Oil shale mining in Estonia fell to record low in 2024
The volume of oil shale mined in Estonia in 2024 fell to a record low, at a little over 8.5 million tons.
This compares with over 10 million tons mined in 2022 and 2023, and is lower than the previous low of 9.19 million tons mined in 2020.
While up to 20 million tons of oil shale is permitted, last year's total came to 8,549,302 tons.
Of the main players in the sector, Enefit Industry, a subsidiary of the state-owned Eesti Energia, remained Estonia's largest oil shale miner in 2024, extracting 4,005,921 tons, almost half the total though still 1.4 million tons less than the year before.
VKG Kaevandused slightly upped its output to 3,593,725 tons in 2024, from 3.4 million tons the previous year, while Alexela subsidiary Kiviõli keemiatööstus' production at the Põhja-Kiviõli quarry fell from 1.2 million tons in 2023 to 949,656 tons last year.
According to the Environmental Board (Keskkonnaamet) resource fees were declared for 10.9 million tons of oil shale last year, totaling €34.7 million, down from €42.17 million in 2023 and less than half the €81 million declared in 2022.
Oil shale once refined has a variety of applications including as a fuel for power stations, and in the chemicals industry. As a fossil fuel it is being phased out in order to meet EU climate goals.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
