Industry Oil shale industry Headquarters Salt Lake City | Website redleafinc.com Founded 2006 | |
Key people Adolph Lechtenberger (CEO)
Ezra Hunt (CFO) | ||
Red Leaf Resources, Inc, is an oil-shale company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It is a developer of the shale oil extraction technology EcoShale In-Capsule Process. The company is affiliated with Questerre Energy.
Contents
Technology
In the Red Leaf Resources EcoShale In-Capsule Process a hot gas is generated by burning natural gas or pyrolysis gas. Generated hot gas is then circulated through oil shale rubble using sets of parallel pipes. The heat is transferred to the shale through the pipe walls rather than being injected directly into the rubble, thereby avoiding dilution of the product hydrocarbons with the heating gas. The oil shale rubble is enclosed by a low-cost earthen impoundment structure to prevent environmental contamination and to provide easier and more rapid reclamation after the extraction process is finished. Heat from the spent shale is recovered for enhancing the process's energy efficiency by passing cool gas through pipes and then using it for preheating adjacent capsules.
Operations
Red Leaf Resources controls oil shale leases covering about 17,000 acres (69 km2) on State of Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands in Seep Ridge, Utah. The acreage represents about 1.1 billion barrels (170 million cubic metres) of shale oil. Its 2009 pilot project produced more than 300 barrels (48 m3) of oil. In 2012, Red Leaf Resources formed a joint venture with Total S.A. to launch commercial scale production of 9,800 barrels per day (1,560 m3/d), utilizing the EcoShale In-Capsule process on oil shale leaseholds in Utah's Uintah Basin. In December 2013, the ground water permit was issued for the oil shale mine and shale oil plant. Red Leaf plans to be producing 300,000 barrels (48,000 m3) of oil by the end of 2015.
In 2011, Red Leaf Resources signed a licence agreement with TomCo Energy allowing the latter to use the EcoShale technology for developing the Holliday block in Utah. TomCo filed an application for oil shale activities in January 2014.
Management
The director, president and chief executive officer of the company is Adolph Lechtenberger. Todd Dana was one of the original founders of Red Leaf Resources and former chief operating officer.