Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-01-05

Ou OlldIcS hcduy
When Supply of
Petroleum Lessons
Washington, Jan. 4.-When the
flow of that liquid gold known as
petroleum gives sign of Stacking, and
! as a. conquence the nations millions
of automobiles and tractors and
| motor busses seem likely to diminish
| for lack of fuel. the farAstretching
! reserves Of oil shale in the United
States stand out as the most i'm
portant resources of substitutes for
petroleum oils, says the United
States Bureau of Mines.
These shales, veritable untapped
| reservoirs of oil, underlie enormous
areas of the country. Those of the
most economic Importance occur in
Colorado. Nevada, Utah and Wyom-
| ing. Great areas of black shale oc-
cur. however, i'll various eastern
states. notably Kentucky, Indiana
and Ohio, and other shales are found
in many states. The great economic
Importance of Oil shales is that when
| tho industry is properly developed,
the United States will have q new
domestic supply of mineral oils.
which cannot be cut off in time of
! war, and which will always be ready
to help meet the nations demand for
oil.
There is good reason to believe
that in the next several years the
domestic production on petroleum
will decrease. while the demand for
its production will increase" the
Bureau officials declare, land oil
bal In, Ln
Qciency of crude petroleum as a
PURGE of refined mineral oil pro-.
DUCTS"
The future of the oil shale in
dustry in this country will depend
| primarily upon the relative supply
of. and demand for, petroleum pro-
ducts in the regions remote from the
! seabOards, according to the bureau.
However. even under the most favor
able conditions development of
American shale oil must be slow, it
was added. Although this can be
fastened by the employment of
specialists. the proper kind of ex-
perimental work. and sincere CO.
operation and mutual helpfulness
among oil shale operators.
TO produce oil from shales the in
dustry would have to approach the
countrys annual coal production. if
Il great demand is to be met. Nearly
1000 shale retorting plants each put
ting through 1000 tons of shale every
! day in the year. would be necessary
to meet the present rate of petrole-
UNI production. These figures are
based on an assumption that the
shale mined would yield an average
of l. gallons of oil per ton. The to-
tai quantity of shale to be mined,
then, would reach 400.000.O00 tons.
This would also require invest
ment of great sums of capital to
make the shale oil industry one of
commercial consideration. 1t is prob
able that the investment necessary
for an oil shale retortinE and re-
filming plant will approximate $4,000
per barrel of shalc oil daily capacity.
bureau experts figure. The present
annual production of domestic pc
tro!eum is at the rate of over 400
100000 barrels. The investment in
resorts and rcfineries alone for an
industry to approach this magnitude
would be moro than S3,000,000. 900.
This does not include estimated cost
of lands, opening and developing
mines: nor does it include the cost
of developing subsidiary industries,
could not exist.
Oil Shale is q compact. Illuminated
rock of Scdimcntary origin yielding
over 33 per cent of ash and contain
ing organic matter that gives oil
when distilled. but not appreciably
when extracted with the ordinary
solvents for petroleum. The amount
of oil extracted per ton of rock var
les considerably also.
However,, extraction of oil from
shales has proved successful in var
ious countries, the outstanding one
being Scotland, where the industry
has been developing since 1860, and
where the investment is in excess
of $12.500.000. Production of blum
nous materials has been known at
least as carly as 1919, when, in
Shropshire. England. "oyle from q
kind of stone" was distilled. AS early
as 1861 also, oils were distilled from
bituminous or OIL shales for medicin-
al purposes, and in 1915 4 work in
England produced oil and ammonia
by the distillation of coal.
There were in this country, too, as
long ago as 1850, companies, mostly
in the east. where oil was distilled
from various bituminous substances.
The methods were crude and mater
ials treated ranged from bituminous
coal and camel Goals to some true
Oil shalcs. The desired product was
kerosene. or coal OIL" which latter
term survives since the time when
most of the kerosene used in this
country was really derived from coal
and the like. Some of these COM
panics were only getting started
when the American petroleum in
dustry came into being, reducing the
price of Kerosene to such an extent
that shale oil operations became
Improbable, and the plants were
abandoned or adapted for use in re-
filming petroleum.
In 1916 there developed in the
United States a remarkable interest
in oil shales and the year marked
the beginning of an attempted de-
veIopment of an oil shale industry.
Since then an increasing amount of
work has been done, but no COM
mercial operations have yet been
started and the industry does not
exist except In the literature Of pro-
motion organizations.
In this connection the Bureau OF
Mines warns against fake develop |
ments and says the true industry
fo1y