| Show Utah tah synthetic fuels plants face high costs Unless there is a dramatic increase inthe in inthe the demand for oil its it's unlikely that more than two or lr three synthetic fuels projects will soon be built in Utah ac- ac according according cording to a new report by the Utah Energy Office In a preview to the report that will soon be released Richard M Anderson program program specialist for the Energy Of- Of Office Office fice told members of the states state's Energy Conservation and Development Council Tuesday that the biggest obstacle to oil shale and tar sands development is the cost estimated at 1 17 7 billion to produce barrels of oil Twelve companies are pr proposing syn syn- synthetic fuels projects in Utah that accor- accor according according ding to their most optimistic projections projections would be producing barS bar of oil a day by 1994 Demand Such massive dE would re- re require require quire an investment of at least 16 billion an unprecedented demand for capital in Utah said Mr Anderson Raising such huge quantities of money will be extremely difficult because of the risky nature of the syn- syn synthetic synthetic fuels industry t he said The net return on the projects is not now enough to attract the capital that's needed II he said Subsidies Reduced The US Synthetic Fuels Corp established by Congress was supposed to alleviate the monetary problems by providing subsidies to fledgling oil shale and tar sands projects noted Mr Anderson However he said funding for forthe forthe the program has been reduced and the likelihood does not appear great for any Utah projects receiving subsidies Without the subsidies there are only two or three companies capable of rais- rais raising raising ing enough money to build their pro pro- projects he said Clayton Parr a member of the Energy Conservation and Development Council noted that conditions could change overnight if foreign oil supplies were to be reduced This would drive up the price of oil making synthetic fuels an economical alternative to imported fuels Just a Few Barring such a major change in the oil supply Mr Anderson said the likelihood of all 12 synthetic fuels pro pro- projects being built in Utah is about zero The likelihood of the majority of them m being built huilt is very low There will probably just be a few he said Besides the monetary problems Mr Anderson said synthetic fuels develop develop- development development ment could be constrained by the pollution pollution tion from the plants While none of the plants considered alone will violate air quality standards the cumulative levels of pollution could exceed air quality standards in Colorado Water and power supplies and the availability of a labor force were also considered by the study It was found that none of these would interfere with plans for massive synthetic fuels development |
