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

摘要

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. The resource assessment results show that NOSR 1 could sustain a production rate of 50,000 barrels per day for well over 100 years. NOSR 1 has the largest in-place resource, the third largest recoverable resource, comparable recovery economics, a greater recovery potential with improvements in low-grade recovery technology, and fewer technical, environmental, and institutional impediments to development. An assessment of six mining technologies showed that the only option technically and economically feasible was room and pillar mining. There are approximately 17 options for retorting shale available for screening. These options fall broadly into the categories of surface and in situ retorting, solvent processing, and bioleaching. Processes retained after initial screening consist of only surface retorting options: Lurgi-Ruhrgas, Paraho, Tosco II, Union B, and Superior Circular Grate. Surface retorting is also planned for all nearby oil shale projects. Environmental assessment has focused on two major thrusts: environmental baseline determination and preparation of a programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). 17 figures, 11 tables. (ERA citation 10:010954)