By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Jan. 14 -- The US Department of Energy has added four new projects to its "Technology Development with Independents Program" to help independent producers finance research and develop technology.
As large oil companies reduce research in the US, smaller producers rely on cost-sharing partnerships with the DOE to develop improved methods to enhance oil recovery.
The program provides federal matching grants of up to $100,000 to small independent companies to test higher-risk technologies that could lower operating costs and extend the life of US fields.
In turn, successful companies share the techniques with other small producers. The DOE's National Petroleum Technology Office in Tulsa, Okla., part of the National Energy Technology Laboratory, selected the following projects to assist independent producers:
--Vecta Exploration Inc., Dallas, Tex., will complete a shear wave seismic study documenting the imaging quality, costs, and potential benefits of combining S-wave and P-wave seismic data. Conventional 3D seismic survey methods use only compressional (P) waves, or sound waves traveling in one direction. Vecta believes that combining S-wave (sound waves traveling perpendicular to the P-wave) with P-wave data will provide a more complete geologic picture of potential subsurface oil and gas formations.
--St. James Oil Corp., Laguna Hills, Calif., will use a hydrochloric-phosphonic acid solution to restore oil production in shut-in wells in Las Cienegas field. Wells that have been shut down for more than a year and then returned to production typically produce at rates 30-50% less than before they were shut down. Severe calcium carbonate buildup, called scale, restricts oil flow of oil when the well is started again. Hydrochloric acid is known to dissolve scale. The phosphonic acid reacts with minerals to form a temporary protective film, allowing deeper penetration, and helps the hydrochloric acid.
--Crystal River Oil & Gas LLC, Encinitas, Calif., will test a new polymer gel treatment process that would restrict water production in Alameda field oil wells in Kingman County, Kan. The project would mitigate excess water production which, when accompanied by low oil production, results in unrecoverable oil and wells that become unprofitable to operate, leading to early well abandonment.
--Team Energy LLC, Bridgeport, Ill., will test the feasibility of using specially designed instrumentation to enhance the ability of oil well pumping equipment to limit the volume of salt water produced from stripper wells. Limiting salt water production will reduce operating costs and mitigate environmental risks associated with handling and disposal of salt water.
