Mountain West Energy, LLC is an American unconventional oil recovery technology research and development company based in Orem, Utah

Orem, Utah

Orem is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States, in the north-central part of the state. It is adjacent to Provo, Lindon, and Vineyard and is about south of Salt Lake City. Orem is one of the principal cities of the Provo-Orem, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Utah and...

. It is a developer of the In-situ Vapor Extraction Technology, an in-situ shale oil extraction technology. The company owns 880 acres (3.6 km²) oil shale

Oil shale

Oil shale, an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock, contains significant amounts of kerogen from which liquid hydrocarbons called shale oil can be produced...

 leases in the Uintah Basin

Uintah Basin

The Uintah Basin, also spelled Uinta Basin, is a physiographic section of the larger Colorado Plateaus province, which in turn is part of the larger Intermontane Plateaus physiographic division. It is also a geologic structural basin in eastern Utah, east of the Wasatch Mountains and south of the...

, Uintah County, Utah

Uintah County, Utah

This page deals with the Utah County. For the Wyoming County, see Uinta County, Wyoming.Uintah County is a county located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of 2000 the population was 25,224 and by 2009 was estimated at 31,536. It was named for the Ute Indians, the tribe that lives in the basin. Its...

.

In 2008, Mountain West Energy won the Clean Technology and Energy Utah Innovation Award.

Technology

Mountain West Energy has proposed an experimental technology for in-situ shale oil extraction called In-Situ Vapor Extraction. The company claims its technology would also be suitable for enhanced oil recovery and for extraction of heavy oil

Heavy oil

Heavy oil may refer to:*Fuel oil that contains residual oil left over from distillation.*Heavy crude oil, viscous crude oil.*Coal tar creosote, a wood preservative and waterproofing agent....

 and oil sands. For conversion of the kerogen

Kerogen

Kerogen is a mixture of organic chemical compounds that make up a portion of the organic matter in sedimentary rocks. It is insoluble in normal organic solvents because of the huge molecular weight of its component compounds. The soluble portion is known as bitumen. When heated to the right...

 in oil shale into shale oil

Shale oil

Shale oil, known also as kerogen oil or oil-shale oil, is an unconventional oil produced from oil shale by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. These processes convert the organic matter within the rock into synthetic oil and gas...

, the company proposes using a high temperature gas, injected through an injection well. In the oil shale formation, the gas would cause pyrolysis

Pyrolysis

Pyrolysis is a thermochemical decomposition of organic material at elevated temperatures without the participation of oxygen. It involves the simultaneous change of chemical composition and physical phase, and is irreversible...

, releasing shale oil vapors. These vapors would be brought to the surface through an extraction well.

In 2009, Mountain West Energy concluded an exclusive agreement with San Leon Energy granting the San Leon rights to the technology for a three year pilot project on the Tarfaya oil shale deposit of Morocco. San Leon signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Office of Hydrocarbon and Mining of Morocco on the Tarfaya

Tarfaya

- References :CitationsBibliography* Didier Daurat, , France: Édition Dynamo, 1954....

oil shale deposit in May 2009.