Minutes Feb 2007 CBRT

• Basin Roundtable: Colorado
• Title: Minutes
• Date: 2/26/2007
• Basin Roundtables - Doc Type: Minutes

EDITORS NOTE: Estimated water requirements. Los Alamos National
LaboratOlY (LANL) reviewed analyses presented by a range of authors
and concludes that a 2 million barrel per day in-situ shale oil industry
will require between 200,000 to 400,000 acre feet of water per year.
These estimates include water required for power generation and new
residents associated with the industlY. These figures were supplied by
Cathy Wilson, Technical Staff Member at LANL, in a phone
conversation on March 9, 2007. Dr. Wilson estimates it will take
between 1 and 3 barrels of water to produce 1 barrel of shale oil. This
is equivalent to between 95,000 and 285,000 acre feet per year for a 2
million barrel per day shale oil industly. She estimates that an
additional 3.2 barrels of water per day will be required for each of the
400,000 new residents that may be associated with an industlY of this
size, which is equivalent to 60,000 acre feet per year. However, these
water requirement estimates have not been confirmed by industlY.
Cathy Wilson may be reached at 505-667-0202, [e-mail].

The US currently consumes 22 million barrels of oil per day,
so 2 million barrels of daily production would supply 9% of
the US daily requirement. In addition to the water
requirements described above, developing 2 million barrels
of oil fj'om oil shale would also require significant amounts
of electricity. According to Cathy Wilson, it is premature to
predict the electricity needed to produce 2 million barrels of
oil fj'om oil shale, but this should be considered in an oil
shale feasibility analysis.

b. By some estimates, 3.855 million acre feet of consumptive use of Colorado River water is
available to Colorado under the Colorado River Compact, and Colorado is currently
consuming 2.5 million acre feet per year. This suggests 1.355 million acre feet of water is
not being consumed. However, these estimates of available water may be overstated.

c. Pursuant to BLM standards, Shell must prove that its sites are ecologically and socially
sustainable. The earliest date that commercial leasing can occur is December 2008.

d. The type of oil produced by oil shale has high sulphur content, which is suitable for tanks and
fighter jets.

e. Colorado's population increased 31 % between 1990 and 2000, and it is the only Western
state that has estimated a future statewide water shortage (the 20% gap).

10. Report by Greg Trainor for the Energy Needs Subcommittee. The first task is to total up the
conditional water rights outstanding for energy development. He noted that the US Department
of Defense is committed to purchasing up to 2.5 million bane1s per day by 2015. The USGS
analysis suggests that at 3-4 barrels of water are required for every barrel of oil produced, this
amounts to a minimum requirement of275,000 total acre feet to develop 2.5 million bane1s per
day.

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