Oil shale in Estonia

History

Early history

It is often reported that 18th-century naturalist and explorer Johann Anton Güldenstädt had mentioned a discovery of a "burning rock" near Jõhvi in 1725, but his published travel notes mention neither oil shale nor Estonia. It is also often reported that the earliest documented record of oil shale in Estonia, authored by the Baltic German publicist and linguist August Wilhelm Hupel, dates to 1777. However, this is based on a misinterpretation of the German word Steinöhl (meaning: stone oil), which was used by Hupel but which most likely did not mean oil shale in the context of his publication.

In the second half of the 18th century, the St. Petersburg Free Economic Society started to search for information about combustible minerals which as fuels would replace the decreasing stock of trees in the European part of Russia. As a result of these inquiries, the Society received information about a combustible mineral found at the Kohala Manor near Rakvere. According to the landlord of the Kohala estate, Baron Fabian Reinhold Ungern-Sternberg, the 'burning rock' was discovered at a depth of about ten meters when a spring was opened on the slope of a sandy hump, as it was during the digging of a well some years earlier on the same slope. This discovery was briefly mentioned in a paper prepared by the German chemist Johann Gottlieb Georgi and presented by the Actual State Councillor Anton-Johann Engelhardt at the meeting of the Society in 1789. The first scientific research into the rock's oil yield, using samples from the village of Vanamõisa of the Kohala Manor, was published by Georgi at the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1791. In 1838 and 1839, the Baltic German geologist Gregor von Helmersen published a detailed description of the deposits of kukersite in Vanamõisa and graptolitic argillite in Keila-Joa. In 1838 he made a thorough experiment to distil oil from the Vanamõisa oil shale deposit.

During the 1850s, large-scale works were undertaken in Estonia to transform excessively wet land into land suitable for agriculture; this included the digging of drainage ditches. In the process, previously unknown layers of oil shale were discovered in several locations. In the years 1850–1857, the territory of Estonia was explored by the Baltic German geologist Carl Friedrich Schmidt who studied these findings of oil shale. Russian chemist Aleksandr Shamarin, who at the end of the 1860s had studied the composition and properties of oil shale originating from the Kukruse area, concluded it made sense to use oil shale for the production of gas and as a solid fuel. However, he considered shale oil production unprofitable. During the remainder of the 19th century oil shale was used locally as a low-grade fuel only. For example, in the 1870s, Robert von Toll, landlord of the Kukruse Manor, started to use oil shale as a fuel for the manor's distillery. There were failed attempts to use graptolitic argillite as fertilizer in the 19th century. In the beginning of the 20th century, geologist and engineer Carl August von Mickwitz studied self-ignition of graptolitic argillite near Paldiski. At the University of Tartu oil shale geology and chemistry analyses were conducted during the 19th century by Georg Paul Alexander Petzholdt, Alexander Gustav von Schrenk, and Carl Ernst Heinrich Schmidt, among others.

Beginning of the oil shale industry

Analysis of Estonian oil shale resources and mining possibilities intensified during the early 20th century while Estonia was part of the Russian Empire. Industrial development was under way in Saint Petersburg (known as Petrograd in 1914–24), but regional fuel resources were in short supply. A large shale oil extraction plant for processing Estonian oil shale was proposed in 1910. The outbreak of World War I, coupled with a fuel supply crisis, accelerated the pace of the research.

In June 1916, the Russian geologist Nikolay Pogrebov oversaw mining of the first tonnes of oil shale at Pavandu and delivered it to Saint Petersburg (then Petrograd) Polytechnic Institute for large-scale experiments. These events marking the beginning of the Estonian oil shale industry took place more than half a century after an oil shale industry had emerged in Scotland, the leading oil shale industry in 1916, and a decade before the industry emerged in China, which, besides Estonia, is today the other leading oil shale-exploiting country. In 1916 a total of 640–690 tonnes of oil shale were sent to Saint Petersburg for testing. The tests proved that the oil shale was suitable for combustion as a solid fuel and for extraction of oil shale gas and shale oil. Based on these promising results, a plan for oil shale mining in Estonia was presented to the Emperor Nicholas II on 3 January 1917. On 13 February 1917, the Council of Ministers of Russia allocated 1.2 million roubles to purchase land and start mining activities. After the February Revolution, the Russian Provisional Government appointed a special commissioner for oil shale purchasing and stockpiling who began preliminary work for the digging of an oil shale mine at Pavandu, with full-scale construction carried out by about 500 workers, including war prisoners, in the summer of 1917. After the October Revolution, financing ceased and construction stopped. Two private Saint Petersburg firms, established specially for oil shale mining, Böckel & Co. and Mutschnik & Co., which in the fall of 1916 had begun surface mining at Kukruse and Järve, respectively, also terminated their mining activities in 1917.

