Continued US government funding of oil and gas industry technology research is still needed, an invited panel of 18 industry representatives told the US Department of Energy this month.
The panel also asked for other concessions to the industry that DOE had not listed for discussion at the Aug. 15 hearing in Houston. The meeing, chaired by Robert S. Kripowicz, acting assistant secretary for fossil energy, was the last of three in the latest study of potential federal oil and gas research programs. Other hearings were in Denver and Pittsburgh (OGJ On- line, Aug. 6, 2001).
Review purpose
The stated aim of the review, to be completed in September, is to help define technology investments that the government should make to keep US oil and gas wells flowing, improve prospects for US technology abroad, and safeguard the environment. Like previous DOE studies, it proposes to examine "the complete spectrum" of current technology.
But while industry representatives applauded the success of previous government-industry technology programs, they also called for streamlining the permitting process for drilling and for greater access to federal lands, onshore and offshore.
Industry requirements debated
"As [natural] gas demand increases, as it surely will, we must find ways to make new gas reserves available," said Robert A. Mosbacher Sr., chairman of Houston-based Mosbacher Energy Co. and former US Commerce secretary under President George H. Bush.
The best way of providing those new reserves is by opening more federal land to exploration, particularly the Arctic Na- tional Wildlife Refuge coastal plain, said Mosbacher. Alaska's gas resources can be developed and a pipeline constructed to move that gas to markets in the Lower 48 more quickly and safely than the development of export and import terminals to move LNG from Trinidad and Tobago into US Gulf Coast markets, he said.
New technology has helped the industry tap new oil and gas reserves in mature US basins even in periods of rising costs, said Robert W. Gee, former assistant secretary for fossil energy during President Bill Clinton's administration. "The country requires a sustained commitment to technology development to minimize the environmental impact" of future exploration and development, said Gee, now a principal of the Gee Strategies Group that serves as consultant to energy companies and utilities.
The rapidly expanding coalbed meth- ane market is the "direct result of the transfer of technology to independent producers through previous government research programs," said Craig Clark, executive vice-president of US operations for Apache Corp., Houston.
Complaints
However, industry representatives also complained that some federal research programs are woefully underfunded and supervised by administrators who sometimes are not responsive to the industry's needs. Participation in government re- search programs is sometimes limited by corporate fears that they will be forced to give up proprietary information and technology, they said.
Speaking on behalf of the National Ocean Industries Association and the Petroleum Equipment Suppliers Associa- tion, Aston A. Hinds, a vice-president of Dallas-based Halliburton Co., said solving energy and environmental problems will require "an active collaboration among government, industry, academia, and other stakeholders."
DOE officials said results of the review are expected to help shape the administration's fiscal 2003 budget. Interested parties may submit written statements of up to 4 pages through Aug. 30 to DOE's Office of Natural Gas and Petroleum Technology-by e-mail to OilGasReview@ hq.doe.gov.