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<br />:Ven.;'''' :?o:>-r <br /> <br />3('3/71 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />,TUMN 5T ART-UP <br />New Oil-Shale Plan <br />Filed by Occidental <br /> <br />Bv RICH \tAVER <br />Special 10 the D('Dver Post <br />GRA~D JUNcrIOS. Colo. - all shale <br />could become a commercial rcalil\' in <br />five years under a revised plan submItlcd <br />to the Interior Df>partment by Occidental <br />Petroleum Corp. <br />The plan envisions a 5i .OOO-barrel.a-day <br />facility by 1982 that employes 1,600 <br />workers and utilizes an under~round <br />production process. <br />The detailed development plan \\o~s <br />filed ~1onday at a U.S. Geological Survey <br />office here and was made public 'furs- <br />day. It is required under the terms of II. <br />federal lease to a.l00 ac~s west or <br />Meeker. Colo., which Occidental shares <br />with partner Ashland Oil Co. <br />Federal officials praised Qccidentallasl <br />r;'ovember when the rinn entered the <br />lease in hopes it could resurrect the fad. <br />inJ.i oil-shale industry. <br />Four federal prototype oil-shale leases <br />were suspended early last year and Ash- <br />land's three previous partners in shale <br />development quit the lease they shared. <br />OCCIDE~'TAL APPARE~'TLY was an- <br />xious to test its own shale-extraction pro- <br />cess on the shale beds owned by the gov- <br />ernment near here, The firm developed <br />the process on private land near De: Be- <br />que, Colo. <br />The plan, which must be approved by <br />the Interior Department, confirms much <br />of the initial speculation. The plan is a <br />revision of one originally submitted by <br />Ashland and its former ptIrtners. <br />Occidental hopes to begin minf' opt'ra- <br />lions Sept. I, the day the one-year suspen- <br /> <br />sian ends, and to achieve full production <br />by SE-ptember 1933. <br />But, the company caulionPd. "ThE'. <br />liklihood of reducing the schedule is <br />remote and the pos.o;ibility of its being ex- <br />tended is high." <br />One key fealuft" of the plan likely to <br />gain support is that the partner! aren't <br />askmg for additional inct>ntives, <br />OTIlER LEASE-HOLDERS bave S<lid <br />they .....ouldn'L hE>~in work until air-qualily <br />standards are lowered. government sub- <br />sidies are oUered and additional land is <br />provided for dumping processed shale, <br />.....hich is gra}', dusty and full of salt <br />Occidental's process takes place almQ;;! <br />entirely underground, where the shalt" is <br />heated to nearly 1,000 degrees to prOduce... <br />oil. Conventional technology requires.-:umA <br />rock to be brought to the surface. <br />Occidental said its crude oil ""ill be <br />competitive economically with Alaskan <br />crude and probably will be markl"ted in <br />the oi!.$Caree northern and central states; <br /> <br />~'\j~'J <br />