Several tar sand recovery projects have been proposed by private corporations. Known tar sand deposits the U.S. contain an estimated 24 to 30 billion bbl of oil-in-place. Nearly 90% of this resource is in Utah and is contained in 6 giant deposits large enough to support relatively large production projects at current or foreseeable cruce oil price levels. However, the necessary oil production technology is presently only in the experimental stage. Early commercial tar sand oil production efforts will probably consist of mining-plant extraction processes in the minor portion of the known resource with thin over-burden. The major portion of the resource will require the application of yet-to-be-proven in situ technology. (15 refs.)