Word: shales
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
ATOM BLASTS FOR OIL are being seriously considered by U.S. Bureau of Mines figures nuclear blasts could free more than 1 trillion bbl. of oil locked in rocky shale formations. Opening shot is expected in Colorado...
...strip-mines the oil-bearing rock in high butte country, then transports it by conveyor belt to the new retort. Crushed to small pieces, the rock is rammed upward in the six-story-high retort by a huge piston, meeting a stream of fire-fed gases that distill out shale oil at a rate of about 30 gal. per ton of rock. The raw oil is carried by truck to Union's Brea, Calif, plant...
...nest of such retorts, commercial production would be at least 20,000 bbl. a day. But that goal is five years off, warned Union President Albert C. Rubel. In arid Colorado, a big problem for industry is water. Though Union's experimental retort needs no water, the waxy shale crude does not flow well in a pipeline unless carried along by water, and the nearest source is the Colorado River 15 miles away. Even more important, Rubel thinks a profitable shale industry can never really roll without the 27½% depletion allowance now given to liquid-crude oilmen...
Bright Future. Sinclair Oil Corp. is also experimenting, trying a method of drilling holes into shale beds, fracturing the strata by driving in high-pressure water, then using fuel-oil fires to distill out the shale oil. Though the oil recovery may not be high, the Sinclair idea would save mining machinery, possibly produce lighter oil for the pipelines. In Denver, the Oil Shale Corp. has a small new pilot plant designed to test the Swedish Aspeco retort process; this distills out the oil by whirling crushed shale mixed with superheated porcelain and aluminum balls in a rotating drum, also...
Whichever process wins out, the experts are now sure that shale oil can be produced commercially before too many years. Analyzing the shale future in Colorado, the University of Denver's Research Institute says that a 1,000,000-bbl. daily production is possible...