Laserfiche WebLink
<br />-12- <br /> <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />methods and in the acquisition of oil shale properties. <br />Water filings also have been made by several companies. <br />With the exception of the Naval Oil Shale Reserves <br />near Rifle, the most accessable oil shale lands are pri- <br />vately owned. A majority of the major oil companies have <br />shale holdings. Several are increasing their reserves and <br />some already may be measured in the billions of barrels. <br />During the past 15 years, the Federal Government, <br />private companies, and individuals have spent about $50 <br />million on oil shale. More than half these expenditures <br />were by private companies and individuals, Research by <br />both government and industry on new methods of shale oil <br />production and utilization has obtained outstanding results. <br />The technology is straight forward. The shale first <br />must be mined, then subjected to a heating process (retort- <br />ing) to distill from it a crude oil, and finally, the oil <br />must be refined to usable products, <br />A low-cost mining method adapted to certain favorable <br />characteristics of the Colorado oil shale deposits has been <br />developed and demonstrated in two large-scale experimental <br />mines, one operated privately. A large mining concern is <br />conducting additional experimental work on the method. <br />Two outstanding new retorting processes have been <br />demonstrated on a pilot plant scale, one resulting from the <br />government's research program, the other, privately financed. <br />The latter process is in an advanced stage of development <br />having been successfully operated at a capacity approaching <br />that of a commercial-sized retort (1000 tons per day). <br />