ABSTRACT
The first demonstrated recovery of oil from shale in the United States came in 1855 when a retort was constructed and operated near Juab, Utah. The pace of oil shale commercialization will certainly be affected by the extent of government-supported research and development of surface and/or in-sltu retorting technologies. The technology for underground and surface mining, with surface processing, and in-situ technologies, although growing, remains limited and no commercial processing has been performed thus far. Commercial development of oil shale will also depend on economic factors. Federal loan guarantees for commercialization of synthetic fuels would speed the development of oil shale. The Federal government has leased only a small part of its extensive oil shale land holdings, and the amount and type of future leasing is uncertain. The cost of producing a barrel of shale oil cannot compete with the production and investment costs of a barrel of conventional crude oil.
