Estonia taps into global oil shale market

(29 May 2013) AP Television Silamae, Estonia - 26 March 2013 1. Close-up of underground drill being used to extract oil shale 2. Zoom in on drilling machine 3. Zoom out of worker operating drilling machine 4. Close-up of drill being pulled out of bore hole 5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Tarmu Aas, Eesti Energia state utility company: "We are producing electricity here and we are getting oil shale which is a speciality for us. It's a fuel which we are using, getting it from the mines, transporting by trains to the station. We are crushing it and then burning in our boilers. We're getting steam, steam is rotating turbines, and after that we get electricity and it's going to the grid. We are selling it (the electricity) in Estonia as well to Finland, Latvia, Lithuania." 6. Tracking shot from moving vehicle in underground mine 7. Wide of drilling machine 8. Close-up of drill going into rock 9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Tarmu Aas, Eesti Energia state utility company: "First of all oil shale is a very special fuel and it's available not in every country. At the moment the most fuel used is oil and still process from oil shale is more expensive than from the oil. So it is a reason why most of the countries are using oil still. But at the moment things are changing when oil prices are getting too high. So we are getting also possibility to be on the market." 10. Wide of rock-crushing machinery inside power station 11. Close-up of rocks on conveyer belt 12. Zoom out from worker in power station to wide of equipment in main hall AP Television Helsinki, Finland - 18 April 2013 13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Jehki Harkonen, Greenpeace spokesman: "At the moment, Estonia is getting over 90-percent of their electricity production out of this oil shale. And it's a completely fossil mode of energy production so it means that you free carbon that has been stored in the ground to the atmosphere, therefore causing further climate change and that's why it's in essence, it's unsustainable." AP Television Silamae, Estonia - 26 March 2013 14. Various of rock-crushing machinery inside power station AP Television Helsinki, Finland - 18 April 2013 15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Jehki Harkonen, Greenpeace spokesman: "This particular form of shale oil burning happens to be extremely polluting. What they're trying to do is get rid of the local emissions that come directly from the pipe (chimney). But the amount of CO2 (carbon dioxide) that is being released to the atmosphere is still quite high. It's about one of the highest amounts of CO2 emissions per kilowatt hour (of electricity) that you can get." AP Television Silamae, Estonia - 26 March 2013 16. Wide exterior of power station chimneys 17. Close-up of chimney 18. Wide of worker in power station control room 19. Close-up of digital displays 20. Wide of control panel AP Television Silamae, Estonia - 27 March 2013 21. Mid of men inside new oil refinery 22. SOUNDBITE: (English) Igor Kond, Eesti Energia oil refinery manager: "What we are doing here, we are taking the oil shale, our stone, put it into the furnaces and increasing the temperature until 500 degrees and without oxygen. Near the temperature of 500 degrees from the oil shale, from the stone, start to evaporate all organic matters. And we eliminate from the furnaces this vapour gas mixture and send to the condensation unit, while our target to cool down this vapour gas mixture and receive the oil." 23. High shot of construction site at new oil refinery 24. Mid of Igor Kond, Eesti Energia oil refinery manager, on roof of building talking to colleagues 26. Zoom in on electricity pylons Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...