Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-03-30
SHALE EXPERT
PREDICTS HUGE
OIL PRODUCTION

DENVER, Colo, April 3.-"Gallons
per ton" is soon to take its place be-
side ounces per ton" in the lam
guage Of prospectors and miners, in
the opinion Of Victor c. Anderson,
former president of the Colorado
School of Mines, and eminent geolo-
gist of Denver, who has just COM
pleted report upon a thorough in
vestigation into the cost of pro1uc-
ton of crude oil from oil shale.
"From the analysis and considera-
tion of all factors involved" his re-
port said, lit is reasonable to infer
that an oil shale company adequately
financed and operating on an open
cut plan. with 5OO-ton daily out
put, can manufacture shale oil at
at cost of approximately $125 per
barrel"
The figure reached by Anderson in
cluded the cost OF mining the shale,
putting it through retorts and re-
fining it. He added that it is evil
dent that the cost would vary con-
siderably depending on the size and
position OF the shale bed upon which
operations are based. In some cases,
the report said, the cost will be con-
siderably higher and in others, below
the average figure.
Cost of transportation disposal Of
spent shale, nearness to market and
cost of labor are also variable fac
tors which will effect the cost Of
production.
Alderson'sS contention was however,
that most Of the figures which have
been arrived at in studies of oil
shale production place the cost and
resultant price of the oil produced
too high, and that under favorable
conditions the shale oil can be pro-
duced profitably.
IN the beginning of his report he
pointed out that increasing demand
for crude oil products with the grad
ual depletion of oil fields will mean
that the world must look to oil shale
deposits for its supply for the next
few centuries.
Many deposits, the report said,
contrary to what other biologists
have said can and are being operated
by the steam shovel method. Nota-
bly,, it said. is the operation at
Green River, Wyo., where steam
shovels will be used in the exploita-
tion of shale bluff 200 feet high.
At Debuque Colo, it said there is
a 32O-foot deposit of commercial oil
shale, yielding from Is to 6S gallons
per ton, all of which can be operated
by steam shovel methods. n
The mining at Debeque follows
general coal mining methods on a
stratum of shale horizontal in po-
sition. Cost figures of actual opera
tion were given in the report as
follows: Mining 81 cents per ton,
crushing six cents per ton; retorting
1S cents per ton; depreciation and
renewals six cents per ton, overhead
expences II cents per ton; total.
S1.34 per ton. The yield so far has
averaged 64 gallons to the ton, or
considerably more than a barrel of
~ gallons to the ton.
At the Green River deposit in
Wyoming, where a 250-ton retort is
being erected, operators have been
making a thorough investigation into
production costs. They have conclud-
ed on the basis of $50 tons per day,
the cost per ton of mining and de-
livery at the retorts will be so cents.
Alderson's study included shale op-
erations all over the United States.
Large quantities of shale in many
parts of the country, he found, could
be operated on the steam shovel basis
at the costs outlined, or with slight
variations from it.
He concluded his report as fol-
lows:
with this information available it
seems to be a fair and justifiable
conclusion that if the oil shale in
dustry is adequately financed and
properly managed it can be made
valuable adjunct in helping to meet
the constantly increasing demand for
OIL"