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Could Israel Become an Energy Giant?

(Wall Street Journal) Bret Stephens - Harold Vinegar is holding a little vial of oil, light-brown in color, with a look of paternal pride. "It's much lighter than typical crude," he says, describing it as "the equivalent of Saudi extra-light." This is Israel - a country that's been drilling dry holes for six decades in a famously fruitless quest for oil. And the liquid he is holding has been extracted from a nearby deposit of shale oil, which Israel has in abundance. Until recently, Vinegar was a chief scientist at Shell in Houston, with 266 patents to his name, many connected to his quest to develop "unconventional" energy sources such as shale that are uneconomical to extract when oil prices are low. Vinegar estimates a $34-$40 per barrel cost for commercial production - roughly comparable to the cost of deepwater drilling today.
2011-04-08 00:00:00
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