The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1921-12-26

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| or trucks will he needed To trans
| port the crude shale Oil to the refln-
/ cry, as there seems to be ample in
dications that ~ will be tmpractic-
able 60 convey shale oil by pipeline.
/ because of the fact that shalo oil
| may be thick. or almost solid In.
cold weather. Tho shale oil manu-
factured In Scotland is too thick
Cor piping a. ordinary tcmpera-
/ lures.
1t IL evident. therefore. that tho
| installation OF n commercial oil shale
plant means the expenditure Of no
/ less than half a milton dollars and
/ probably much more. and such a
| plant must be operated with tho
greatest efficiency and at mint
mum cost in order to produce shale
! oil and other oil-Rhale products Ht
profit. The production OF shale
/ oil IN paying quantities viii require
! plants capable OF treating great
amounts, perhaps 1000 tons OF shaie
"A day IL Il iq assumed that the
average shale oil treated will yield
approximately one barrel OF sha!e
oil per ton OF shalc. IL will be ncccs-
sary to install and operate q great
| number OF such plants 60 enable the
shale-oil industry to replace In any
| petroleum In this country
/ Finally IL must be realized that
the production Of oil from shalc is
| In fact large, low grade mnnurac-
turing project rather than the ap-
! plicaiion OF an intricate chemical
process and that for oil shulo opcr-
ations to be commercially succcs'sli
a large amount ~ capital and botn
engineering and technical abiIity VIII
be necessary
Note:-( Wages and costs havo In
ICrcascd nearly 90 per cvut since this
was written In September, 1879
In an article by Mr.. Naicrius OF
Tulsa. Okl2, a well known groin-
gist once connected with the Mis-
souri, school of mines. IN late mum
her OF the oil ana Gas Journal he
deprecatcs the exploitation Of the
shale industry by any but those who
can go into the whole pnasc OF its
production, and who arc prepared 20
spend great amount OF capital be-
fore getting any but meager returns.
To secure further Information
from a man who knows both the oil
shale and the oil business asNc.
L. @. Woodruff chief geoloRist for
the Oklahoma Producing 4 Refining
CO., to give me "A statement. In 1870
Mr.. Woodruff first saw the oil sna'o
and recognized that Il hnd consiG-
erable value. Two years later He
and DIR. David 7. Day. both mem
bers of the United states geological
survey, designed and directed the
construction Of the first still for
testing samples. took II TO COLORADO
and Utah. where they collected and
tested many SAMPLES. Since this
pioneer work MIR. woodruff mas
closely followed the tests aud GeveI-
opmcnt lie says undoubtedly
there are many millions OF barrels
of crude oil OF a good grade In the
shales of Colorado and Utah, There
is little hope, however, OF obtaining
the oil by any methoc except by
mining the shale and heating it In
retorts.
The oil is so scattered through
the shale and the shala is 80 tlgnt
that the oil ftavs in the snale until
Il In heated enough TO VeporiZc rne
oil. when Il becomes hot, the vAp-
ors pass off and may be run through
condenscrs and liquidized again"
But let me quote Mr.. Woodruff as
interviewed
"The shale is tough dark brown
substance. which is much harder 20
mine than coal. Because OF lta re-
sistant nature. II would probably cost
: twice as much to put n TON OF snaie
out of the mine as ton of coal
) costs 10 put out Then, 700. the
shale Is in sparsely settled region,
where labor In scarce ana various
natural conditions render the cost
of operations difficult and expen-
sive. The shale is IN beds from a
few hundred yards to several mites.
They are exposed along the great
cliffs at the ends of the mesas. Pro-
moters often say that the snale Is IN
great masses. which can be taken
up with a steam shovel. = small
amount OF II could be ocrained In
this way, providlng the operator can
obtain steam shovel strong enough
to dig this hard material. but the
real industry must be unrerground
workings like coal.
"In richness the snale var.es
most of II has less than une- fourth
barrel OF oil per ton OF shale, great
quantities contain from three
fourths OF n barrel per ton. Whine
, large quantities contain from three
fourths TO one barrel per ton. The
quantity OF shale giving more tnan
one barrel of oil to the ton of snaio
II not great. Furthermore, THESE
rich shales are In lenses which arc
neither thick nor extensive. The
grade OF oil recovered IL good. II
has some gasoline, considerable
kerosene. and good per cent OF
lubricating oil. The residue II
largely paraffin, though there ~
some tar.
THE proposition docs not seem
favorable one to the oil man, wnen
he conS.ders that to obtain a barrel
of oil he must mine "A ton OF snaie.
which is much harder TO mine tnan
. coal; that he must convey that ton
Of shale to and through "A retort;
that he must furnish fuel enough TO
roast or distill the ton OF shale. lie
must then transport and refine the