Oil sands project begins in Utah

A Canada-based company has begun commercial production of oil from oil sands in a Utah facility near the Colorado border west of Rangely and has begun delivering it to market.

Petroteq Energy, formerly MCW Energy Group, has built a facility at Asphalt Ridge outside Vernal and is using what it says are benign solvents to produce oil from oil sand deposits. The company says its approach uses no water, produces no waste or greenhouse gas and doesn't require high temperatures.

It is working to ramp up production to the plant's capacity of 1,000 barrels a day.

The company said this month it received a small-source exemption from the Utah Division of Air Quality for its facility, allowing it to begin sales. It said in a news release that it got the exemption because the plant's estimated emissions are less than the level for which a permit is needed, "further confirmation that Petroteq's process is an environmentally conscious method of oil extraction."

Read more: https://www.gjsentinel.com/news/western_colorado/oil-sands-project-begins-in-utah/article_22486f3a-ebca-11e8-be9a-10604b9f6eda.html