* Israel Presses for Oil From Shale *
With oil prices hovering around $70 a barrel, Israel is
pondering the use of its huge reserves of oil shale.


Thanks to a technical breakthrough, it should be
possible to extract fuel oil from shale for less than
$20 a barrel, which could allow Israel eventually to
cut its crude oil imports by up to one-third.


Moshe Gvirtz, a Russian-born Israeli immigrant,
developed a technique in the 1990s to squeeze oil from
shale at a cost far less than that of older
technologies.

Proposed energy plant could help vastly reduce oil imports

With oil prices hovering around $70 a barrel, Israel is looking for ways to reduce its near-total dependence on energy imports. It's pondering the use of the nation's huge reserves of oil shale ? a dark, crumbly rock loaded with hydrocarbons ? located in the central and southern parts of the country. Thanks to a technical breakthrough, it should be possible to extract fuel oil from the shale for less than $20 a barrel. That could allow Israel eventually to cut its crude imports by up to one-third.

Shale is already used as a fuel for power plants in Israel and Estonia, where the rock is burned like coal to drive steam turbines. Israel's small shale-fired power plant was built nearly 20 years ago. But past attempts to extract liquid oil from shale weren't economically feasible: The process cost upwards of $50 per barrel at a time when oil was selling for less than half that.

In the past the Israeli government has not taken exploiting the country's oil-shale reserves very seriously. But the spike in oil prices has changed all that. If the new technology proves to be as worthwhile as it is cracked up to be, Israel and many other countries could be on the road to greater energy independence within a matter of years.

The technology has a huge potential abroad. Some 25 countries, including the U.S. and Jordan, have substantial shale reserves. Israeli energy industry sources involved in the project say that energy giant Royal Dutch Shell has reportedly expressed interest in the technology. Shell is already active in shale in Colorado.

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