The United States has an oil reserve at least three times that of Saudi Arabia locked in oil-shale deposits beneath federal land in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, according to a study released yesterday. . . .
For years, the industry and the government considered oil shale — a rock that produces petroleum when heated — too expensive to be a feasible source of oil.
However, oil prices, which spiked above $70 a barrel this week, combined with advances in technology could soon make it possible to tap the estimated 500 billion to 1.1 trillion recoverable barrels, the report found.
I think this means that we’ll have plenty of oil, if somewhat more expensively, to last until we switch to something better. That’s why, as I’ve said before, the “Peak Oil” analysis is, at most, “Peak Cheap Oil.” And it may well be that, once started, the cost of extracting this stuff will fall significantly. (Via NewsAlert).