Estonia to lead in shale

TALLINN - Eesti Energia’s CEO Sandor Liive in an interview with ETV’s morning program on May 17 said that the technology for producing liquid fuels from oil shale could be Estonia’s key to technological success, writes National Broadcasting. Liive remarked that he sees great perspectives for producing shale oil on a global level, for two main reasons. “Firstly, the global oil demand cannot be met with regular oil reserves - not without deep-sea oil reserves - and as we now hear every day news of what has happened in the Gulf of Mexico with its immense environmental disaster, production of liquid fuel from oil shale seems very much environmentally friendly in comparison to pumping oil from the deep-sea reserves,” he explained.

According to Liive, most oil shale reserves are situated in locations that are essentially empty - for example in the states of Utah and Colorado in the U.S. and in the desert in Jordan. The potential environmental impacts are mostly linked to mining, and shale oil is economically cheaper than the oil pumped from deep-sea reserves.
“Our advantage today is that we have the technology that works - others do not. Or if they do, it is worse in terms of environmental impact,” said Liive. “If we were to take an area of industry, I cannot recall having any other technological experience in Estonia that would be quite as deep - with the experience of nearly a hundred years - that is not had by any other country in the world,” said Liive.

He added that in connection with the growing expenses related to regular oil reserves, to finding new reserves and to the extensive environmental impact, the production of liquid fuels from shale oil has solid prospects.