BX in situ oil shale project. Final report

Abstract

The objective of the Project was to demonstrate the technical feasibility of using superheated steam as a heat-carrying medium to retort in situ the oil shale in the Green River Formation leached zone and provide a mechanism for the recovery of the retorted shale oil with a minimum impact on the environment. Utilizing primarily the natural porosity in the leached zone, approximately 450 billion Btu's of heat have been injected into injection wells at the project site over a 2-year period in an attempt to heat to retorting temperatures in a shale zone approximately 540 feet thick and covering about one acre. The field Project is located at Equity's BX In Situ site in Rio Blanco County in northwestern Colorado. This final report summarizes the field and laboratory work conducted as the BX In Situ Oil Shale Project, a project jointly funded by the US Department of Energy Equity Oil Company under a Cooperative Agreement entered into on March 1, 1977. The September 15, 1982, and includes a period of two years from September 18, 1979 to September 15, 1982, during which superheated steam and hot water were injected into an array of eight injection wells completed in the leached zone oil shale of the Parachute Creek member of the Green River Formation in the Piceance Creek Basin of northwestern Colorado. (20 figures, 21 tables)