DOE, LSU TO SEEK OVERLOOKED OIL FIELDS

THE U.S. Department of Energy and Louisiana State University plan to seek oil reservoirs that may have been bypassed in earlier Gulf of Mexico exploration. LSU, in an unsolicited proposal to DOE, proposed that it reprocess existing seismic data from known Gulf of Mexico reservoirs. DOE is negotiating with LSU on a $2 million, 2 year contract. LSU wants to apply sophisticated mathematical analysis techniques to data developed for the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service in an

Sept. 30, 1991

2 min read

THE U.S. Department of Energy and Louisiana State University plan to seek oil reservoirs that may have been bypassed in earlier Gulf of Mexico exploration.

LSU, in an unsolicited proposal to DOE, proposed that it reprocess existing seismic data from known Gulf of Mexico reservoirs. DOE is negotiating with LSU on a $2 million, 2 year contract.

LSU wants to apply sophisticated mathematical analysis techniques to data developed for the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service in an effort to identify overlooked formations that are potentially productive.

DOE acknowledged that things such as salt intrusions into an oil reservoir, common in Gulf of Mexico fields, have hampered accurate seismic targeting of prospects because sound waves bend as they enter and exit the salt, often resulting in distorted images. But technological advances can overcome past limitations.

The project's data would go into DOE's Tertiary Oil Recovery Information System (Toris), a repository of data and analytical techniques that contains information on more than 2,000 U.S. reservoirs.

DOE is using Toris as the basis for ranking oil reservoirs that face the greatest risk of abandonment yet contain potentially large amounts of oil. That ranking is used in a government-industry effort to test techniques that might prolong a reservoir's economic life.