Oil shale can be mined and processed to generate oil similar to oil pumped from conventional oil wells; however, extracting oil from oil shale is more complex than conventional oil recovery and currently is more expensive. The oil substances in oil shale are solid and cannot be pumped directly out of the ground. read more
1. Compared to coal, shale has mostly mineral content vs. fuel content while coal has mostly fuel content vs its mineral content. With shale you would pay shipping and disposal costs for all of the mineral that came along with its fuel value. 2. Suppose you addressed (1) by separating the mineral from the fuel component. read more
There is no doubt that shale oil costs more than conventional oil to extract. Beyond that, there is a lot of variability in the cost of extracting shale oil, meaning that every well has a different level of cost-per-barrel of production from as low as $40 a barrel to over $90 a barrel. read more
Oil shale can be used as a fuel in thermal power plants, wherein oil shale is burnt like coal to drive the steam turbines. As of 2012, there are oil shale-fired power plants in Estonia with a generating capacity of 2,967 megawatts (MW), China, and Germany. read more