[TheAntiDoomer]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2 ... e-oil.html

"If you stress test it right down and you only took the very sweetest spots in the absolute known areas and you do nothing else, it's about 3.5 billion [barrels] and that's sort of worse-case scenario," he said. "So if you took the 233 billion, well, you're talking Saudi Arabia numbers. It's massive, it's just huge."

By way of comparison, the Athabasca oilsands in Northern Alberta contain almost 170 billion barrels of proven or probable reserves.

[SeaGypsy]

repeat thread, mods?

[Ron Patterson]

In a statement to the Stock Exchange, the company said reports from U.S.-based consultants indicate underlying rock formations "are rich in oil and gas-prone kerogen".

Dude, it ain't oil, it's kerogen. The Green River Kerogen is probably bigger but no one wants that either.

[Pops]

Yeah but it sounds like a really big number Ron and that is all that matters to the Press Release Patrol lol

3.5 billion, if it could be extracted tomorrow, would move the peak 2-3 weeks and even 255B, if some miraculous way to extract it overnight were dreamed up, would only move the peak 3-4 years, according to the idealized chart I posted in this thread:
the-plateau-is-the-peak-t68427.html

Of course it won't be extracted over night but over decades, if ever. The addition of this type of high R/P stuff only serves to reinforce the idea that happy motoring will continue indefinitely. But some think posting big numbers gives their "side" a point in the doomer vs corny online game.

[TheAntiDoomer]

In a statement to the Stock Exchange, the company said reports from U.S.-based consultants indicate underlying rock formations "are rich in oil and gas-prone kerogen".

Dude, it ain't oil, it's kerogen. The Green River Kerogen is probably bigger but no one wants that either.

In a statement to the Stock Exchange, the company said reports from U.S.-based consultants indicate underlying rock formations "are rich in oil and gas-prone kerogen

Notice the AND

They are talking about frackable shale oil:

"It's basically oil which is trapped in low-permeability, clay-rich rocks so it's within the rocks and you fracture-stimulate those rocks to release the oil. "There are processes now where you can unconventionally retrieve these reservesm" he said."

[Ron Patterson]

AD, you are misreading the "and". It is "oil and gas" prone kerogen, not oil "and gas prone kerogen". That is the kerogen can be converted to both "oil and gas".

"If the reserves and the pressure was right over millions of years and the rocks have done the things they think they've done, they think they can extract vast reserves of oil out of South Australia which would have a value of about $20 trillion."

The whole thing is full of ifs, buts and maybes. Looks like they are looking for investors but hedging their bets, not promising anything specific.

[TheDude]

Original link to story quoted above: Australian shale oil discovery could be larger than Canada's oilsands - Business - CBC News

South Australian Mining Minister Tom Koutsantonis says it is much too early to say if the reserve can be profitably tapped. "What they think they've found, or they have found, but whether it's economic to recover or not is still the question, is vast reserves of shale oil," he said.

"It's basically oil which is trapped in low-permeability, clay-rich rocks so it's within the rocks and you fracture-stimulate those rocks to release the oil. "There are processes now where you can unconventionally retrieve these reservesm" he said."

In a statement to the Stock Exchange, the company said reports from U.S.-based consultants indicate underlying rock formations "are rich in oil and gas-prone kerogen".

So you have tight oil - "shale oil" - which is in this case found in kerogen formations - "oil shale" - and the headlines compare it in volume to "oil sands." All you could do to confuse matters more would be to bring in the Fischer Tropsch process...

[vtsnowedin]

Here is another story hyping the same find. I notice there is no mention of production costs.
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sout ... 6560401043

[Subjectivist]

It is confusing how the media uses the term shale oil, which used to mean kerogen rich shale like they have in Utah interchanagbly with tight oil, which is oil in very low permiable formations not all of which are made of shale.

[John_A]

It is confusing how the media uses the term shale oil, which used to mean kerogen rich shale like they have in Utah interchanagbly with tight oil, which is oil in very low permiable formations not all of which are made of shale.

The media doesn't know anymore about oil shale or shale oil than they do reserves versus resources. It isn't there job to know anything, just write down random stuff and hope that everyone else is just as ignorant on the topic I guess.