In February 1918, the area surrounding the oil shale basin in northeast Estonia was occupied by German troops. During this occupation, mining activities were carried out at Pavandu by the German company Internationales Baukonsortium (English: International Construction Consortium), including sending oil shale to Germany for research and experimentation. This work used a retort constructed by Julius Pintsch AG, known as a Pintsch generator. In late 1918, German forces left Estonia, by which time no more than a single trainload of oil shale had been mined and sent to Germany.

Developments in interwar Estonia

After Estonia gained independence, the state owned oil shale enterprise, Riigi Põlevkivitööstus (English: Estonian State Oil Shale Industry), was established as a department of the Ministry for Trade and Industry on 24 November 1918. The enterprise, later named Esimene Eesti Põlevkivitööstus (English: First Estonian Oil Shale Industry), was the predecessor of Viru Keemia Grupp, one of the current shale oil producers in Estonia. It took over the existing Pavandu open-pit mine, and opened new mines at Vanamõisa (1919), Kukruse (1920), and Käva (1924). Also, several private investors, including investors from abroad, initiated oil shale industries in Estonia by opening mines at Kiviõli (1922), Küttejõu (1925), Ubja (1926), Viivikonna (1936), and Kohtla (1937). Pavandu mine was closed in 1927 and Vanamõisa mine was closed in 1931. While in 1918 only 16 tonnes and in 1919 only 9,631 tonnes of oil shale were mined, in 1937 the annual output exceeded one million tonnes. In 1940, the annual output reached 1,891,674 tonnes.

Initially, oil shale was used primarily in the cement industry, but also for firing locomotive furnaces and as a household fuel. The first major industrial consumers of oil shale were cement factories in Kunda and Aseri. By 1925, all locomotives in Estonia were powered by oil shale.

Shale oil production started in Estonia in 1921 when Riigi Põlevkivitööstus built 14 experimental oil shale processing retorts in Kohtla-Järve. These vertical retorts used the method developed by Julius Pintsch AG that would later evolve into the current Kiviter processing technology. Along with the shale oil extraction plant, an oil shale research laboratory was founded in 1921. Following the experimental retorts, the first commercial shale oil plant was put into operation on 24 December 1924. The German-owned company Eesti Kiviõli (German: Estländische Steinöl, English: Estonian Stone Oil, predecessor of Kiviõli Keemiatööstus), affiliated with G. Scheel & Co. and Mendelssohn & Co., was established in 1922. By the end of the 1930s, it had become the largest shale oil producer in Estonia. Around the company's mine and oil plant, the Kiviõli settlement (now town) was formed in the same way as the Küttejõu settlement (now district of Kiviõli) formed around the mine owned by Eesti Küttejõud. In 1924, the British investor-owned Estonian Oil Development Syndicate Ltd. (later Vanamõisa Oilfields Ltd.) purchased an open-pit mine in Vanamõisa and opened a shale oil extraction plant that was abandoned in 1931 due to technical problems. The Swedish–Norwegian consortium Eestimaa Õlikonsortsium (Swedish: Estländska Oljeskifferkonsortiet, English: Estonian Oil Consortium), controlled by Marcus Wallenberg, was founded in Sillamäe in 1926. New Consolidated Gold Fields Ltd. of the United Kingdom built a shale oil extraction plant at Kohtla-Nõmme in 1931. This facility continued to operate until 1961.

