Registration to the field trips has now been closed.

Come to Estonia for a Unique Opportunity

The Symposium offers a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit the most prominent sites of the Estonian oil shale industry as well as to get insights into the operation of the companies. The number of participants will be limited on a first come-first served basis. We encourage those interested to sign up early!

• Lectures and tours in the heart of the Estonian oil shale industry will include:
• Above and below ground mining sites
• The world’s largest oil shale fuelled power plants
• A commercial shale oil plant
• Presentations by, and an unparalleled opportunity to meet and consult the CEO’s and experts of the companies
• All meals, transportation and accommodations at spa hotels are included in the field trip price.

Field Trip Fees:

• Field trip - accommodation - Hotel Meresuu: 209 EUR
• Field trip - accommodation - Hotel Narva-Jõesuu: 168 EUR

Mining sites

The tour will include the largest underground and one of the most extensive above-ground oil shale mines in Estonia. Participants will be taken to either the below-ground or above-ground mining sites of Eesti Põlevkivi (Estonian Oil Shale Company), a subsidiary of Eesti Energia. The mines are located in the county of Ida-Virumaa, where visitors get a unique first-hand experience of the mining and production processes. The mines tour will be preceeded by an exclusive introduction of the company and processes by the Management of Eesti Põlevkivi. The underground Estonia mine has mining shafts at 70 m below ground and features some of the most advanced mining technology available today. The mines production capacity is 5 million tons of oil shale per year. The above-ground mine at Aidu has a production capacity of 2.5 million tons per year. The annual production of the whole company is 14 million tons and the turnover 1.8 billion Estonian kroons.

Power plants

Estonia currently produces over 90% of its electricity from oil shale. The bulk of electricity is produced by the world's two largest oil shale-fuelled power plants, located near the city of Narva in the county of Ida-Virumaa. AS Narva Elektrijaamad (Narva Power Plants Ltd), a subsidiary of Eesti Energia, supplies consumers of Estonia with electric power, the town of Narva with thermal energy, exports electric power to the Baltic States and supplies the Nordic Power Market with electricity via the undersea cable Estlink. Guests will be given the opportunity to visit the turbine rooms and boilers, as well as the control rooms of Estonia’s largest power plant. The tour will be preceded by an exclusive introduction of the company and processes by the Management. As of the end of 2007, the installed electric capacity of the Narva power plants was 2,380 MW, with 1,615 MW installed at the Eesti power plant and 765 MW installed at the Balti power plant. The installed thermal capacity was 84 MW and 400 MW respectively. The tour will also cover the new circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boilers, a unique technological advancement which has upgraded operational efficiency as well as enabled considerable environmental performance improvements.

Shale oil plant

The field trip also includes a visit to Narva Oil Plant, a subsidiary of Eesti Energia, which is the only commercial scale shale oil production plant in the world successfully using the solid heat carrier (TSK) technology. Estonia is 1 of only 3 countries in the world (besides Brazil & China) commercially producing shale oil. The plant consists of two identical production lines, the only functioning units of their kind in the world, each with an input of 3,300 t/d of oil shale. The designed capacity of the plant is 220,000 tons of shale oil and 60 million Nm³ of retort gas a year. The tour will be preceded by an exclusive introduction of the company and processes by the Management.
Please visit www.shaleoil.ee for more information about the oil plant.

NB! To register for the field trip during early registration (November 17-April 1) participants must also register to attend the symposium. If you want to register for ONLY the field trip, you can have your name added to the wait list during early registration or register directly during late registration. However space is limited and preference will be given to those attending the symposium as well.

Field trip itinerary

Group 1

Group 2