Energy Efficiency of Passenger Transport in Poznan Agglomeration in the Face of Peak Oil - Technology Management for Sustainable Production and Logistics - page 156

from the chemicals added to it, it contains radioactive elements, and among others
benzene, toluene and xylene (Heinberg 2013 ).
Shale oil extraction requires a lot of deep drilling (the wells are longer due to
their lower part running horizontally), which significantly raises the cost of extrac-
tion and lowers the level of EROEI. Although the level has not been studied in more
depth, experts claim it becomes far lower than in the case of conventional sources.
For Ghawar field in Saudi Arabia the EROEI ratio is at the level of 50, whereas for
average sources in the world it is from 17 (Heinberg 2013 ) to almost 20 (Urry 2013 ).
Therefore, extracting oil does not only require more energy input, but also becomes
more expensive as the oil comes from more technically demanding oil fields.
A very low EROEI ratio of 3-5 (Hughes 2013 ) combined with damage to the
natural environment due to deforestation, water contamination and polluting vir-
gin ecosystems is typical of oil sand extraction, a process used on a large scale in
Canada and in Venezuela.
Deep water drilling is associated with a hazard to the environment. The
Deepwater Horizon explosion and then spill in 2010 is just one example. On these
grounds, ecologists are sceptical of Brazil's plans to begin extracting oil from under
the bed of the Atlantic Ocean. The Brazilian deposits are located much deeper than
those in the Gulf of Mexico (that poses a huge technological challenge) and it is
much further from the shore and higher costs will be involved to support the plat-
forms and deliver the oil to the refinery, again lowering the EROEI ratio.
Exploiting underwater oil deposits in the Arctic and other non-conventional
sources poses an even higher threat to the environment. In the Arctic, another
problem arises. The melting ice cap would cause the rise in the sea level followed
by unimaginable consequences that would be faced by hundreds of millions of
people living near shorelines. Therefore, in author's view, it is best if those sources
remain inaccessible.
A lot suggests that not only because of its low supply, but also unchanging
demand and technological considerations, the price of oil will not decrease signifi-
cantly. $60 per barrel of oil-sand oil seems to be the break-even point if it comes from
previously exploited fields. For newly-exploited ones, $80 per barrel is cost-effective.
In the case of new deepwater drilling, the cost-effectiveness is reached at $90 per
barrel (Heinberg 2013 ). For shale, this value is $65-90 per barrel (Carlyle 2013 ).
6 EU Transport Policy in the Context of Oil
and Sustainable Development
The European Union is in a predicament as its oil extraction totalled at a bit over
62 million tonnes in 2013 and it has been falling steadily for a decade now while
the consumption is ten times higher and exceeds 600 million tonnes. Oil deliveries
from Norway are some sort of support as Norway extracted only 83.2 million
tonnes in 2013 and the Norwegian supplies of black gold are running low fast
(BP 2014b ).