https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Skoltech researchers have studied the effect of injecting two chemical agents for enhanced oil recovery into oil shale. As it turned out, both of the investigated fluids—water solutions of nanoparticles and a soaplike substance called a surfactant—are not feasible options for shale oil projects. In fact, these agents may trap the oil underground instead of helping it to be recovered. Bearing that risk in mind, the performance of other agents should now be explored, the scientists suggest. Their findings are reported in Energy & Fuels. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-oil-shale-deposit-technique-boosting.html Earth Sciences Thu, 03 Aug 2023 10:30:30 EDT news610277413 Fracking for natural gas in parts of Pennsylvania with a legacy of energy extraction may increase the risk of groundwater contamination, according to a team led by Penn State scientists. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-links-shale-gas-legacy-energy.html Earth Sciences Wed, 21 Sep 2022 09:39:59 EDT news582971995 Shale oil, a type of crude oil similar to petroleum, is found between layers of organic-rich shale. It can be refined into petrol, diesel, and other products, making it a sought-after resource. The Qingshankou Formation in the Gulong Sag of the Songliao Basin in China is a large geological body of shale deposits formed at the bottom of an ancient lake. These deposits contain about 15.3 billion tons of pure shale oil. Naturally, the Gulong-Qingshankou Formation is an important national reservoir for shale oil. Recent studies have revealed interesting attributes of this massive reservoir, especially the presence of nanopores in the shale layers containing solid bitumen that has remained unmoved for centuries. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-deeper-explores-nanoscale-properties-gulong.html Earth Sciences Thu, 08 Sep 2022 16:04:41 EDT news581871876 Shale oil exploration has rapidly expanded since the beginning of the 21st century, particularly in North America. Since 2010, the production of marine shale oil has increased at an average rate of more than 25% annually, making the US the global leader in production with total recoverable resources pegged at approximately 20.7 billion tons. Developing shale oil resources has significant potential to shape energy security and geopolitics. In addition to marine shale oil, countries have also begun utilizing lacustrine basins for oil production. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-lacustrine-shale-reserves-bolster-china.html Earth Sciences Thu, 01 Sep 2022 14:27:03 EDT news581261221 In a year that has already battered manufacturing supply chains, yet another shortage is complicating manufacturers' and consumers' lives: plastics, and the food packaging, automotive components, clothing, medical and lab equipment and countless other items that rely on them. https://phys.org/news/2021-07-plastic-shortage-chemical-catalyst.html Materials Science Thu, 08 Jul 2021 14:00:01 EDT news544952098 An international team of researchers has found a way to isolate individual methane contributors in the Permian Basin. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the group describes using satellite images to isolate sites that are releasing large amounts of methane into the atmosphere in the Permian Basin. https://phys.org/news/2021-07-satellite-images-reveal-large-amounts.html Earth Sciences Thu, 01 Jul 2021 10:46:06 EDT news544355157 Porous rock containing oil and natural gas are buried so deep inside the earth that shale operators rely on complex models of the underground environment to estimate fossil fuel recovery. These simulations are notoriously complex, requiring highly-skilled operators to run them. These factors indirectly impact the cost of shale oil production and ultimately, how much consumers pay for their fuel. https://phys.org/news/2020-06-oil-technique-spreadsheets-shale.html Environment Mon, 22 Jun 2020 15:54:26 EDT news512060063 The collapse in global oil prices may end up being bad news in the short term for the transition to green energy, as cheaper crude could see more use of cars and aircraft. https://phys.org/news/2020-03-oil-price-affect-green-energy.html Environment Wed, 11 Mar 2020 04:30:02 EDT news503119390 The level of methane in the atmosphere has risen dramatically in the last decade—and climate scientists are worried. Although there's still roughly 60 times less of it floating around than