For at least 600 years, people have been removing kerogen (a form of petroleum) from a type of rock called shale. The Ute Indians told tales of warriors who saw rocks burn after being struck by lightning. Pioneers in the western U.S. fueled their campfires with shale and used kerogen to grease their wagon wheels. But until recently, developing oil from shale has been too hard and too expensive to do on a big scale. That could soon change. Today, Shell is researching new technologies to remove petroleum from oil shale fields in western Colorado. The project is known as the Mahogany Research Project. Workers drill holes into the shale, then stick electrical heaters down into the holes. The heaters warm the rock gradually over a long period of time, causing the kerogen to be freed and rise to the surface.
In the recent past, miners dug huge pits into the shale fields to recover kerogen. The new technology used by Shell is much less damaging to the environment. Shell is working closely with the nearby community to make sure its research addresses community needs while strongly protecting the oil shale fields, and our Earth in general.
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