Ikelic - Alliance Digital Repository

OIL SHALE
,
FIGURE 1
MAP OF MAIN OIL SHALE
OCCURRENCES IN ISRAEL
Haifa
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bitumen to sunlight. The Dead Sea asphalts are
the "oil"
probably
thought to have had a significant economical and
of the Bible. The commodity is
political role in the days of the Nabataean
Kingdom (4-1 centuries B.C.) and its contact with
Egypt, the Greeks and the Romans.
Quarrying activity
signs in the Nabi-Musa
deposit, traced also in old air photos, represent
some uses of in situ oH shales in the past. Ex
posed material was and is stiil used in limited
2-20
domestic nomads and as
a soft building stone. 01 shales from Ein Boqeq
amounts for heating by
were successfully applied as a construction
material for potash evaporation ponds in the
southern part of the Dead Sea. A domestically
metamorphosed derivative of the oil shale host
rocks is used as an ornamental building stone,
especially
in terrazzo making.
Israel's Energy Scene
Israel's 1993 total energy consumption was es
timated to be around 12,500 TTOE (= x 1,000
Tons of Oil Equivalent). Most of the energy is
produced from imported crude oil and coal.
The main revolution which has occurred in the Is
raeli energy market since 1980 is the diversifica
tion of electricity generation from a complete de
pendence on crude oil to more than 60 percent
utilization of coal last year. This change was due
to a concerted effort to secure energy resources
from a host of geographical areas. The domestic
energy policy of diversification is aimed at
guaranteeing energy resources in the future.
The proven and estimated reserves of oil shale
are significant. Oil shale sequences may underlie
10-15 percent of the country's area. This equates
to hundreds of billions of tons of organic-
enriched material. Potential oil equivalent of
these reserves could meet domestic energy re
quirements for many centuries.
Potentially negative properties of the Israeli oil
shales, from an industrial point of view are-a low
to medium organic carbon content
(6-17 percent) and thus substantial amounts of
ash generated; relatively high moisture
(approximately 20 percent); significant carbonate
content (45-70 percent calcite) and a relatively
high sulfur content. However, a positive and cru
cial point is the low mining costs estimated for
some of the deposits.
Research
The energy crisis brought about by the 1973 oil
embargo served to focus attention on domestic
THE SYNTHETIC FUELS REPORT, JANUARY 1995