Show GAS GASOLINE OtINE FROM SHALE in view of the ever increase ing demand for gasoline and the iner increase ase in price of crude oil from which it is obtained it is important to know that an almost inexhaustible supply of oil may be obtained from the shale of northwestern colorado northeastern ltv and southwestern wyoming this shale conta contains insi ma materials teriaH which when heated may be converted into crude oil aas gas and ammonia the high cost of distilling oil from shale as compared to the cost of producing oil from wells has thus far prevented the development in this country of such an industry and may continue to prevent it for some time but sooner or later this great source of supply will be utilized to supplement the decreasing production from the regular oil fields the oil derived from the shale is simil similar ar to that which is being produced from wells well in the united states at the rate of more than barrels a year when refined by ordinary methods the sha shale leoil oil yields an average of about 10 per cent gasoline 35 per cent kerosene and a large amount of paraffin the yield of gasoline from the shale may probably be largely increased by the use of refining methods especially designed for that purpose the gas which is is a very good illuminating gas will perhaps be sufficient to furnish all the heat required to distill the crude oil from the shale the ammonia is a most valuable product byproduct by of the distillation and may be utilized in the manufacture of commercial fertilizer or other nitrogen compounds as the market demands the united states geological I 1 survey has examined large areas of the shale in colorado utah and wyoming and has made many distillation tests some beds of shale that are several feet thick will yield more than i a barrel of oil to the ton of shale land and one bed 6 inches thick will yield more than two barrels of crude oil to the ton of shale one ton of this shale should therefore yield nearly 10 gallons of gasoline by the present commercial methods of gasoline extraction and larger yields may be made possible by new methods little attention has been paid been sufficient cien t to satisfy all de ty of petroleum produced from wells in the united states has mands but for more than 50 years the oil shale industry of scotland has been a very important one in a recent year more than ithan men were employed in the industry in that country 1 yet the average yield of oil per iton of shale was much less than that which appears possible from the shale of colorado and utah it is estimated that in Colo colorado alone there is sufficient shale in beds 3 feet or abre more thick and richer than the shale being mined in scotland to yield twenty billion barrels of crude oil from which at least two billion barrels of gasoline may be extracted by ordinary refining processes As was stated in the recent reply of secretary lane to a sen ate resolution on the subject of gasoline asoline the development of this enormous reserve simply awaits the time when the price of gasoline or the demand for other distillation products warrants the utilization of this substitute source this ma may happen in the future at all all events these are likely to to be drawn upon long before the exhaustion ha hR of the petroleum fields |