Ikelic - Alliance Digital Repository

STATUS OF OIL SHALE PROJECTS (Underline denotes changes since June 1994)
COMMERCIAL PROJECTS (Continued)
proven the second stage plant at 25,000 tons per day of shale producing 14,000 barrels per day
of syncrude from an intermediate
grade will be constructed. Stage three is a replication step with five 25,000 ton per day units producing 60,000 barrels per day of
syncrude from average grade shale, or approximately 15 percent of the projected Australian oil import requirement in the year
2000.
The latest estimated cost for the first stage demonstration plant is US$132 million. Because the semi-commercial Demonstration
plant cannot offer economics of scale, the Australian government is encouraging the project by offering to exempt all gasoline
derived therefrom (about 40% of production) from excise tax (US$0.19/liter) through the year 2005. Legislation to this effect was
passed by the Australian Parliament in December 1993. In December 1992, Stuart Stage 1 received formal government approval as
a research and development project, making it eligible for a write-off of 150 percent of 90 percent of capital expenditures
(50 percent in each of the first 3 years) plus the same 150 percent write-off for nearly all operating costs, including interest on debt,
for six years.
With both these government supports the excise tax benefit alone covers all operating costsStage 1 is profitable at any oil price
above $5 per barrel as notionally suggested below:
WIS1993 $15 $20 $25
Project after tax IRA 10.0% 15.2% 19.1%
Investor after tax IRA 145% 20.0% 25.2%
According to conceptual SPP calculations neither Stage 2 or 3, the subsequent full size commercial plants, require any government
subsidies to be economic.
In parallel with these matters, environmental impact studies have been completed and the Stuart partners were granted a mining
lease for the term of 24 years in October 1993.
Project Cost: For semi-commercial demonstration module US$132 million
- YAAMBA PROJECT Yaamba
Joint Venture [Beloba Pty. Ltd. (10 percent), Central Pacific Minerals N.L. (3.3 percent), Southern
Pacific Petroleum N.L. (3.3 percent), Shell Company of Australia Limited (41.66 percent), and Peabody Australia Pty. Ltd.
(41.66 percent)] (S-240)
The Yaamba Oil Shale Deposit occurs in the Yaamba Basin which occupies an area of about 57 square kilometers adjacent to the
small township of Yaamba located 30 kilometers (19 miles) north-northwest of the city of Rockhampton, Australia.
Oil shale was discovered in the Yaamba Basin in 1978 during the early stages of a regional search for oil shale in buried Tertiary
basins northwest of Rockhampton. Exploration since that time has outlined a shale oil resource estimated at more than 4.8 billion
barrels in situ extending over an area of 32 square kilometers within the basin.
The oil shales which have a combined aggregate thickness of over 300 meters in places occur in 12 main seams extending through
the lower half of a Tertiary sequence which is up to 800 meters thick toward the center of the basin. The oil shales subcrop along
the southern and southwestern margins of the basin and dip gently basinward. Several seams of lignite occur in the upper part of
the Tertiary sequence above the main oil shale sequences. The Tertiary sediments are covered by approximately 40 meters of un
consolidated sands, gravels, and clays.
During 1988, activities in the field included the extraction of samples for small scale testing and the drilling of four holes for further
resource delineation.
In December, 1988 Shell Australia purchased a part interest in the project. Peabody Australia manages the Joint Venture which
holds two "Authorities to Prospect"
for oil shale in an area of approximately 1,080 square kilometers in the Yaamba and Broad
Sound regions northwest of Rockhampton. In addition to the Yaamba Deposit, the "Authorities to Prospect"
cover a second
prospective oil shale deposit in the Herbert Creek Basin approximately 70 kilometers northwest of Yaamba. Drilling in the Her
bert Creek Basin is in the exploratory stage.
A Phase I feasibility study, which focused on mining, waste disposal, water management, infrastructure planning, and preliminary
ore characterization of the Yaamba oil shale resource, has been completed. Environmental baseline investigations were carried out
concurrently with this study. Further investigations aimed at determining methods for maximum utilization of the total energy
resource of the Yaamba Basin and optimization of all other aspects of the mining operation, and collection of additional data on
the existing environment were undertaken.
During 1990,
exploration and development studies at the Yaamba and Herbert Creek deposits continued. A program of three
holes (644 meters) was undertaken in the Block Creek area at the southeast of the Herbert Creek deposit.
Project Cost: Not disclosed
2-35
SYNTHETIC FUELS REPORT, JANUARY 1995