Oil shale in Belarus

Oil shale in Belarus is a large, but undeveloped energy resource. Belarus is estimated to contain 8.8 billion tonnes of oil shale, with up to 3.6 billion tonnes of recoverable reserves, all concentrated within the Pripyat Shale Basin, occupying western Homiel, southern Minsk and eastern Brest voblasts. While the reserves have been known for decades, they remain unexplored due to the shale's high ash and sulphur content, low heat of combustion and high cost of extraction and processing. However, depletion of reserves of traditional petroleum and natural gas, as well as high degree of reliance on imported hydrocarbons (from Russia), have recently renewed interest in oil shale exploration in the country.

History of exploration

In 1963, oil shale was discovered in Soviet Belarus. The Pripyat Basin, covering an area of over 10,000 km² and containing shales of Upper Devonian to Lower Carboniferous age, has been extensively studied during the 1970s–1980s, while the smaller deposits in the other parts of the country (Podlasie-Brest Depression, Orsha Depression and Zhlobin Saddle) were found to be of negligible economic value. Within the Pripyat Basin, two potentially exploitable deposits, Lyuban and Turov, have been identified, estimated to contain 0.9 and 2.7 billion tonnes of shale respectively. Unlike nearby Estonia with its large reserves, where extensive oil shale industry was constructed during the Soviet period, the Belarusian deposits were deemed inexpedient to develop. Compared to the Estonian deposits, Belarusian shales are of lower quality: containing 10–28% of organic matter, their heat of combustion is 4.2–9.5 MJ/kg, while the ash content ranges from 58 to 87%. Due to these properties, the shales cannot be burned directly at a fossil fuel power station; the rocks must first undergo the process of pyrolysis, which results in production of shale oil, oil shale gas and other factions that can then be used like the conventionally produced hydrocarbons. Furthermore, a significant depth of seams (64–514 m) excludes the possibility of open-pit mining, adding to the cost of production. For these reasons, fossil fuel extraction in Belarus has been limited to the more easily accessible and cheaply produced conventional oil and gas. Though this was insufficient for the total energy needs of the republic, additional resources were supplied from elsewhere in the Soviet Union.

Future prospects

After the Soviet collapse, the newly independent Belarus became highly reliant on imported hydrocarbons from Russia, while the production of domestic oil and gas peaked in the 1970s and has been steadily declining ever since. As of 2010, relations with Russia have deteriorated significantly, largely, due to numerous energy disputes. As a part of its energy security, Belarus has recently renewed interest in oil shale exploration. One of its main obstacles is the problem of complex utilization of large volumes of waste products. It has been suggested to use the oil shale ash in production of concrete and ceramics, as well as in soil liming. In 2010, the Belarusian government decided on a construction of an oil shale processing plant, though financing of the project remains in question: a Luxembourgian company withdrew from the endeavour, forcing Belarus to start negotiations with the Chinese investors. Belarus also seeks to build cooperation with Estonia, which has one of the most developed oil shale industries in the world.