R&D shale oil extraction leases granted - AP

Posted on Fri, Dec. 15, 2006

R&D shale oil extraction leases granted
Associated Press

DENVER - The Interior Department granted leases Friday for shale oil extraction
experiments, a step allowing companies to determine how to tap into an estimated
100-year supply of oil locked in rock formations under Colorado, Utah, and
southwest Wyoming.

The leases, the first granted in 30 years, were issued two decades after companies
abandoned large-scale commercial efforts in western Colorado because coaxing oil
out of rock was laborious and expensive.

The Interior Department issued 10-year leases for Shell Frontier Oil & Gas Co.,
Chevron USA and EGL Resources Inc. for 160-acre parcels for research and
development projects in northwest Colorado.

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The Bureau of Land Management declared the projects would have no significant
environmental impact. But state officials and environmentalists voiced concerns
about threats to air and water, and said there was a lack of information on the kinds
of substances released by the extraction process.

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