ABSTRACT
Since World War I, there have been several occasions when the time seemed ripe for commercial production of shale oil from the western oil shale deposits of the United States. Each time operations were about to begin, however, new finds of conventional crude oil reserves, decreases in crude oil prices, or decreases in demand have caused operations to be discontinued. The extent and concentration of the resource and the distribution of ownership are important factors preventing the development of oil shale. For an average 30 gal/ton shale, and using surface retorting, it will require that about 1.4 tons of shale be mined, transported, crushed, and retorted for each barrel of shale oil produced. This means that a 50,000 barrel per day plant would have to mine 70,000 tons of shale per day. Either underground or surface mining can be used depending upon the thickness of the overburden.
