The speaker, Dr. Howard Vinegar (who is a world-renowned expert on the topic,) says that within the decade Israel could be energy independent just from shale at a production price of $40 per barrel, much less than the current price of oil. Israel's total reserves rivals those of Saudi Arabian oil.
This is all besides Israel's huge offshore natural gas deposits.
Meanwhile, another Middle Eastern country that doesn't have much in the way of traditional oil reserves is also sitting on top of huge oil shale deposits.
Jordan has approximately 40-80 billion tons of oil shale (about 34 billion barrels of shale oil) that could last for over 900 years at current consumption, said a top official at an Estonian company tapping the Kingdom's reserves of oil shale.The economic map of the Middle East will be completely redrawn in the coming years.