Evening star., 1953-12-09
ShoIe Oil Seen Answer
In Petroleum Shortage
Greet Potential Exists
In Colorado Mountuins
By Thomos R. Henry

RIFLE, Colo, Dec. 9.-Here in North
western Colorado are Americas "oil
mountains"
Lake bottoms of so million years ago
that now are ribs of hard rock in lofty
mountains insure the Nations petro-
leum future for many generations.
This is being demonstrated convinc-
ingly at the experimental mine and
distillation plant conducted near Rifle
by the United States Bureau of Mines.
1t is bringing shale-oil production quite
close to the cost level Of obtaining oil
from wells.
The source of this oil is the So
called Green River shale. It extends
over more than $500 square miles in
Colorado alone. There are about
10000 more square miles, potentialities
OF which are unknown, in Utah and
Wyoming. This shale is a brownish-
black slatelike rock which occurs in
ribs hundreds of feet thick. Mining
is easy and cheap. In the distillation
process developed by Bureau of Mines
experts here the oil is separated from
the rock subjected to intense heat as
" vapor which can be cooled to form
a liquid.
Estimates Reliable.
Approximately 1000 square miles of
the Colorado deposits have been test
drilled, so that fairly reliable esti-
mates of this enormous resource can
be made. Its characteristic feature is
the great Mahogany ledge, from 70 to
ITO feet thick, from which, according
to- DR.. Boyd Guthrie, director of the
experimental station. about 30 gallons
OF Oil can be obtained from each ton
OF rock. This amounts to a total for
the tested area of more than rs billion
barrels potentially recoverable.
Below the Mahogany shale, with a
thickness of about 500 feet, are great
ribs OF rock which, it Is believed, will
yield about Is gallons to the ton. The
total available Is approximately 400
billion barrels, enough to supply the
worlds needs for a long, long time.
Outside the test-drilled 1000 square
miles the richness of the rock is any
body's guess.
Meanwhile. the Bureau of Mines has
concentrated on the Mahogany ledge.
a considerable part of which lies within
naval reserve, as the richest potential
bO0ANCs 1ul &c VI dCUS Ol UIlG COlOTd0O
area now are owned by oil companies,
especially the Union Oil Co. of Cali
fornia, which is operating its own ex-
perimental distillation plant.
Unlike Petroleum.
The shale Oil Is not precisely the
same as petroleum. It is made up OF
a somewhat different mixture of hydro
carbonS. From it, however, about
everything that can be obtained from
petroleum can be obtained-gasoline
by cracking, fuel oil, jet fuel, and an
enormous range of chemicals which
are expected to go far toward meeting
the costs of mining.
Geologically, the Mines Bureau ex-
perts explain. the nature of this shale
oil is somewhat debatable Some say
it is petroleum that didn't quite get
there" They mean that it became
trapped in the rock before the geolog-
ical processes responsible for the great
underground petroleum pools were able
to run their full course. It is agreed
that this Shale is ancient lake bottom
1t dates from the Eocene geological
time, about so million years ago, when
a group of great lakes covered much
of the present Rocky Mountain area.
The climate then was at least semi
tropical, and the lake waters were ex-
tremely rich In organic material, plant
and animal, which sank to the bottom
and was mixed with the fine silt poured
into the lakes by streams. Under con-
ditions of great heat and pressure
which came with mountain building,
the bottom mud was compressed into
the slate-like rock.
Easy to Mine.
The Colorado deposits are especially
important because of the ease with
which they can be mined. 1t is orly
necessary to open great tunnels into
the mountain sides through which
heavy machinery, including one three
cubic-yard shovel, can be introduced.
The operation is much cheaper than
coal mining-an important considera-
ton which probably always will keep
the cost Of shale oil below that of
synthetic fuels made from coal. The
present output of the experimental
mine, rooted over by about 600 feet OF
mountain top, is about $500 tons day
for 13-man crew. In places where it
would be necessary to dig down through
the mountaintop to reach the shale.
the cost prospects would be much less
inviting. This unfortunately is the
case with considerable areas of the
Green River formation.
The Bureau of Mines production
costs run about 81 barrel compared
with costs of from $1.10 to $2.75 bar
rel for petroleum from American fields.
The idea, however, is not that there
will be direct competition between the
two products. The shale simply insures
reasonably cheap oil supply when
petroleum reserves begin to taper eff.
Some have estimated that this may
happen in relatively few years. while
others maintain that there is enough
oil for an indefinite future.
When a great demand for shale oil
comes, as would be the case in another
great war, the Bureau of Mines and
cooperating oil companies want to
have the methods of production we'll
established, so that there will be no lost
motion in tapping the enormous poten-
tial supply. This is the major purpose
OF the experiment station first estab-
lished here eight years ago. Interest is
sufficiently great that during the past
year the plant has had approximately
5000 visitors.
Return