In 1934, Eesti Kiviõli and New Consolidated Gold Fields established the service station chain Trustivapaa Bensiini (now: Teboil) in Finland, which in 1940 sold more shale-oil-derived gasoline in Finland than did the entire conventional gasoline market in Estonia. Since 1935, Estonian shale oil has been supplied to the German Kriegsmarine as a ship fuel. In 1938, 45% of Estonian shale oil was exported, accounting for 8% of Estonia's total exports. Although the price of oil shale-based gasoline was at least triple that of global gasoline prices, high production and bilateral agreements with Germany facilitated its export. In 1939, Estonia produced 181,000 tonnes of shale oil, including 22,500 tonnes of oil that were suitable gasoline equivalents. The mining and oil industry employed 6,150 persons.

The oil shale-fired electrical power industry started in 1924 when the Tallinn Power Station switched to oil shale. In 1933, it reached a capacity of 22 megawatts (MW). Other oil shale-fired power stations were built in Püssi (3.7 MW), Kohtla (3.7 MW), Kunda (2.3 MW), and Kiviõli (0.8 MW). At the beginning of World War II, the total capacity of oil shale-fired power stations was 32.5 MW. Only the Tallinn and Püssi power stations were connected to the grid.

On 9 May 1922 the first international discussion of Estonian kukersite took place at the 64th meeting of the Institution of Petroleum Technologists. Systematic research into oil shale and its products began at Tartu University's Oil Shale Research Laboratory in 1925, initiated by professor Paul Kogerman. In 1937, the Geological Committee under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and the Institute of Natural Resources, an independent academic institution, were established. A department of mining was established at Tallinn Technical University in 1938. Estonian oil shale industries conducted tests of oil shale samples from Australia, Bulgaria, Germany and South Africa.

Developments in German-occupied Estonia

Soon after the Soviet occupation in 1940, the entire oil shale industry was nationalised and subordinated to the Mining Office and later to the General Directorate of Mining and Fuel Industry of the Peoples' Commissariat for Light Industry. Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 and the industry's infrastructure was largely destroyed by retreating Soviet forces. During the subsequent German occupation, the industry was merged into a company named Baltische Öl GmbH. Baltische Öl became the largest industry in the Estonian territory. This entity was subordinated to Kontinentale Öl, a company that had exclusive rights to oil production in German-occupied territories.

The primary purpose of the industry was production of oil for the German Army. In 1943, after the German troops retreated from the Caspian oil region, Estonian oil shale became increasingly important. On 16 March 1943, Hermann Göring issued a secret order stating that "development and utilisation of Estonian oil shale industry is the most important military-economic task in the territories of the former Baltic states". On 21 June 1943, Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler issued an order to send as many male Jews as possible to the oil shale mining.

Baltische Öl consisted of five units (Kiviõli, Küttejõu, Kohtla-Järve, Sillamäe, and Kohtla), all of which were partially restored, previously existing industries. In addition, Baltische Öl started construction of a new mining and shale oil extraction complex in Ahtme, but it never became operational. Prisoners of war and forced labour made up about two-thirds of the work force in these units.

While Soviet troops were advancing into Estonia during 1944, about 200 Estonian oil shale specialists were evacuated to Schömberg, Germany, to work at an oil shale industry there, codenamed Operation Desert (Unternehmen Wüste). Shale oil extraction plants in Estonia were destroyed and mines were ignited or inundated by the retreating Germans. Existing oil shale-fired power stations were also destroyed.

Developments in Soviet Estonia

In 1945–1946 the mining industry was merged into Eesti Põlevkivi (Russian: Эстонсланец, literally: Estonian Oil Shale; now part of Enefit Power) under the General Directorate of Oil Shale Industry of the USSR (Glavslanets). Shale oil extraction, except the Kiviõli and Kohtla-Nõmme plants, was merged into the Kohtla-Järve shale oil combinate (Russian: Сланцехим, now Viru Keemia Grupp) under the General Directorate of Synthetic Liquid Fuel and Gas of the USSR (Glavgaztopprom). Both organisations were directed from Moscow.

