| Show TOSCO reviews 20 years of oil shale research This year marks the anniversary of The Oil Shale Corporation which was organized in Nevada September 16 1955 to develop an oil shale process invented in Sweden Inventor Olaf Aspegren granted TOSCO TaSCa the United States and Canadian license on his patents and by 1961 the corporation acquired worldwide worldwide worldwide world world- wide rights ASPEGREN'S technology has been extensively modified in two decades of research but still lies a at t the heart of the TOSCO II li retort method Briefly it involves mixing small pieces of shale with heated ceramic balls in a sealed rotating drum When the shale reaches a temperature of about degrees F the hydrocarbons in inthe inthe inthe the rock vaporize and are drawn off condensed and refined into a variety of high quality petroleum products TOSCO's TaSCa's Colorado operations started in 1957 when a research center was opened in Littleton and the Denver Research Institute hired to analyze results of the first pilot plant runs In 1961 the company opened a Denver office now the center for its environmental studies and land and water leasing programs and in 1965 built a research center and laboratories at Rocky Flats TOSCO AND several partners created the Colony Development Company in 1964 to develop their privately held oil shale lands 18 miles north of Grand Valley Colorado The joint venture is now known as the Colony Development Operation Over a million and a quarter tons of shale of-shale shale have been mined at the site which is at the head of Parachute Creeks Creek's Middle MiddleFork MiddleFork MiddleFork Fork Canyon and over one onehundred onehundred onehundred hundred thousand barrels of oil produced in TOSCO's retort TOSCO and its partners Atlantic Richfield Company Shell Oil all Company and Ashland Oil Inc are also developing the second federal oil shale lease track in northwestern Colorado The firms jointly bid 1178 million for the acre tract In addition to its oil shale work TOSCO owns petroleum refineries in California and Arkansas and a marketing network in the midwest and southeast and also is is developing technologies for recycling scrap tires and processing coal Sales in 1973 were million and net income was 52 million |
