Red Leaf Resources32 West 200 S. #552, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Red Leaf Resources was formed in 2006 with 17,000 acres of leases in Uintah County, Utah and a concept for developing oil shale using a “modified ex-situ retort.” This concept is called the EcoShale® In-Capsule® process. The oil produced from Utah shales using the EcoShale process will be light oil that is excellent feedstock for ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel. 

In 2008 and 2009, Red Leaf conducted a pilot test on its acreage in Uintah County. The test was a success and produced over 300 barrels of high quality oil. The shale in the capsule heated up as predicted per computer simulations.

Since 2006, Red Leaf has raised roughly $200 million to refine and develop EcoShale technology. In March 2012, Red Leaf signed a Joint Venture agreement with Total E&P USA to bring the technology to commerciality. This joint venture called for two steps to commerciality. The first step is to design and construct an Early Production System (EPS). This is a single capsule that is roughly 75% the sizes of the expected commercial capsules. The EPS capsule should produce roughly 400,000 barrels of oil equivalent. Red Leaf commenced site preparation work for the EPS capsule in January 2014. Following the completion of the EPS, expected in 2016, Red Leaf and Total will make the final investment decision regarding moving forward into continuous commercial production.

While the main focus of Red Leaf is the development of the EPS capsule, the company also is building value through new licensees to develop the technology in other areas. Red Leaf currently has four licensees with projects in Utah, Jordan and Morocco, as well as a joint venture to develop leased lands in Wyoming with Questerre Resources.

Vision

Red Leaf Resource's vision is to be the technology of choice for the world’s most accessible oil shale reserves with the smallest environmental impact of any competing oil shale extraction process pursuant to creating lower-cost energy, jobs in local markets, revenues for the operating region and becoming a model for licensing and construction worldwide.

Mission

Red Leaf Resource's mission is to unlock the value in oil shales around the world in an economic and environmentally responsible manner.

The History of Oil Shale

Early Years

Because it can be burned without processing, oil shale has been used as a fuel source since prehistoric times. As far back as the 10th century, there are written records of experiments to extract oil from shale rock. Apothecaries and physicians in Austria used oil from shale for medicinal purposes as early as 1350. The first known oil shale extraction patent was granted by the British Crown in 1684 to a group that had “found a way to extract and make great quantities of pitch, tarr, and oyle out of a sort of stone.”

The First Commercial Wave

Commercial production, in which large quantities of shale were mined and heated in specialized ovens called retorts, began in France in the 1830s. Following the French lead and improving upon their methods, Scottish energy entrepreneurs initiated an oil shale industry around Edinburgh in 1850 that successfully operated into the 1960s. During the late 19th century, commercial production of oil shale was found throughout Europe, Estonia, New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil, Australia, and North America.  

The first North American processing facility for oil shale was opened in Alberta, Canada in 1815. While this first facility was small, by the eve of the U.S. Civil War, more than 50 companies in Canada and the United States were retorting shale to distill oil from rocks (albeit none very successfully); most of this oil was used to produce kerosene.

Oil Shale in Early Utah

Ute Indians spoke of “the rock that burns,” indicating that they recognized oil shale’s unique properties. According to Utah’s State Historical Preservation Office, early pioneer settlers in eastern Utah accidentally discovered oil shale after chimneys constructed with the sedimentary rock caught fire and burned the first few cabins built by the pioneers.

Mormon settlers founded the first known oil shale operation in the Rocky Mountains, perhaps as early as 1855, building a retort in a ravine near the small, present-day town of Levan, Utah, about 100 miles south of Salt Lake City.  

20th Century Activities

Liquid crude oil discoveries in the U.S. in the late 19th century and in the Middle East in the mid-20th century brought most oil shale industries to a halt. Vast, easily accessible crude oil drove prices down to the point that most oil shale development became uneconomic.  

Still, in 1944 the U.S. recommenced oil shale extraction as part of its Synthetic Liquid Fuels Program. This program and its related industries continued until 1986 when drastically declining oils prices forced its closure. Because of the dramatic drop in oil prices, in May of 1982 Exxon shuttered the billion-dollar Colony Oil Shale Project, which had produced 270,000 barrels of oil. The last oil shale retort in the U.S., operated by Unocal Corporation, closed in 1991.

Modern Oil Shale Industries

In recent years oil shale extraction has continued in Estonia, Brazil, and China, both for power (by burning the ore like coal) and for liquid production. In 2008, these countries produced about 17,700 barrels of oil from shale per day.  

The U.S. Synthetic Liquid Fuels Program was restarted in 2003, followed by a commercial leasing program in 2005 that permitted the extraction of oil shale and oil sands on federal lands in accordance with the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Since then, six federal demonstration projects have been put under lease by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). In addition, several private ventures have shown renewed interest in U.S. oil shale production, including Red Leaf Resources.  

In addition to the U.S., Australia and Canada have tested shale oil extraction techniques via demonstration projects and are planning commercial implementation. Morocco and Jordan have announced their intent to do the same.

Lower Environmental Impact
Red Leaf Resources's EcoShale® technology extracts oil with lower energy consumption, lower emissions, lower water use and less environmental impact than any oil shale technology deployed in the world today. The EcoShale process was specifically designed to address traditional environmental challenges of oil shale production.

Clean-burning natural gas burners provide direct heat to the capsule, which results in lower emissions than any other oil shale process to date. In addition, the EcoShale technology recovers synthetic natural gases that are produced along with the oil products and puts the gases to use heating the same or future capsules. This unique energy cycle reduces the need for outside energy consumption, resulting in an Energy Return On Investment (EROI) of 10:1 – ten barrels out for one barrel equivalent of energy input.

The Bentonite clay liner which encases the capsule protects ground water from any potential leaching from the processed shale.

The EcoShale process includes land reclamation throughout the commercial production. The reclamation goal is to create stable, self-renewing, non-erosive vegetation beneficial to livestock and wildlife grazing. During commercial production, reclamation of the first capsules will lag oil extraction by approximately 3.5 years. Once this lag time is established, re-grading will follow oil recovery from capsules by approximately 2 years.

The EcoShale process is extremely water sensitive. Water is used during capsule construction for dust remediation, human consumption, saturating the bentonite amended soil, and humidifying the insulating gravel that will line the capsules. The process of heating the capsule and extracting oil from shale uses no water. In commercial production, the water produced as steam from the insulating gravel will be captured and reused in the construction of the next capsule. Any water used for cooling the capsule will be in a closed loop and will be recycled.

The oil produced in Utah by Red Leaf’s EcoShale process will be light (high API gravity) sweet (low sulfur) crude oil that should be excellent feedstock for ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel, the cleanest automotive fuel available. The EcoShale process produces no heavy bottoms (asphalt) and a higher percentage of the barrel is suitable for transportation fuel than with conventional West Texas Intermediate Crude.

A highlight of the EcoShale process is it does not burn or combust shale. The process heats shale up to a temperature where pyrolysis occurs. Pyrolysis is the process by which hydrocarbons, in the form of black oil, condensate and natural gas, are liberated from the shale. There are some places in the world that burn shale for power generation. Burning shale is a dirty process that produces high levels of particulate emissions. Red Leaf’s EcoShale process does not burn shale.

The EcoShale process produces oil from surface mineable oil shale. It does not include drilled wells or fracking.