Naval Oil Shale Reserves 1 and 3. Summary: Five Years of Progress on the Oil Shale Development Program

摘要

The predevelopment program for Naval Oil Shale Reserve Number 1 (NOSR 1), located in Colorado, was initiated in 1945 when the Bureau of Mines began assessment of the shale resource with a fourteen core hole drilling program. The rationale for a major effort begun in 1977 of resource assessment was based on the reassessment of the economics of producing oil shale, which showed that oil syncrude was competitive in cost with imported crude oil; on the development status of oil shale technology, which had been demonstrated successfully at a reasonable scale; and on the public law mandate to develop the NOSRs consistent with national defense requirements. This report summarizes the predevelopment work done to date, and discusses the work remaining to be accomplished for the policy options pertaining to continuing developmental activities. The work can be divided into three technical areas: resource assessment, technology assessment, and environmental assessment. (ERA citation 09:021923)