Red Leaf has announced the formation of a Strategic Technical Alliance with Hatch, a global leader in engineering and technology development. Under this alliance, Hatch will be the exclusive provider of certain engineering services for oil shale projects using Red Leaf’s proprietary EcoShale® oil shale technology. Hatch will provide engineering for all process design packages, technical services and support through startup and performance testing.
Hatch has worked with Red Leaf in developing its EcoShale® technology since 2008. Hatch has been involved in the overall technology development, including analysis of the pilot plant operation and data; design of experiments and; laboratory data development. Hatch has been the primary contractor for all engineering designs associated with EcoShale® retorts, most notably the current, reusable drum design. Engineering designs have included yield estimates, heat and mass transfer models, retort thermo-mechanical designs and constructability analysis.
Red Leaf CEO, Adolph Lechtenberger, said, “Hatch is the recognised expert in engineering services for the oil shale industry and has unmatched experience in design and project development of oil shale projects. Hatch has been a part of the development of Red Leaf’s oil shale technology from the beginning. This agreement with a world class engineering company will increase investor confidence and is a significant milestone in the launch of our Seep Ridge project.”
Sanjiv Save, Managing Director of the Oil and Gas business unit of Hatch, said, “We’re excited to be building on our long-standing relationship with Red Leaf and to continue our work helping them to develop and implement the EcoShale® technology. We see this as the next step in helping oil shale projects achieve unprecedented outcomes with reduced costs and improved recovery of oil.” Red Leaf is developing a 10,000 barrel per day oil shale project at its Seep Ridge site, approximately 60 miles south of Vernal, Utah. Construction for the project is expected to begin in 2021 with first production in 2023. Red Leaf recently awarded Hatch a contract to complete the next level of engineering on this commercial project, a front-end loading or FEL2 design, which will be completed in first half of 2019. Red Leaf also expects to begin pre-qualifying potential EPC contractors and mine operators for the project later this year.
In parallel, one of Red Leaf’s licensees, Questerre Energy Corp, has recently announced that it is moving to the next phase of engineering with Hatch on its large scale, integrated 50,000 barrel per day oil shale project in Jordan. Questerre has an MOU for an eight-billion-barrel oil shale resource in Jordan, and Red Leaf, as licensor of the EcoShale® process, is working with Questerre to support its concession filing. The Jordan project will involve a major open cast mining operation.