carbon dioxide, the gas heats the planet 86 times more intensely than CO₂ over a 20-year period, meaning that it accounts for about a quarter of human-caused global heating we're experiencing today. And because it's so potent in the short-term, fluctuations in its levels can have large and rapid impacts on how much global temperature rises in the next few decades. https://phys.org/news/2019-08-methane-emissions-spike-main-culprit.html Earth Sciences Thu, 15 Aug 2019 11:11:35 EDT news485084357 As methane concentrations increase in the Earth's atmosphere, chemical fingerprints point to a probable source: shale oil and gas, according to new Cornell University research published today (14 August) in Biogeosciences, a journal of the European Geosciences Union. https://phys.org/news/2019-08-fracking-prompts-global-spike-atmospheric.html Earth Sciences Wed, 14 Aug 2019 10:40:00 EDT news484997991 It is a figure that has been thrown around quite a bit lately in the energy debate – the United States has enough energy in shale to provide all of the nation's transportation fuels for 100 years. But two challenges remain – how to tap into that supply and how to process it into fuel at a reasonable price. https://phys.org/news/2019-04-year-natural-gas.html Energy & Green Tech Wed, 03 Apr 2019 09:33:33 EDT news473502810 A pair of researchers, one with the Institute of Management and Economics at Clausthal University of Technology, the other the Department of Earth and Environment at Boston University, has found evidence that suggests oil prices might now be based on futures contracts instead of day-to-day price fluctuations. In their paper published in the journal Nature Energy, Esmail Ansari and Robert Kaufmann describe their study of the oil price market and suggest an explanation for its recent odd behavior. https://phys.org/news/2019-03-tight-oil-prices-based-futures.html Economics & Business Tue, 19 Mar 2019 09:21:23 EDT news472206022 Gas is hugely important to the UK. The country uses more than 65 billion cubic metres to heat most of its 25m homes and generate around a quarter of its electricity each year. Despite efforts to move to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, demand for gas is likely to remain high for the foreseeable future. https://phys.org/news/2017-08-huge-flaw-uk-fracking-geology.html Environment Wed, 16 Aug 2017 08:20:01 EDT news422087128 Danny Reible and Denny Bullard in the Whitacre College of Engineering examined the impact of shale oil and gas production on water quality. https://phys.org/news/2017-06-expertise-tamest-shale-task.html Environment Tue, 20 Jun 2017 09:20:03 EDT news417168609 Most of the world's oil and natural gas reserves may be locked up inside the tiny pores comprising shale rock. But current drilling and fracturing methods can't extract this fuel very well, recovering only an estimated 5 percent of oil and 20 percent of gas from shale. That's partly due to a poor understanding of how fluids flow through these small pores, which measure only nanometers across. https://phys.org/news/2017-05-fluids-shale.html Soft Matter Tue, 02 May 2017 11:20:50 EDT news412942842 Researchers analyzing the genomes of microorganisms living in shale oil and gas wells have found evidence of sustainable ecosystems taking hold there—populated in part by a never-before-seen genus of bacteria they have dubbed "Frackibacter." https://phys.org/news/2016-09-genus-bacteria-hydraulic-fracturing-wells.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 05 Sep 2016 11:00:07 EDT news392269976 Researchers at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) have developed mathematical models and software enabling Russian shale oil producers to reduce development costs. Multiple hydraulic fracturing (aka hydrofracking) is a standard shale oil extraction technique. It involves the high-pressure injection of fluid into a horizontal borehole. The fluid used is typically water with sand or other specially designed additives (called proppants). The rock formation is first fractured by water, allowing oil to flow freely into the borehole. When the pressure is released, the fractures are held open by the proppant. This speeds up oil extraction and increases production output. However, this technique relies on preliminary calculations; if these are ignored, enormous financial losses could result. https://phys.org/news/2016-08-technique-cheaper-shale-oil.html Earth Sciences Tue, 16 Aug 2016 05:46:54 EDT news390545199 Production levels of oil increase