Hello Again Friends!
While looking at articles to pen my previous post on a drainage system to sustain floods and heavy rains, I chanced upon the fact that Chennai has a sizable amount of shale in its soil from Wikipedia. I was involved in a conversation with a friend of mine a month or two back and he revealed that the US was exploring shale oil as a substitute to crude oil. In a flash that conversation came to mind and the idea to exploit shale to produce our own substitute for crude oil hit my head.
There’s a saying in Tamil:
புதையல் மீது அமர்ந்தாலும் அடுத்தவன் எச்ச சோத்துக்கு ஆசைப்படுவது.
That is, desiring for what someone else is eating (that too directly from his plate!) while sitting above a treasure trove.
This saying stands not just for Tamils and Tamil Nadu but for Indians and India as a whole. India in my honest opinion has enough to become a superpower, nay, an empire. But this shameful behavior of Indians and Tamils as a whole has turned India into a gutter nation from where talent flees to greener pastures.
Okay, back to the topic of this post that is shale oil.
Though shale oil has a production cost higher than that of crude oil, there’s no harm in attempting to extract shale for energy as crude oil is rapidly depleting and running out at this point of time.
Click to access pwc-shale-oil.pdf
Some Wikipedia articles are available regarding Shale Oil:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shale_oil_extraction
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shale_oil
Shale is present in plenty in Chennai’s soils. It’s a mud-stone and can be commonly found in mud.
Above is a sample of what the mud-stone shale looks like.
http://www.claysandminerals.com/materials/shales
Typical components of oil shale gas are usually methane, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and different hydrocarbons like ethylene. It may also consist of hydrogen sulfide and other impurities. (Source: Wikipedia).
Indeed, shale oil can be used to produce gasoline, diesel and jet fuels.
Here are 2 patents on Google that can give us an idea as to how we can use shale and clay:
http://www.google.com/patents/WO2014014888A1?cl=en
https://www.google.com/patents/WO2014004193A1?cl=en
Here are a few articles that highlight how to extract oil from shale.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/oil-shale1.htm
Using shale and clay, I guess we can make Chennai the energy capital of Tamil Nadu. I believe every city has enough shale and clay for self-sufficiency, but since I live in Chennai, I focus on Chennai.
Thanks a lot to all my readers for your valuable time.
Till the next time, it’s bye, and goodnight… from Iniyavel (Twitter: @Iniyavel_)!
May 18, 2016. 11:45 PM.
Futurist Diaries 
Hello Iniyavel, Keep in mind that having oil under your ground doesnt automatically lead to extraction. If it is not economically feasible then there is no point. A lot of predictions regarding peak oil were not based on the planet running out of oil (though it was sensationalised that way) , but the oil that was still underground was unavailable for extraction at the current price(or incentive) and technology.
It remains to be seen how economically and socio politically feasible is fracking in TN.
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Thanks for your ideas sir. I just had an idea so I posted it up here.
I also read that shale oil is rather expensive to extract compared to crude oil and that’s what’s slowing the US down on shale oil extraction apart from cheaper (now rising again) crude oil.
Anyhow it remains to be seen how shale oil plays out in the future. Researchers have highlighted that it can be used as a substitute for crude oil to produce gasoline, aviation turbine fuel, diesel, etc, but as you say, the economic feasibility and socio political atmosphere for fracking must be conducive enough not just in TN but in India as well. I believe Assam and other NE states will have much more of such resources than TN, not to mention Kerala which has abundant Thorium reserves, possibly the best in the world.
Thanks again.
IS..
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