Blue Ensign Technologies Limited holds two significant assets:

  • the intellectual property to the Rendall Process, a patented new process technology for the production of shale oil from oil shale;

  • an oil shale lease at Julia Creek in Queensland which contains a shale oil resource of 900 million barrels of shale oil.  Blue Ensign believes that the production potential is significantly in excess of 1 billion barrels using the Rendall Process.

Blue Ensign intends to bring these two assets together to develop the Julia Creek Oil Shale Project.

This will be carried out in three stages.

  • Stage I involves building a 1 tph pilot plant at Townsville, Queensland, to demonstrate the Rendall Process in continuous mechanical operation, using oil shale derived from the oil shale tenement at Julia Creek.  The pilot plant will provide the Company's engineers with important data to assist with designing the Stage II plant.

  • Stage II involves designing, building and operating the first Rendall Process commercial scale plant to process approximately 600 tonnes of oil shale per hour to produce approximately 15,000 barrels of shale oil per day.  This plant and its associated mine will be located on the Julia Creek tenement.

  • Stage III involves designing, building and operating the first Rendall Process full scale plant to process approximately 2,000 tonnes of oil shale per hour to produce approximately 50,000 barrels of shale oil per day. 

Blue Ensign believes that the Rendall Process will offer benefits in operational, economic and environmental terms unequalled or unsurpassed by any other available process technologies.

It is intended to raise the funding for the Stage I pilot plant by one of, or a combination of:

  • the issue of shares in Blue Ensign;

  • the issue of shares in Queensland Shale Oil Limited, the holder of the Julia Creek tenement and currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Blue Ensign;

  • the sale of a royalty interest in the Julia Creek Project;

  • the introduction of a joint venturer to the Julia Creek Project.

Each of these alternatives is under active review.

Once Stage I is successfully completed, Blue Ensign intends to commence discussions with the holders of other oil shale interests for the licensing of the Rendall Process.  Blue Ensign believes that the advantages offered by the Rendall Process over other known process options will result in the licensing activity becoming a significant part of Blue Ensign's business going forward.