From Deseret News archives:

Shale oil — now?

Company says $40 per barrel production is possible in Utah

Published: Friday, June 2, 2006 12:16 a.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
VERNAL — A company says it can produce oil from shale mined from Utah within two or three years, at a cost of about $40 per barrel, and that notion has leaders in Washington, D.C., interested in ways to make it happen.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, on Thursday visited sites south of Vernal where shale could be mined and processed.

"It is potentially part of our future, and it could be a big part," Domenici said. "Enterprise, initiative and innovation are going to drive the investment of money into shale oil, and it's going to produce crude oil."

Romit Bhattacharya, chief executive officer of Oil Tech, gave Domenici an education in shale processing at a remote site that the company currently uses for research.

"There's too many people who say it can't be done. It will be done," Bhattacharya told Domenici.

The company owns land leases for mineral rights on more than 38,000 acres throughout the Green River Formation in Utah. The small research site has already produced oil that can be sold to a refinery. That site could be modified to produce 1,000 barrels a day. Each additional processing site could be built in six to eight months.

Story continues below
Bhattacharya told Domenici that how much shale Oil Tech processes depends on access to available resources. The processing involves heating the shale to extract the oil.

It's estimated that Utah has more oil in shale deposits than there is oil in Saudi Arabia, according to John Baardson, chief executive officer of Oil Tech partner BAARD Energy.

And throughout Utah, Colorado and Wyoming, an estimated 1 trillion barrels of oil are locked in shale, compared with about 700 billion barrels of untapped oil in the entire Middle East, he said.

"It's not going to be boom and bust," Baardson said about the availability of shale resources to sustain oil production in this country.

One fear among skeptics is that interest in shale will go away if the price of foreign oil drops as it did in the 1980s. The difference now, however, is that China and India have become much larger consumers of oil, and the question isn't whether the price will come down, but how high it will go in the future, Baardson said.

Another worry is over the environmental impact that the mining and processing of shale will have on the area.

Recent comments

WE NEED THIS NOW!!!!! Cut out the foreign market and make money for...

Scared no more! | April 21, 2008 at 4:14 p.m.

Sounds like a typical snake-handling fringe evangelist. Ask Algore...

JRob | Dec. 14, 2007 at 2:15 p.m.

Scary Times! The "PLANET IS DYING"!
Is it not the, Burning of Fossil...

Don E Dussault | Nov. 9, 2007 at 11:36 a.m.

Image

Oil Tech CEO Romit Bhattacharya, second from left, explains production of oil from shale to Sen. Pete Domenici, left, and Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert at processing site. Utah may contain more oil in shale than Saudi Arabia has oil.

previousnext

Latest comments

Skateboarder stabbed at park

Whatever happened to curfews for kids? I'm not blaming the victim. But why do...

Obama, Biden, Reid, Pelosi, Barney the Frank, all....allllll.... all are...

TCU moves into 4th place in BCS

That is exactly what you zoobs were saying last year. Somehow, you think that...

Away in a manger

If you believe that God is the almighty then why worry about disbelievers? ...

@lesson one: I do not trust any politician of either party to tell the...

Becky Thomas: Find the cheese!

The article deals with the need to be flexible when crisis comes. The...

5A football: Darts edge PG

I just want to brag about something.....check out my prediction I posted on...

Jobless husbands help at home?

Though having the housework done is nice, it means much more to have my...

The only game that I have missed this year, due to my brother getting married...

What 3A team are we talking about? and what does that have to do with this year?

Advertisements
Advertisement