New mines were opened in Ahtme (1948), Jõhvi (No. 2, 1949), Sompa (1949), Tammiku (1951), and in the area between Käva and Sompa (No. 4, 1953). The Küttejõu open-pit mine was closed in 1947 and the Küttejõu underground mine was merged with the Kiviõli mine in 1951. The Ubja mine was closed in 1959. After construction of large oil shale-fired power stations, demand for oil shale increased and consequently new larger mines were constructed: the underground mines Viru (1965) and Estonia (1972) along with the open-pit mines Sirgala (1963), Narva (1970) and Oktoobri (1974; later named Aidu). Correspondingly, several exhausted smaller mines like Kukruse (1967), Käva (1972), No. 2 (1973), No. 4 (1975), and Kiviõli (1987) were closed. The Estonia Mine became the largest oil shale mine in the world. Because of the success of oil shale-based power generation, Estonian oil shale mining peaked in 1980 at 31.35 million tonnes, and in the same year power generation peaked at 18.9 TWh. The industry declined during the subsequent two decades. Demand for electric power generated from oil shale decreased following construction of nuclear power stations in the Russian SFSR, particularly the Leningrad Nuclear Power Station. At the end of 1988, a fire broke out in the Estonia Mine. The largest underground fire in Estonia, it continued for 81 days and caused serious pollution of ground and surface waters.

The shale oil industry at Kohtla-Järve and Kiviõli was redeveloped. In 1945, the first tunnel kiln was restored, and by the end of the 1940s four tunnel kilns located in Kiviõli and Kohtla-Nõmme had been restored. German prisoners of war contributed most of the labour. Between 1946 and 1963, 13 Kiviter-type retorts were built in Kohtla-Järve and eight in Kiviõli. In 1947, a pilot Galoter retort was built at the Ilmarine engineering plant in Tallinn. This unit, in operation until 1956, was capable of processing 2.5 tonnes of oil shale per day and was used for modelling the next generation of commercial-scale retorts. The first Galoter-type commercial-scale pilot retorts were built at Kiviõli in 1953 and 1963 with capacities of 200 and 500 tonnes of oil shale per day, respectively. The first of these retorts closed in 1963 and the second in 1981. The Narva Oil Plant, annexed to the Eesti Power Station and operating two Galoter-type 3,000-tonnes-per day retorts, was commissioned in 1980. Started as a pilot plant, the process of converting it to a commercial-scale plant took about 20 years.

In 1948 an oil shale gas plant in Kohtla-Järve became operational, and for several decades the oil shale gas was used as a substitute for natural gas in Saint Petersburg (then known as Leningrad) and in northern Estonian cities. It was the first time in history that synthetic gas from oil shale was used in households. To enable delivery of the gas, a 200-kilometre (120 mi) pipeline from Kohtla-Järve to Saint Peterburg was built, followed by a 150-kilometre (93 mi) pipeline from Kohtla-Järve to Tallinn. During the 1950s, unsuccessful tests of oil shale underground gasification were conducted at Kiviõli. In 1962 and 1963, the conversion of oil shale gas into ammonium was tested; however, for industrial production, oil shale gas was replaced with natural gas. Although this gas had become uneconomical by 1958, production continued and was even expanded. After peaking in 1976 at 597.4 million cubic metres (21.10×10⁹ cu ft), oil shale gas production ceased in 1987. In total, 276 generators were operated for the gas production.

In 1949, the 48 MW Kohtla-Järve Power Station – the first power station in the world to use pulverised oil shale at an industrial scale – was commissioned, followed by the 72.5 MW Ahtme Power Station in 1951. To ensure sufficient electricity supply in Estonia, Latvia and north-west Russia, the Balti Power Station (1,430 MW) and the Eesti Power Station (1,610 MW) were built, the former between 1959 and 1971 and the latter between 1969 and 1973. The stations, collectively known as the Narva Power Stations, are the world's two largest oil shale-fired power stations. In 1988 Moscow-based authorities planned a third oil shale-fired power station in Narva with a capacity of 2,500 MW, together with a new mine at Kuremäe. The plan, disclosed at the time of the Phosphorite War and the Singing Revolution, met with strong local opposition and was never implemented.

Between 1946 and 1952, uranium compounds were extracted from locally mined graptolitic argillite at the Sillamäe Processing Plant (now: Silmet). More than 60 tonnes of uranium compounds (corresponding to 22.5 tonnes of elemental uranium) were produced. Some sources note that uranium produced in Sillamäe was used for construction of the first Soviet atomic bomb; however, this information is not confirmed by the archive materials.

