Resumen del autor, extraido del trabajo. Over the past 25 years two Australian companies, Southern Pacific Petroleum N.L. and Central Pacific Minerals N.L. (SPP/CPM), and their co-venturers have invested A$400 million in a bid to create a modern shale oil industry in Australia. An important milestone was reached in 1999 with construction of the A$250 million Stuart Stage 1 demonstration plant in Queensland, Australia in a joint venture with Canada’s Suncor Energy Inc. (Suncor). The 4,500 b/d (715 m3/d) plant is currently being commissioned by Suncor, the project operator. Stuart is one of 10 high quality, silica based oil shale deposits held by SPP/CPM and its co-venturers along the Queensland coast which contain an estimated 29 billion barrels (4.59 Gm3) of in-situ resource. The Stuart project incorporates the Alberta-Taciuk Processor (ATP) retort technology which was chosen following a A$150 million R&D program in the 1980s. With technical and operational success in Stage 1, the Stuart Joint Venture expects to scale up the ATP in Stage 2 to a commercial sized module producing 15,000 b/d (2,350 m3/d). This could lead to a commercial scale operation of at least 85,000 b/d (13,500 m3/d) by 2007. Success at Stuart creates a new development paradigm for oil shale with important implications for world oil supply.