OREANDA-NEWS.   Oil Shale Investment projects are growing worldwide as more companies and countries with large reserves are increasing their investments and resources in exploration activities.

Jordan reserve is estimated to be 70bn tons of near surface oil shale occurrences and is considered as holding the world’s fourth largest reserves after the United States, China and Russia. There are currently 24 known surface and near surface deposits scattered throughout the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Jordan Oil Shale Company B.V (JOSCO) which is owned by Shell has signed a concession agreement with the Government of Jordan, granting JOSCO exclusivity for deep oil shale exploration. The agreement length could reach 120 years according to number of projects and feasibility.

Enefit, who is operating under the name Jordan Oil Shale Energy (JOSE) is one of international oil companies who has signed a concession agreement with Jordan is developing two parallel oil shale projects.

Karak International for Oil “KIO” has also signed a concession agreement to produce 50,000 bbl/d of shale oil using the ATP Canadian Technology; they are in the middle of the Pre-development period.

Additionally there are a further several Memoranda of Understandings that have been signed in Jordan and who are still in the exploration phase. The companies who are involved are Aqaba Petroleum For Oil Shale Co. Ltd. (APCO), Global Oil Shale Holdings (GOSH), National Oil and Electricity Production, Oil Shale Company (JOSECO), and Whitehorn Resources Inc and many others.

The Symposium is expected to attract senior government representatives, policy makers, leading engineers and researchers to discuss the various stages of shale oil production and the industry’s top challenges, projects timeframe’s and commercialization plans in the following years. The Symposium is organized by the Natural Resources Authority (NRA) along with the oil shale companies investing in Jordan.

Speaking on the significance of the Symposium being held in Jordan HE Dr. Mousa Alzyoud, Director General Of the Natural Resources Authority has said that ‘The conference will be discussing the progress of international projects, Jordan’s schedule for commercialization and explored advanced technologies enabling further exploration and exploitation of oil shale resources and the achievement of the oil shale developing companies in Jordan. We envisage that we will be witnessing an in depth analysis of the scale of resources, strategies and policies across the globe, economics and investment challenges and the management of environmental & social Issues’.

The Symposium initially took place in 2012 and gathered over 200 senior level representatives from across the oil shale industry, although its focus is predominantly Jordan based, it is a gathering that includes the leading names in the oil shale world and incorporates international oil shale discoveries and topics. Delegates will have an opportunity to interact with speakers such as Colorado School of Mines, World Energy Council, Enefit, Shell, UMATAC, ThyssenKrupp Polysius, TTU, Hart Group and many more.