Shell has learned a great deal about oil shale in Colorado and will apply that knowledge to oil-shale plays in other parts of the world…
By Mark Jaffe: The Denver Post: Posted: Â 09/24/2013Â
Royal Dutch Shell on Tuesday became the most recent company to abandon efforts to turn Western Slope oil-shale rock into oil, announcing it is abandoning its Mahogany project.
Chevron stopped its oil-shale research in Rio Blanco County in February 2012.
“The energy markets have evolved since we started the project in 1982,” said Kelly op de Weegh, a Shell spokeswoman. “We are exiting our Colorado project to focus on other opportunities.”
The aim of the Mahogany Research Center was to turn oily shale rock into liquid by heating the rock in situ and pumping it out.
“The economics of oil shale have always been the issue,” said David Abelson, an analyst with Western Resource Advocates, an environmental group opposing shale development.
Shell spent an estimated $30 million to create a test subterranean “freeze wall” to hold in the shale oil when it was heated.
Full-scale production would likely have required building a dedicated power plant.
The new oil plays in North Dakota and Texas and along Colorado’s Front Range, which are producing large quantities of oil, hurt the viability of oil shale, said Jim Spehar, former mayor of Grand Junction.
“Out here on the Western Slope, oil shale will always be the fuel of the future,” Spehar said.
Shell announced plans Tuesday to build a $12.5 billion plant in Louisiana that would turn natural gas into diesel, jet fuel and other liquids.
“We have a large portfolio of opportunities, all competing for capital,” op de Weegh said.
Shell has learned a great deal about oil shale in Colorado and will apply that knowledge to oil-shale plays in other parts of the world, op de Weegh said.
As for Colorado, she said, “Our focus is to work with our staff and contractors to safely stop research activities and close the site.”
Mark Jaffe: 303-954-1912, [email protected] or twitter.com/bymarkjaffe
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