An oil shale research institute (now a department within Tallinn University of Technology) was founded at Kohtla-Järve in 1958. Preliminary research into oil shale-based chemical production began the same year, exploring the potential for the use of oil shale in bitumen, synthetic construction materials, detergents, synthetic leathers, synthetic fibres, plastics, paints, soaps, glues, and pesticides. Between 1959 and 1985, 5.275 billion cubic metres (186.3×10⁹ cu ft) of mineral wool were produced from oil shale coke, a solid residue of oil shale. In 1968, a branch of the Skochinsky Institute of Mining was established in Kohtla-Järve, and in 1984 the scientific-technical journal Oil Shale was founded in Estonia.

Developments in independent Estonia

In the 1990s, after Estonia regained independence, the country underwent a restructuring of the economy, causing the collapse of a large part of the heavy industry sector. This collapse led to a decrease in the consumption of electricity and thus a decrease in the need for the oil shale that was mined to produce it. Electricity and shale oil export to former Soviet markets largely ceased. Due to a decrease in demand, the Tammiku and Sompa mines closed in 1999 and those at Kohtla and Ahtme closed in 2001.

In 1995, state-owned shale oil producers in Kohtla-Järve and Kiviõli were merged into the single company named RAS Kiviter. In 1997, Kiviter was privatized and a year later it declared insolvency. Its factories in Kohtla-Järve and Kiviõli were sold separately and new oil producers – Viru Keemia Grupp and Kiviõli Keemiatööstus – emerged.

In 1995, the Government of Estonia started negotiations with American company NRG Energy to create a joint venture on the basis of the Narva Power Stations, the largest consumer of oil shale in Estonia. As a part of the deal, 51% of the government-owned shares in the oil shale mining company Eesti Põlevkivi was transferred to the Narva Power Stations. The proposed deal with NRG Energy met a strong public and political opposition and was cancelled after NRG Energy failed the deadline to secure financing for the project. Consequently, the Government transferred its remained shares in Eesti Põlevkivi to a state-owned company Eesti Energia, a parent company of the Narva Power Stations, and Eesti Põlevkivi became a fully owned subsidiary of Eesti Energia.

Oil shale production started to increase again in the beginning of the 21st century. In 2000, the open-pit mines at Viivikonna, Sirgala and Narva were merged into the single Narva open-pit mine. Since 2003, several new mines were opened: the Põhja-Kiviõli open-pit mine in 2003, the Ubja open-pit mine in 2005, and the Ojamaa underground mine in 2010. By 2006, after 90 years of major mining in Estonia, the total amount of mined oil shale reached one billion tonnes. The exhausted Aidu open-pit mine was closed in 2012, followed a year later by the Viru underground mine.

In 2004, two power units with circulating fluidised bed combustion boilers were put into operation at the Narva Power Stations. Construction of the Auvere Power Station, located next to the existing Eesti Power Station, began in 2012. In the end of 2012, the Ahtme Power Station was closed.

In 2008, Eesti Energia established a joint venture, Enefit Outotec Technology, with the Finnish technology company Outotec. The venture sought to develop and commercialise a modified Galoter process–the Enefit process–that would enhance the existing technology by using circulating fluidised beds. In 2013, Enefit Outotec Technology opened an Enefit testing plant in Frankfurt.

Kiviõli Keemiatööstus began to test two Galoter-type retorts in 2006. Eesti Energia opened a new generation Galoter-type plant using Enefit 280 technology in 2012. VKG Oil opened three new Galoter-type oil plants called Petroter correspondingly in December 2009, in October 2014, and in November 2015.

In 2020, Eesti Energia announced a plan to build additional oil plant by 2023. At the same time, it cancelled a shale oil pre-refinery project developed jointly with Viru Keemia Grupp.

