is not currently economically viable, but could be in the future. Shale oil is different and is recovered by hydraulic fracturing. It can be economically viable depending on the quality of the deposit.