Coaxing Oil from Shale

摘要

Oil shale is plentiful, but producing its petroleum can be complicated. Since the 1800s, these rocks have been mined and fed into surface facilities where liquid hydrocarbons were extracted. Now, operators are developing methods to heat the rock in situ and pipe the liberated oil to the surface. They are also adapting oilfield technology to evaluate these deposits and estimate their fluid yields.