Shale Oil---Petroleum's Future Partner

SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS OF AThiE PAPER S P E 5 1 8 6300 North Central Expressway NUMBER Dallas 6, Texas THIS IS A PREPRINT --- SUBJECT TO CORRECTION SHALE OIL---PETROLEUM'S FUTURE PARTNER By H. M. Thorne, U. S. Bureau of Mines Publication Rights Reserved Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/SPEAIMEAM/proceedings-pdf/63AIME/All-63AIME/SPE-518-MS/2085926/spe-518-ms.pdf by guest on 24 September 2021 This paper is to be presented at the Rocky Mountain Joint Regional Meeting in Denver, Colo. May 27-28, 1963, and is considered the property of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Permission to publish is hereby restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words, with no illustrations, unless the paper is specifically released to the press by the Editor of the Journal of Petroleum Technology or the Executive Secretary. Such abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in Journal of Petroleum Technology or Society of Petroleum Engineers Journal is granted on re~uest, providing proper credit is given that publication and the original presentation of the paper. Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of P~troleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines with the paper. ABSTRACT trial operations in other countries generally have had similar experiences; that is, when Industrial shale-oil operations in North petroleum became readily available at reasonable America and Europe predated the Drake discovery, cost, the o"il-shale operations could not compete but, since then, most have succumbed to competi without sizable subsidies. Industrial operatiO[lS tion from petroleum. However, the existence of are presently conducted only in Spain, Sweden, enormous oil-shale resources in the Green River Estonia, Manchuria and the U.S.S.R. formation of Colorado, utah and Wyoming [esti mated at over a trillion bblof shale oil in Oil shales do not contain oil; instead, they place] and the advancement of United states oil consist of solid, largely insoluble, organic shale technology by research and development pro material intimately associated with a mixture of grams of government and industry during the past minerals that make up about 85 per cent of an 15 years point to a natural partnership of average shale yielding 25 gal of' oil per ton. petroleum and oil shale to meet the accelerating Oil shales are widely distributed throughout the energy demands of' the future. The utilization of world in sedimentary rocks from Cambrian to oil shale is not a ~uestion of' limited petroleum Recent, but by far the largest known deposit is supplies, but one of' economics. Two factors are in the Green River formation in Colorado, Utah expected to improve the economic outlook f'or and Wyoming. industrial shale-oil production -~ a rise in petroleum replacement cost and f'urther advances Lewis G. Weeks2 in 1959 published a compre in oil-shale technology. hensive analysis and forecast of demand and sources of' supply of energy for the next 100 INTRODUCTION years. He estimated that, in addition to im ported petroleum, the United States would use The production of oil f'rom oil shale dates 490 billion bbl of' the 570-billion-bbl ultimate ,back to the 17th century, when medicinal oils werE reserve of' domestic petroleum [including natural produced from bituminous shales in England.l gas energy in e~uivalent bbl of' petroleum and oil Shale-oil industries . started in France in 1838; from tar sands] and 600 billion bbl of' shale oil in Scotland in 1850; in Australia in 1860; in f'rom 1960 to 2059. Although Weeks considered all Estonia, Spain and Manchuria in the 1920's; and of the oil-shale deposits throughout the U. S. as in South Af'rica and Sweden in the i930's. A sources of' shale oil, the 1.132 trillion bbl of' small shale-oil industry was operating in Canada potential oil in place in the Green River forma and the eastern United States in 1860 but dis tion, as estimated by Donald Duncan of' the Feder appeared when petroleum became plentif'ul f'ollow al Geological Survey,3 constitutes almost twice ing the Drake discovery in Pennsylvania. Indus- the supply re~uired to meet the need estimated by Weeks. Other f'orecasters would undoubtedly dif References at end of paper. f'er from Weeks, but it seems evident that, at 2 SHALE OIL -- PETROLEUM'S FUTURE PARTNER SPE-5l8 least within the next decade or so, sufficient ing 27 ft high and mining two benches· each 23 ft domestic sources of petroleum [including oil from high. Subsequently, a two-level operation was shales and tar sands and equivalent natural gas] adopted -- a top heading 39 ft high and a single can be made available, but that the production bench 34 ft high. Special equipment developed from each source will depend largely upon rela for mining the high faces included drilling