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
History of the oil shale industry in the United States as Americans bought record numbers of automobiles. Despite steadily growing domestic petroleum production, the American oil industry could not supply the rapidly growing demand, especially for gasoline, and the country had to import increasing amounts of oil, raising prices, and causing widespread speculation that petroleum would be soon exhausted. America was quickly running out of petroleum and into a permanent state of energy scarcity – or at least many experts said so. The average price of crude oil in the United States more than tripled, going from $0.64 per barrel in 1915 to US$2.01 in 1920. Domestic oil production grew,