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 of the same volume as five US bushels. However, by 1866, the oil barrel was standardized at 42 US gallons. Oil has not been shipped in barrels since the introduction of oil tankers, but the 42 US gallon size is still used as a unit for measurement, pricing, and in tax and regulatory codes. Each barrel is refined into about of gasoline, the rest becoming other products such as jet fuel and heating oil, using fractional distillation. Barrels have a convex shape and bulge at their center, called bilge. This facilitates rolling a well-built wooden barrel on its side and