In spring 2021, the government coalition of Estonian Reform Party and Estonian Centre Party put a political target in their coalition agreement to stop oil shale power generation by 2035 and using oil shale in the entire energy sector by 2040 at the latest. Shortly after, Eesti Energia announced it will stop burning oil shale for electricity generation by 2025 and burning oil shale gas by 2030. It will close older type shale oil plants by 2040 while in newer generation shale oil plants oil shale will be replaced with waste plastics. Estonia is negotiating with the European Commission to receive €340 million support from the Just Transition Fund to mitigate the impact of the oil shale industry transition.

Economic impact

The oil shale industry in Estonia is one of the most developed in the world. The National Development Plan for the Utilisation of Oil Shale 2016–2030 describes oil shale as a strategic resource. Estonia is the only country in the world that uses oil shale as its primary energy source. In 2018, oil shale accounted for 72% of Estonia's total domestic energy production and supplied 73% of Estonia's total primary energy. About 7,300 people (over 1% of the total workforce in Estonia) were employed in the oil shale industry. The state revenue from oil shale production was about €122 million.

Mining

Estonia has adopted a national development plan that limits the annual mining of oil shale to 20 million tonnes. If mined at this rate, mineable reserves will last for 25–30 years. In 2019, 12.127 million tonnes of oil shale were mined. As of 2021, five oil shale mines are in operation; three are open-pit mines and two are underground mines. The mines are owned by four companies. Several mining companies have applied for permits for opening new mines. Historically, the ratio of underground mining to open-pit mining has been approximately even, but usable deposits close to the surface has become scarcer.

The Estonia underground mine at Väike-Pungerja, operated by Enefit Power, a subsidiary of Eesti Energia, is the largest oil shale mine in the world. The other underground mine, operated by privately owned Viru Keemia Grupp, is located at Ojamaa. Both mines use the room and pillar mining method. Oil shale mined at Ojamaa is transported to the processing plant by a unique 13-kilometre (8.1 mi) conveyor belt. Although there are similar conveyors in operation in other countries, the one at Ojamaa is an unusually challenging installation since its path contains many curves and sharp turns.

The Narva open-pit mine is operated by Enefit Power, and the Põhja-Kiviõli open-pit mine is operated by privately owned Kiviõli Keemiatööstus. Both mines use highly selective extraction in three layers of seams. The Narva mine uses a technology that involves breaking up both the overburden and the targeted deposits by blasting and then stripping the rock with relatively large-bucket (10–35 cubic metres or 350–1,240 cubic feet) excavators. The company has applied and received a permit to start oil-shale mining in Narva by using underground longwall mining technology. The third open-pit mine, operated by Kunda Nordic Tsement which belongs to German HeidelbergCement group, is located at Ubja.

Enefit Power and VKG Oil plan to open jointly a new mine in Oandu.

Electricity and heat generation

In 2020, 2,225 GWh or 40.3% of Estonia's electricity was generated from oil shale and 748 GWh or 13.6% was generated from oil shale gas, which is a by-product of the shale oil generation. The share of oil shale in Estonia's electricity generation has decreased significantly over the last decade, and it is set to decrease even more due to the European Union's climate policy as well as the country's recognition of the environmental impact of oil shale-fired power stations and need to diversify the national energy balance. According to the International Energy Agency, Estonia should adopt the energy strategy in order to reduce the share of oil shale in the primary energy supply by improving the efficiency of shale-fired power stations and increasing the use of other energy sources such as renewable energy.

Eesti Energia owns the largest oil shale-fuelled power stations (Narva Power Stations) in the world. The increased carbon price has made oil-shale electricity less competitive and will affect it even more in the future. In June 2021, Eesti Energia announced it will stop burning oil shale for electricity generation by 2025 and burning oil shale gas by 2030. The government coalition of Estonia has decided that Estonia will stop oil shale power generation by 2035 at the latest.

Heat produced by co-generation at the Balti Power Station is used for district heating of Narva, the third largest city in Estonia with 58,700 inhabitants (2013). The co-generation plants in Kohtla-Järve, Sillamäe, and Kiviõli burn oil shale to produce electrical power and supply district heating to nearby towns. In addition to raw oil shale, the Kohtla-Järve Power Station uses oil shale gas, a by-product of shale oil production, for the same purposes.

Shale oil extraction

In 2008, Estonia was the second largest shale oil producer in the world after China. Production was 1.173 million tonnes of shale oil in 2019. About 99% of shale oil production was exported. In 2018, 34% of the mined oil shale was used for shale oil production.

