Show r s produces barrels in tests I Though overshadowed by big com com- companies and big money Inc Salt Lake City has proved to be an industry in- in industry leader in at least one respect the company has produced shale oil since 1975 became the first shale oil company to pay royalties and sell its pro pro- product product duct to a distributor President Mike Lekas noted as he briefed the federal Shale Oil Environmental Advisory Panel has produced barrels in seven years said Dr Lekas The company owns a patent for its in- in in situ retorting process radically d different ferent from other projects In that the oil shale Busin ss Activities J lies close to the surface he explained The rock can call be heated right where it is has worked with the in- in situ process on one of Its 1 square mile school section leases that dot southern Uintah County Two sized commercial acre I-acre retorts have been used to pro pro- produce produce duce oil and two more are being developed said Dr Lekas The company failed to get to the final round in the first solicitation for ap- ap applicants applicants for US Synthetic Fuels Corp funds He said would apply in the second and if necessary third solicitations What would happen if the company failed to get funds a panel member asked ask ask- asked ed The Synthetic Fuels Corp is justs one avenue were we're following Dr Lekas replied hoped to bring the first square mile section into commercial pro pro- production production by the end of 1984 with 1994 as asa asa a goal for full production Dr Lekas said the first phase would produce bar bar- barrels of oil a day along with 50 megawatts of power from the gas The shale deposits used so far ar yielded an average of 22 gallons per ton at an average depth of 44 feet he said The process begins with a fracturing of the shale beds with explosives Ex Ex- Ex plosives along one edge of at the acre l-acre sec sec- section tion are set off of f first f followed by charges in the rest of the section The successive explosions produce a effect that crea creates tes more space between the broken broken- up rock Air is injected into the shale bed on one side of the section to provide fuel for combustion Dr Lekas said a combus tion front moves across the section at atthe atthe the rate of about a foot per day At the opposite end of the section wells pick up the shale oil as well as com combustible busti- busti ble gas that can be used for power The blast pattern creates a sump to which the oil can drain for pick up by the wells |