Research projects to address oil, gas recovery, processing

Sept. 3, 2001
The US Department of Energy plans to provide partial funding for 20 research projects to enhance oil and gas production in the US.

The US Department of Energy plans to provide partial funding for 20 research projects to enhance oil and gas production in the US.

The National Petroleum Technology Office in Tulsa will manage the projects. The Office of Fossil Energy plans to select another round of project winners later this year.

Oil reservoir efficiency

This area addresses the need to access oil not recoverable by conventional methods by developing improved methods of gas, chemical, and microbial flooding for light oil recovery, DOE said. Funding amounts are subject to negotiation.

New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM, will study ways to improve the "sweep efficiency" of carbon dioxide floods and examine a technically advanced approach that combines CO2 and foam. Funding is $1 million from DOE and $500,000 from NMT, where Dr. Reid Grigg is project contact.

Texas Engineering Experimental Station (TEES), Texas A&M University, will examine artificially fractured cores of reservoir rock using X-ray computerized tomography to determine why CO2 often bypasses oil in reservoirs that are naturally or hydraulically fractured. Funding over 3 years is $1.17 million, including $937,000 from DOE. Dr. David Schechter is project contact.

The University of Kansas, Lawrence, will develop polymer gel systems that will penetrate deeper into the reservoir and are specially formulated to reduce the amount of water that is often produced along with oil. Dr. Paul Willhite is project contact for the 3-year, $1.2 million project.

California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, led by Dr. Yongchun Tang, will develop low-cost surfactants that can tolerate high concentrations of salty brines that exist in many US oil reservoirs. DOE will provide $720,000 of the $900,000 project cost. Project duration is 3 years.

Diagnostics, imaging

Technologies in this area address the need for improvements in the way geophysical data are acquired, processed and interpreted, DOE said.

Advanced Resources International, Houston, will link data from 3D seismic with well logs to improve resolution in a 2 year, $1.02 million project under Scott Reeves. DOE's share is $750,000.

Rock Solid Images, Houston, will develop tools for measuring reservoir properties focusing on how the inelastic nature of rocks is influenced by rock type, the microstructure of pores, and the type of fluid that fills the pores. Dr. M. Turhan Taner is contact for the 2-year, $986,000 project including $789,000 from DOE.

The University of Texas at Austin will examine turbiditic reservoirs in the deep Gulf of Mexico where production is difficult and expensive. They hope to build a profile of an entire reservoir. Roger Bonnecaze is contact for the $882,000, 3-year project with $649,000 of DOE funds.

Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pa., will use X-ray computed tomographic imaging to study how pressures that hold fractures open inside a reservoir decline as oil is produced and how rock stresses build and often force fractures closed. Penn State's share is $110,000 of the $550,000, 3-year project with contacts Abraham Grader, Phillip Halleck, and Derek Elsworth.

Bureau of Economic Geology at UT Austin will develop a geologically more realistic computer model of carbonate oil reservoirs. Goal is a model that could be used to optimize horizontal wells, CO2 injection, infill drilling, and other oil recovery methods. Stephen Ruppel is contact for the $1 million, 2-year project.

Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif., will use the acoustic miscroscopy technique map and quantify the microstructure of oil-bearing rocks, measuring how acoustic signals are changed as they move through and across individual rock grains. Under Dr. Gary Mavko, the 3-year project is funded at $565,000, including $450,000 from DOE.

The University of Houston and an independent oil and gas company will study ways to improve the resolution of vertical seismic profiling in tests over a Louisiana salt dome. DOE will fund 64% of the $1.2 million, 2-year project under Dr. Kurt Marfurt.

An environmentally oriented project involves Ground Water Protection Research Foundation Inc., Oklahoma City. It will make its risk-based data management system on oil and gas production and injection available to industry to streamline permitting, reduce the cost of environmental compliance, and develop user-friendly, online reporting techniques. This is a $3.1 million, 3-year project under Ben Grunewald.

Gas technologies

Two projects seek to boost gas recovery, and six projects address the large share of US gas resources that do not meet pipeline quality standards, are remote from pipelines, or that go undetected in isolated parts of reservoirs.

DOE pointed to a study by Gas Technology Institute, Des Plaines, Ill., which found that nearly 61 tcf of the nation's 148 tcf reserves is below the quality needed for most commercial uses. It found that 496 tcf of the estimated 1,690 tcf of undiscovered gas could be substandard.

Innovative Discovery Technologies, Inc., Laramie, Wyo., will develop a 3D model for the Wind River basin that will map a well's water and gas content, porosity, and its likelihood of producing gas. It will demonstrate the technology in the field. The 2-year, $1.94 million, 50-50 funded project is under the direction of Ronald C. Surdam. IDT and GTI recently formed a commercial partnership to deliver similar services (OGJ, June 18, 2001, p. 42).

UT Austin and Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Houston, will create a model to improve the performance of hydraulic fractures in the Jurassic Bossier sand southeast of Dallas. A fracture-monitoring program is proposed with a detailed analysis of current and future frac treatments. M.M. Sharma heads the $3 million, 2-year project.

Membrane Technology & Research Inc., Menlo Park, Calif., will study ways to reduce nitrogen impurities in subquality gas. It will build a 1 MMcfd membrane separation system that removes excess nitrogen and test it at a field in Jackson County, Ohio. Goal of the 2-year, $1.5 million project is to reduce the 20-25% nitrogen content of gas from a field operated by Butcher Energy to less than 4%.

In another project, GTI as Technology Institute, Des Plaines, Ill., will develop, demonstrate, and evaluate a compact gas/liquid absorber composed of membrane modules that upgrade substandard gas to pipeline quality. Chevron Corp. will host a gas-treatment plant, Kvaerner Process Systems will build the test unit, and W.L. Gore & Associates Inc. will provide the membranes. This is a 30-month, $1.9 million project.

TDA Research Inc., Wheat Ridge, Colo., will develop a gas-to-liquids process to separate gas molecules to create hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which can be converted into liquid fuels such as methanol. The 6-month, $207,000 project is aimed at cutting the cost of molecule separation, or reforming, the costliest step in the GTL process.

The University of Alaska at Fairbanks will study how to best transport gas converted into a liquid through the existing Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. It will analyze the fluid properties of gas to liquids, crude oil, and their blends under various operating conditions. Of particular interest in the $800,000 project is the affect different types of fuel blends might have on restarting the flow of oil through pipeline should it require shut down for prolonged repairs in winter.

Novatek Engineering Inc., Provo, Utah, proposes to develop a high-speed method of transmitting data from the bottom of a well to the surface through the drill string, including across threaded joints. This is a 1-year, $1.3 million project.

Paulsson Geophysical Services Inc., La Habra, Calif., has a $2 million, 2-year effort to develop an advanced seismic receiver that can handle high volumes of 3D data from deep and complex gas reservoirs.