Shale oil vein raises energy, tech hopes

Akita seam first to face fracking

Tapping a new energy source: Workers extract shale oil from deep underground at the Ayukawa field in the city of Yurihonjo, Akita Prefecture, on Oct. 3. | KYODO

By Natsuko Fukue
Staff Writer

Oct 16, 2012

For the first time ever this month, shale oil was extracted from a Japanese oil field.

Although the Ayukawa oil and gas field in Akita Prefecture likely doesn't hold vast quantities, its yield is still good news for a nation seeking new energy resources as it turns away from nuclear power in light of the disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.

Japan's fuel self-sufficiency rate is only 4 percent, or 18 percent if nuclear power remains an option, according to the Natural Resources and Energy Agency. The energy self-sufficiency rate in many industrialized nations ranges from 50 to 153 percent.

SHALE OIL

Shale oil vein raises energy, tech hopes

Akita seam first to face fracking

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