The U.S. Department of Energy has described how oil and gas companies would conduct joint research with national laboratories under its proposed Advanced Computational Technology Initiative (ACTI).
DOE published a draft program description before public meetings it held this month in San Francisco, New Orleans, and Houston (OGJ, May 23, p. 29). The department has requested $50 million for the program for fiscal 1995 and hopes to make a similar amount available for joint research projects yearly after that.
Participating companies will help fund ACTI projects at rates determined case by case. The average, program-wide industry contribution is supposed to match the government's contribution.
ACTI, part of DOE's Natural Gas and Oil Technology Partnership, envisions industry government research efforts aimed at advancing technology in computationally intensive areas such as seismic, reservoir characterization, and modeling and simulation programs.
It will seek to apply those advances to specific areas such as subsurface structural and stratigraphic imaging and modeling, reservoir characterization and compartmentalization modeling, and fluid flow and reservoir performance modeling.
The program would give industry researchers access to research and computer capacity at DOE's nine multipurpose national laboratories. DOE hopes to involve major and independent producers, service companies, universities, and other research groups.
ACTI is one of four technology areas under DOE's technology partnership program. The other technology areas are borehole seismic, oil recovery, and drilling and completion.
ORGANIZATION
DOE will manage ACTI through a management group involving its Offices of Fuel Energy, Defense Programs, and Energy Research. The main contact for industry will be Thomas C. Wesson, director of DOE's Bartlesville (Okla.) Project Office.
For all of DOE's technology partnership programs, a partnership office, including representatives from each of four national labs, handles day to-day operations. In addition, a task group involving at least two national labs manages each technology area. In ACTI, each project will have at least one national lab partner.
Planning and development of ACTI programs will be handled by a "partnership industry steering committee" of industry officials.
ACTI technology transfer will be handled partly by the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council, set up under earlier partnership programs and involving the Independent Petroleum Association of America. But DOE will use other means to transfer technology developed under ACTI.
An ACTI program industry review panel, working through the appropriate task group, will provide overall direction and coordination. The review panel will define needs, review and evaluate proposals and projects, set priorities, and encourage technology transfer. Subdivisions of the review panel may evolve.
The industry review panel and its subdivisions will include representatives of independent and major companies, service firms, and industry associations.
PROPOSING PROJECTS
If DOE secures funding, producers and service companies, beginning next year, will be able to propose ACTI projects by approaching the national lab they consider most able to assist with the research. Companies will be subject to eligibility requirements set in Energy Policy Act of 1992.
Representatives of the companies and appropriate national lab will work together to write project proposals, which DOE hopes will be three to five pages long without a fixed format.
DOE wants proposals to include objectives, approach, deliverables, contributions of all participants, schedule, DOE's funding share, and industry and other contributions to costs.
The partnership office will screen proposals to make sure they're consistent with DOE's mission and don't duplicate existing projects. From there, proposals will go to the ACTI program industry review panel for evaluation. The panel will meet annually or semiannually.
National labs involved in specific projects will work with the appropriate DOE branches on matters of government funding.
DOE says it wants relationships between companies, universities, and national labs to be flexible and based on industry needs. Mechanisms it suggests for working with the labs include technical personnel exchanges, data exchange agreements, technical documents and software, consulting agreements, contracting agreements, collaborative projects, interaction with academic institutions, industrial interactions, scientific user facilities, reimbursable work for others, and technology and software licensing.
All agreements under ACTI will be between companies and their national lab partners, ranging from informal arrangements defined in project proposals to formal cooperative research and development agreements. Companies win not have to enter contracts or other agreements with DOE.
