By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Apr. 13 -- ChevronTexaco Australia Pty. Ltd. and the Western Australian Energy Research Alliance (WAERA), both of Perth, have formed a multimillion-dollar strategic research alliance in Australia. The new entity—the Western Australian Alliance for Advanced Energy Solutions—will undertake petroleum industry research, technology development, and education and training projects, reported ChevronTexaco Corp.
ChevronTexaco said it would invest as much as $5 million (Aus.)/year to develop research projects through the alliance, which will coordinate research and development and use research activities of WAERA's three research institutions: the University of Western Australia; Curtin University of Technology; and Australia's government research and development agency CSIRO (the Commonwealth Scientific Industry and Research Organization).
ChevronTexaco Australia Managing Director Jay Johnson said short-term and long-term projects initially would focus on oil and gas exploration and development; hydrocarbon processing; industry-related health, safety, and environmental issues; and education and training initiatives.
"The new technologies and new applications of existing technologies that we hope to develop and deploy [are] expected to further improve our business in areas of particular relevance to our interests in Australia, such as deepwater seismic acquisition and interpretation; the drilling and production of high-volume large-bore wells; remote subsea production systems; and carbon dioxide capture and long-term containment," Johnson said.
Future research also could support the development of emerging technologies, such as those associated with the hydrogen economy, he added.
ChevronTexaco also recently formed alliances with several other research establishments such as Los Alamos National Laboratory, operated by the University of California, to establish a range of mutually beneficial technologies; the University of Tulsa, to form the Center of Research Excellence in production fluid flow; the University of South California, to set up the Center of Interactive Smart Oilfield Technologies; and the Colorado School of Mines to participate in the Center of Research Excellence in Earth Science.
