Another refinery in works for Utah?

EcoDomaine says the Green River plant will be able to handle all the black wax the basin can deliver. "We're strictly (here) to handle the producers who have been disadvantaged," Heftye said, adding the company expects to process up to 12,000 barrels of black wax by the end of 2007.

Newfield Exploration is among those companies in the Uinta Basin that have scaled back production and drilling. It has 400,000 barrels stockpiled.

Though somewhat skeptical of the new refinery, Gary Packer, vice president for Newfield's Rocky Mountain operations, said the company is always looking for new buyers.

"Certainly, we would be interested should the improvements be made" to the refinery, he said.

Bigelow, a Green River native who intends to return to Utah, said EcoDomaine has spent the past year refurbishing the plant that shut down at least eight years ago. There are still a couple of tanks to build, he said.

Though well suited for making gasoline and diesel fuel, the black wax crude produced in the Uinta Basin has a consistency that makes it difficult to transport. EcoDomaine plans to buy 20 insulated trucks to haul it, Heftye said.

Delivering black wax crude to Green River could be difficult because it would require trucks to drive over high mountain passes in Utah or Colorado, depending on the route.

"It would be a problem to put a lot of trucks on those roads," said Gayle McKeachnie, the governor's rural policy adviser, who until informed Wednesday was not aware of EcoDomaine's plans.

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