OIL FROM SHALE

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 92, 15 October 1940, Page 16

OIL FROM SHALE

TESTS TO BE MADE

DEPOSITS IN SOUTHLAND

Tests of oil shale from Orepuki, Southland, are being undertaken by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, according to a statement made by the Minister (the Hon. D. G. McMillan). He said that six hundredweight of shale had already been sent to Australia, and when it had been put through laboratory tests five tons of shale would follow for treatment equivalent to^ commercial conditions. A sample of the crude oil obtained from the' shale would be sent to America, where an accurate estimate of the yield of petrol could be obtained and the appropriate type of cracking plant designed.

Dr. McMillan said he would visit Southland at the end of this week with Mr. H. G. Denham, M.P., who is associated with him in the Department, to inspect the shale deposits at Orepuki and at Freshford. Geological and geophysical surveys completed by the Department indicated a probable minimum deposit of 2,000,000 tons of shale in the Orepuki area, and there were estimates of about 750,000 tons at Freshford, he said. The most complete investigations into the possibilities of the deposits were being made to provide a picture sufficiently true for industrial development purposes.

It was estimated that the Orepuki and Freshford shale would produce about 40 gallons of crude oil to the ton, which was less than half the oil, content of the Newnes deposit in Australia, but greater than than of the Scottish deposits.

In recent years the distillation process had been replaced by. hydrogenation, whereby the greater part of the crude oil was converted into highly refined spirit, the Minister said. This was a particularly useful process as it permitted the development of resources which it might not have been possible to utilise economically by distillation. It was too early yet to form an idea whether the development of the Southland deposits would be practicable, but the Department was inquiring fully into all aspects so that a reliable decision could be reached.