tive cost. jumbos, explosives-loading platforms, scaling rigs, and a mobile compressor and utility sta The Bureau of Mines and the Society of tion. An electric shovel with a 3-cu-yd dipper Petroleum Engineers have a common objective, "to was used to load the broken shale. Diesel promote the science of economic recovery of powered end-dump trucks, of 15- to 22-ton capa petroleum." The Bureau of Mines has the further city, were used for haulage. Room openings and obligation to promote the conservation of the roof-supporting pillars were both 60 ft square. nation's petroleum resources, including the An extraction ratio of 75 per cent was Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/SPEAIMEAM/proceedings-pdf/63AIME/All-63AIME/SPE-518-MS/2085926/spe-518-ms.pdf by guest on 24 September 2021 development of supplementary sources. Between attained. 1918 and 1930 the Bureau intermittently studied oil-shale conversion and shale-oil chemistry and Drilling proved to be a major cost item. At refining. In 1944, when petroleum shortages dur first only percussion-type drills were available, ing the war caused Congress to pass the Synthetic and most of the research on drilling and costs Liquid Fuels Act, comprehensive investigations of was based on this type of drill. For drilling mining, retorting and refining on a pilot-plant vertical holes, a hydraulically operated rotary scale were started at Rifle, Colo. At the same drill, mounted on a tractor, was developed to time, supporting laboratory research and bench improve drilling efficiency. For horizontal scale experimental operations were begun at holes, another rotary drill was developed, but Laramie, Wyo. Reduced appropriations ended ex closing of the mine prevented comprehensive test perimental operations at the Rifle plant in 1956, ing. A 45 per cent semi-gelatin dynamite was but it has been maintained in standby condition adopted, after considerable experimental work, since that time. Activities at Laramie have been as the standard explosive. continued, with emphasis on studies of the characteristics and extent of oil-shale deposits, Two roof falls demonstrated the need for the composition of shale oils and the oil-shale caution in mining oil shale. Test room data in organic constituent [kerogen], and laboratory dicate a progressive roof deterioration that can and bench-scale process research. The process result in failure. The minimum roof life was studies include evaluation of uncommon methods of more than two years. Therefore, in a normal producing shale oil and gas from oil shale; in commercial operation, where a unit area would be situ retorting, including the possible applica mined out in less than 60 days and then closed tion of nuclear explosives; and refining of shale off to entry, roof-fall hazards should be virtu oil. ally eliminated. This paper summarizes the information and The Bureau and several cooperating organi technology developed by the Bureau of Mines pro zations have conducted crushing tests on oil gram and by industry, describes the status of oil shale, using jaw, gyratory, impact, and roll-type shale in the national energy picture today, and equipment. Resulting data have proved useful speculates on its future as a supplemental source for some design purposes but are probably inade of petroleum. quate for exact design of a commercial oil-shale crushing plant. The. tough, elastic Green River BUREAU OF MINES OIL-SHALE PROGRAM oil shale tends to form slabs that present screening and handling problems. Mining Methods Mining costs, computed during the period of Mining methods developed at the Bureau's oil operation in the 1940's, ranged between 47 and 56 shale mine near Rifle, Colo.,4 apply to cliff cents per ton.4 They included labor, supplies, face locations in the Colorado River drainage depreciation, taxes and administrative overhead. area. A "selective mine" was opened first to ob Important developments in quarry and open-pit tain specific shales from any of the nine beds mining techniques and machinery have occurred within the principle oil-shale section, commonly during the past decade. Many of these methods referred to as the Mahogany zone, for retort test COuld. be used in oil-shale mining to cut costs ing, and to determine if theoretical stUdies on and thus offset increased labor costs and capital safe roof spans were applicable. A "demonstration investments. mine" then was opened in a 73-ft minable section of the Mahogany zone to prove that low mining Retorting costs and high recovery in a room-and-pillar operation were possible. Application of heat is the only means of producing shale oil that has been devised during Development of the demonstration mine was the worldwide interest in shale-oil production, initially planned to include driving a top head- and numerous heating processes and retorts H.

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