Energy Department to fund 20 oil and gas research projects

By the OGJ Online Staff

HOUSTON, Aug. 15 -- The US Department of Energy Wednesday announced it would partially fund 20 projects to enhance US oil and gas production.

The Office of Fossil Energy plans to select another round of project winners later this year.

The New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM, will study ways to improve the "sweep efficiency" of carbon dioxide floods.

It will fund $500,000 and DOE $1 million.

Texas Engineering Experimental Station, Texas A&M University, will examine artificially fractured cores of reservoir rock to determine why carbon dioxide often bypasses oil in reservoirs that are naturally fractured or in which producers have created fractures. The results will be applied to achieve a more efficient carbon dioxide flood. It will contribute $234,000 and DOE $937,000.

The University of Kansas, Lawrence, will develop polymer gel systems that will penetrate deeper into a reservoir and are specially formulated to reduce the amount of water that is often produced along with oil. It will fund $500,000 and DOE $691,000.

California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, will develop low-cost surfactants that can tolerate high concentrations of salty brines that exist in many US oil reservoirs. It will fund $180,000 and DOE $720,000.

Advanced Resources International, Houston, will link data from 3D seismic with well logs to improve resolution. It will fund $271,000 and DOE $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 rock pores, and the type of fluid that fills the pores. It will contribute $197,000 and DOE $789,000.

The University of Texas at Austin will examine turbiditic reservoirs in the deep Gulf of Mexico where production is difficult and expensive. It will pay $233,000 and DOE $649,000.

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 stress levels in the rock build up and often force fractures to close.

It will provide $110,000 and DOE $440,000.

The Bureau of Economic Geology of the University of Texas will develop a geologically more realistic computer model of carbonate oil reservoirs. It will contribute $504,000 and DOE $500,000.

Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif., will use an acoustic technique to map and quantify the microstructure of oil-bearing rocks, measuring how the acoustic signals are changed as they move through and across the individual grains that make up the rocks. It will contribute $115,000 and DOE $450,000.

The University of Houston will study ways to improve the resolution of vertical seismic profiling, used to measure the velocities of sound waves in rock layers from inside a well. It will contribute $435,000 and DOE $777,000.

Ground Water Protection Research Foundation Inc., Oklahoma City, will make its risk-based data management system available to industry to streamline permitting, reduce the cost of environmental compliance, and develop user-friendly online reporting techniques. It will contribute $612,500 and DOE $2,451,000.

Innovative Discovery Technologies Inc., Laramie, Wyo., will develop a 3-D model for the Wind River basin of central Wyoming 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. It will provide $970,000 and DOE $970,000.

The University of Texas at Austin and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. will create a model to improve the performance of hydraulic fractures in the tight Bossier sand southeast of Dallas. A fracture-monitoring program is proposed with a detailed analysis of current and future fracture treatments. Sponsors will provide $2.21 million and DOE $883,931.

Membrane Technology & Research Inc., Menlo Park, Calif., will study ways to reduce nitrogen impurities in gas not meeting pipeline standards. It will build a 1 MMcfd membrane separation system that removes excess nitrogen and test it at a field in Jackson County, Ohio. It will provide $900,000 and DOE $648,813.

Gas Technology Institute, Des Plaines, Ill., will develop, demonstrate, and evaluate a gas/liquid absorber composed of membrane modules that upgrade substandard gas to pipeline quality. Chevron Corp. will host a gas-treatment plant, Kværner Process Systems will build the test unit, and W.L. Gore & Associates will provide the membranes. Participants will provide $1.04 million and DOE $858,420.

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 sponsor will pay $53,525 and DOE $153,514.

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, and their blends under various operating conditions. It will provide $195,016 and DOE $604,733.

Novatek Engineering Inc., Provo, Utah, will develop a high-speed method of transmitting data from the bottom of a wellbore to the surface through the drillstring. It will pay $692,919 and DOE $600,000.

Paulsson Geophysical Services Inc., LaHabra, Calif., will develop an advanced seismic receiver that can handle the high volumes of 3D data.

It will provide $1 million and DOE $1 million.