Red Leaf Resources, Inc, doing business as Green Leaf Carbon Technologies, is an
oil-shale technology company based in
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
,
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
, United States. It is the developer of the
shale oil extraction
Shale oil extraction is an industrial process for unconventional oil production. This process converts kerogen in oil shale into shale oil by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. The resultant shale oil is used as fuel oil or up ...
technology HCCO
® (Homogeneous Charged Continuous Oxidation) Process. The company holds mineral leases in Utah for oil shale development that can support 75,000 bbl/day of oil production. Its Uintah Partners LLC subsidiary also holds surface rights in the Uinta Basin with a permit for a 40,000 barrel per day refinery. The company is affiliated with
Questerre Energy Corporation
Questerre Energy Corporation (QEC) is an international energy exploration company headquartered in Calgary, Canada, and listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Oslo Stock Exchange. It holds the largest acreage position in the Utica Shale in ...
.
[
]
Technology
The Green Leaf Carbon Technologies process for converting organic-rich material (primarily kerogen) to synthetic oil and gas is called the HCCO
® Process. The process retorts mined kerogen ore in a closed steel vessel. Heat is moved continuously through the stationary bed with a fuel gas that is produced along with oil from the system. Heat is recovered by exposing the leading edge of the heat front to fresh ore. When all the oil is recovered from one vessel and the spent ore has been cooled, the vessel is offloaded and reloaded with fresh kerogen ore. Typically, three vessels are grouped together in a pod with two vessels involved in the heat movement and oil production while the third vessel is on turnaround. By using pure oxygen with the fuel gas, essentially pure CO
2 is produced which is directly amenable to geologic sequestration or for use (such as for enhanced oil recovery operations). Sufficient fuel gas is produced by the process to satisfy the heat requirements of the retort and to generate sufficient electricity for the process requirements, thereby eliminating the need for any external fuel sources. The process promises production of ‘blue oil’, that is, oil that has been produced with zero CO
2 emissions.
Operations
Green Leaf Carbon Technologies controls oil shale leases covering about on State of Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands in eastern Utah. The acreage represents about of
shale oil
Shale oil is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale rock fragments by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock (kerogen) into synthetic oil and gas. The resulting oil ca ...
. Its 2009 pilot project produced more than of oil.
[
] In 2012, the company formed a joint venture with
Total S.A.
TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and ...
to launch commercial scale production of , utilizing the company’s first-generation EcoShale In-Capsule process on its oil shale leases.
[
] In December 2013, a ground water permit was issued for the oil shale mine and shale oil plant.
[
][
] With the collapse of oil prices in 2014, the company undertook a process to redesign its shale oil extraction technology to lower its capital and operating costs and improve its environmental footprint. The HCCO
® Process is the culmination of those efforts and Green Leaf Carbon Technologies is now pursuing commercial demonstration of the technology.
Key People
Michael Binnion is the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Jason D’Silva is a director and the Chair of the Audit Committee. Patrick Quinlan is a director and the Chair of the Compensation Committee.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Company website
Oil companies of the United States
Oil shale companies of the United States
Oil shale technology