There are three shale-oil producers in Estonia. In 2019, VKG Oil (a subsidiary of Viru Keemia Grupp) produced 637,000 tonnes of shale oil, Enefit Power (a subsidiary of Eesti Energia) produced 442,000 tonnes, and Kiviõli Keemiatööstus (a subsidiary of Alexela Energia) produced 94,000 tonnes. Two processes – the Kiviter process and the Galoter process – are in use for shale oil extraction. Enefit uses the Galoter process while VKG Oil and Kiviõli Keemiatööstus use both – Kiviter and Galoter processes.

The government coalition of Estonia has decided that Estonia will stop shale oil extraction by 2040 at the latest.

The International Energy Agency's (IEA) 2023 energy policy review for Estonia highlights the nation's shift towards renewables, emphasizing reduced reliance on oil shale and the development of wind, photovoltaic (PV), and biomass. Estonia aims for climate neutrality by 2050 and 100% renewable electricity by 2030.

Environmental impact

Wastes and land usage

The mining and processing of about one billion tonnes of oil shale in Estonia has created about 360-370 million tonnes of solid waste. Combustion ashes are the largest component (200 million tonnes), followed by mining waste (90 million tonnes) and spent shale (mainly semi-coke, 70–80 million tonnes). In addition, approximately 73 million tonnes of graptolitic argillite as overlying deposit were mined and piled in waste heaps in the process of phosphorite–ore mining near Maardu in 1964–1991.

The oil shale waste heaps pose a spontaneous ignition risk due to their remaining organic content. The waste material, particularly semi-coke, contains pollutants including sulphates, heavy metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), some of which are toxic and carcinogenic.

As a result of decades of mining activity, the topography of the oil shale region has changed; this includes a greater range of altitudes within the mined area. Former and current oil shale mines occupy about 1% of Estonia's territory. About 500 square kilometres (190 sq mi) or 15% of Ida-Viru County's territory is out of use due to open-pit mines and waste landfills; an additional 150 square kilometres (58 sq mi) has sunk or become unstable due to underground mining. Semi-coke heaps near Kohtla-Järve and Kiviõli cover more than 180–200 hectares (440–490 acres) and ash heaps near Narva cover more than 210 hectares (520 acres). These heaps protruding from the flat landscape are regarded as landmarks and as monuments to the area's industrial heritage.

There is less biodiversity within the mined area; in particular, the reclaimed and reforested areas have less biodiversity than the areas which have undergone a natural succession.

Water usage and pollution

Surface water flows into mines and accumulates along with groundwater. This water must be pumped out in order for mining to proceed. The water that is pumped from the mines and the coolant water used by oil shale-fired power stations combined exceeds 90% of all water used in Estonia. For each cubic meter of oil shale mined in Estonia, 14–18 cubic metres (490–640 cu ft) of water must be pumped from the mines, amounting to about 227 million cubic metres (184,000 acre⋅ft) that are pumped from mines annually. Groundwater comprises 64% of the water pumped from underground mines annually and 24% of that pumped from open-pit mines. This alters both the circulation and quality of the groundwater, lowers groundwater levels, and releases mine water into surface water bodies such as rivers and lakes. Mining activities have contributed to lower water levels in 24 out of the 39 lakes in the Kurtna Lake District. The release of mine water into the environment has changed the natural movement of surface water. As a result of mining activities, groundwater moves towards the excavation cavities. A 220-kilometre (85-square-mile) underground water body that holds over 170 million cubic metres (140,000 acre⋅ft) of water has formed in eight abandoned underground mines: Ahtme, Kohtla, Kukruse, Käva, Sompa, Tammiku, No.2 and No.4.

The process of pumping water from the mines introduces oxygen via aeration, thereby oxidising the rock's pyrite. Pyrite contains sulfur, and one consequence of its oxidation is the introduction of significant amounts of sulphates into mine water. This has had a negative impact on water quality in five lakes in the Kurtna Lake District. In some lakes, sulphate levels have increased tens of times compared to the pre-mining period. Suspended mineral matter in the mine water pumped into these lakes has changed the composition of the lakes' sediments. However, it has been found that this disturbance diminishes over time; studies show that sulphates and iron in mining water decrease to levels that meet drinking water quality standards about five years after mine closure.

