A 12-member team at Dow Chemical Co. has completed 3 years of a 4-year, $14 million contract with DOE to assess the feasibility of recovering energy from Antrim oil shale. The contract has four specifically identified tasks: (1) shale characterization; (2) in-situ fracturing and assessment; (3) in-situ extraction trials; and (4) environmental, public policy, and legal assessment.

End_Page 1590------------------------------

At the experimental site in Sanilac County, Michigan, the Antrim Formation is about 200 ft (60 m) thick at 1,200 to 1,400 ft (365 to 425 m) below the surface. Under Task 2, several wells have been drilled into the Antrim layer in three 10-acre plots. Each plot has been subjected to a different fracturing procedure: (a) hydraulic fracturing followed by explosive fracturing; (b) explosive underreaming followed by explosive fracturing; (c) chemical underreaming followed by explosive fracturing.

The plot which appeared, on the basis of permeability studies, well-to-well communications, and various downhole logging studies, to offer the best chance of success in Task 3 was chosen for an in-situ extraction trial. This trial was scheduled to begin in August 1979.

End_of_Article - Last_Page 1591------------