Shale oil extraction Energy estimates that the "ex-situ" processing would be economic at sustained average world oil prices above $54 per barrel and "in-situ" processing would be economic at prices above $35 per barrel. These estimates assume a return rate of 15%. Royal Dutch Shell announced in 2006 that its Shell ICP technology would realize a profit when crude oil prices are higher than $30 per barrel ($190/m), while some technologies at full-scale production assert profitability at oil prices even lower than $20 per barrel ($130/m). To increase the efficiency of oil shale retorting and by this the viability of the shale oil
Barrel (unit) derived in medieval times from the French "baril", of unknown origin, but still in use, both in French and as derivations in many other languages such as Italian, Polish and Spanish. In most countries such usage is obsolescent, increasingly superseded by SI units. As a result, the meaning of corresponding words and related concepts (vat, cask, keg etc.) in other languages often refers to a physical container rather than a known measure. In the international oil market context, however, prices in United States dollars per barrel are commonly used, and the term is variously translated, often to derivations of the