The process and waste waters used in shale oil extraction contain phenols, tar, and several other environmentally toxic products. Power stations use water as a coolant and for hydraulic transportation of oil shale ash to the ash heaps. Narva power stations use 1,306 million cubic metres (1,059,000 acre⋅ft) of water from the Narva River annually for cooling. For ash transportation, generated oil shale ash is mixed with water at a ratio of 1:20 and the resulted mixture, known as "ash pulp", is pumped to the heaps. Consequently, the transportation water becomes highly alkaline. The total volume of formed alkaline water is 19 million cubic metres (15,000 acre⋅ft).

Another source of water pollution is aqueous leachates from oil shale ash and spent shale. About 800,000 to 1,200,000 cubic metres (650 to 970 acre⋅ft) of toxic leachate from the Narva ash heaps inflows annually to the Narva River and further to the Gulf of Finland. Before the closure of old semi-coke heaps in Kohtla-Järve and Kiviõli, an additional 500,000 cubic metres (410 acre⋅ft) of leachates reached via the Kohtla and Purtse rivers to the Baltic Sea annually. The toxicity of leachate is mainly caused by the alkalinity and sulphides; leachate also includes chlorides, oil products, heavy metals, and PAHs which are carcinogenic.

Air emissions

Oil shale-fired power stations pollute air with the fly ash and flue gases like carbon dioxide (CO₂), nitrogen oxides (NO_x), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), and hydrogen chloride (HCl). In addition to Estonia, this pollution also affects Finland and Russia. The industry emits into the atmosphere annually about 200,000 tonnes of fly-ash, including heavy metals, carbonates, alkaline oxides (mainly calcium oxide (CaO)), and harmful organic substances (including PAHs). About 30% of the fly-ash is CaO, a portion of which is neutralised by atmospheric CO₂. Alkaline fly ash has raised the pH value of lake and bog water. This has caused the invasion of eutrophic plants in the area of the oil shale industry, leading to the degradation of those waterbodies. Another source of air pollution is the dust that arises during deposition of oil shale ash and semi-coke.

According to a 2001 study, the concentration of particulate matter in the fly-ash is 39.7 mg per cubic metre. The most hazardous particles are those with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres (9.8×10⁻⁵ in); these particles are associated with an increase in cardiovascular mortality and premature deaths in Estonia.

The combustion of oil shale releases more CO₂ into the atmosphere than any other primary fuel. Generating 1 MWh of electricity in modern oil shale-fired boilers creates 0.9–1 tonnes of CO₂. In 2017, oil-shale related greenhouse gas emissions in Estonia accounted for 12.9 million tonnes or 69.1% of total energy-related emissions. Of the all energy-related CO₂ emissions, heat and power generation accounted for 76%. According to the OECD, CO₂ emissions in Estonia could be reduced by two-thirds if oil shale would be used for production of lighter oil products, instead of burning to generate electricity.

Mitigation

Various efforts have reduced the industry's environmental impact. Fluidised bed combustion generates fewer NO_x, SO₂, and fly-ash emissions, including PAHs, than the earlier technologies that burned pulverised oil shale. Reclamation and reforestation of exhausted mining areas have been carried out since the 1970s. In 2010–2013, a €38 million project was implemented for the environmentally safe closing of 86 hectares (210 acres) of semi-coke and ash heaps. In accordance with a European Union waste framework directive, the heaps were covered with waterproof material, new topsoil, and sod. In Kiviõli, a 90-metre (300 ft) semi-coke heap, the highest artificial hill in the Baltic countries, was converted into a ski centre. The former Aidu open-pit mine was converted into a rowing course. A part of the former Sirgala open pit mine has been used as a military training area.

An oil shale sector health impact study conducted in 2014–2015 show that the residents of the region complained significantly more frequently about tightness, long-term cough, phlegm in the lungs, wheezing and cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, stroke, diabetes and stenocardia. The study also shows that the rate of lung cancer among men in the region was higher compared to the Estonian average.