every year - in 2015, an estimated 97 million barrels were pumped out of the Earth every day. We're all aware that it is a finite resource, and it's commonly predicted that the world will enter an oil crisis in the next 20 to 30 years. This would result in a decline in production so rapid that the world would not have enough time to develop new sources of energy, leading to drastic social and economic impacts. https://phys.org/news/2016-06-student-stunning-oil.html Environment Thu, 02 Jun 2016 09:26:00 EDT news384078350 Energy-related developments in the Salish Sea between Washington and British Columbia underscore the need for a transnational approach to assessing the risks to the entire ecosystem, according to a study by the SeaDoc Society, a program of the UC Davis Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center, and the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, part of the area's indigenous Coast Salish people. https://phys.org/news/2016-01-energy-impacts-salish-sea.html Environment Tue, 05 Jan 2016 05:57:27 EST news371195839 The U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory this week released a pair of studies on the efficiency of shale oil production excavation. The reports show that shale oil production generates greenhouse gas emissions at levels similar to traditional crude oil production. https://phys.org/news/2015-10-analysis-greenhouse-gas-emissions-similar.html Environment Thu, 15 Oct 2015 16:54:02 EDT news364146832 Energy companies used nearly 250 billion gallons of water to extract unconventional shale gas and oil from hydraulically fractured wells in the United States between 2005 and 2014, a new Duke University study finds. https://phys.org/news/2015-09-fracking.html Environment Tue, 15 Sep 2015 11:38:33 EDT news361535856 The U.S. Bureau of Land Management recently revamped 25-year-old rules for oil and gas drilling on federal and Indian lands to deal with environmental concerns about hydraulic fracturing. https://phys.org/news/2015-04-federal-hydraulic-fracturing-good-experts.html Environment Tue, 28 Apr 2015 08:00:01 EDT news349425129 Duke University scientists have discovered high levels of two potentially hazardous contaminants, ammonium and iodide, in wastewater being discharged or spilled into streams and rivers from oil and gas operations in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. https://phys.org/news/2015-01-contaminants-oil-gas-wastewater.html Environment Wed, 14 Jan 2015 09:21:41 EST news340449693 Unanticipated economic benefits from the shale oil and gas boom could help offset the costs of substantially reducing the U.S.'s carbon footprint, Purdue agricultural economists say. https://phys.org/news/2014-08-shale-oil-dividend-smaller-carbon.html Environment Mon, 18 Aug 2014 15:22:00 EDT news327594090 Shale oil and gas have had limited benefits for the US economy and their advantages for Europe will be even slimmer, a French think tank said Wednesday. https://phys.org/news/2014-02-shale-miracle-solution-europe.html Environment Wed, 12 Feb 2014 17:10:01 EST news311446457 A searchable, comparative law database outlining water quality regulations for Colorado and other states experiencing shale oil and gas development is now available on LawAtlas.org. https://phys.org/news/2013-12-online-database-quality-oil-gas.html Environment Wed, 11 Dec 2013 11:20:01 EST news305980851 France's Constitutional Council on Friday upheld a law banning fracking, the controversial process used to extract shale oil and gas from the ground. https://phys.org/news/2013-10-france-fracking.html Environment Fri, 11 Oct 2013 09:20:02 EDT news300701108 Argentina is investing heavily in shale oil, hoping to ride it to energy self-sufficiency and end dependence on imports that cost billions of dollars each year. https://phys.org/news/2013-10-shale-oil-boom-fuel-argentina.html Environment Thu, 03 Oct 2013 13:50:01 EDT news300026260 Shale oil and gas may be massive untapped energy sources, but the risks of extracting them has drawn calls for tighter regulation or an all-out ban. https://phys.org/news/2013-09-shale-pits-environmental-economic.html Environment Tue, 24 Sep 2013 14:41:48 EDT news299252499 After unleashing an energy revolution in the United States, shale gas and oil are now becoming energy game-changers worldwide, a break with the past whose ramifications are still unclear. https://phys.org/news/2013-09-shale-gas-oil-reshape-world.html Energy & Green Tech Tue, 24 Sep 2013 05:30:01 EDT news299218399