DOE funds more oil recovery research work

The U.S. Department of Energy will fund research projects at six universities to improve oil recovery technologies.

DOE's Office of Fossil Energy will provide $5.5 million in funding and the universities $2.2 million. Projects will last 3-6 years.

The selections came in the fourth of five major petroleum-related competitions that DOE's National Petroleum Technology Office, Tulsa, launched in March.

In recent weeks, DOE has announced grants or other funding for research projects related to advancing drilling production technology (see related stories this page and p. 31).

Latest awards

In the latest awards:

Stanford University will extend reservoir simulation capabilities to include analysis of nonstandard wells, incorporating improvements in an existing simulator to provide quick assessment of nonstandard well performance and real-time drill bit guidance while drilling.
University of Southern California will determine how interactions that occur during heavy oil recovery affect reservoir fluid flow and assess their effects on production to improve recovery.
University of Oklahoma will develop methods for collecting reservoir data related to improving well placement and enhanced oil recovery projects in naturally fractured reservoirs.
University of Kansas Center for Research (Lawrence, Kan.) will improve the performance of polymer gels used with waterflooding to modify reservoir fluid flow paths and increase waterflood efficiency.
Mississippi State University will improve the selective redirection of reservoir fluid flow using combined microbial and polymer technologies.
University of Texas will improve the performance of gas flooding processes by using computer simulation studies to examine ways to increase gas/oil mixing, enhance the efficiency of the process to sweep remaining oil out of the reservoir, and assess water-gas injection techniques.

Technology transfer

DOE said technologies emerging from the projects will be transferred to U.S. oil producers, particularly independent operators. It said, "With oil prices expected to remain at current levels for some time, it will be increasingly important for oil operators to minimize their operational costs.

"New approaches to producing crude oil-including reservoir modeling, data gathering, and process design-can contribute significantly to reducing costs and increasing operational efficiency, especially in marginally producing fields where costs are proportionally higher."