DOE SEEKS PROJECTS TO BUOY AGING OIL FIELDS

The Department of Energy is seeking proposals for projects that demonstrate methods to keep aging U.S. oil fields on production.

DOE estimates use of advanced production techniques could account for more than 3 million b/d of U.S. oil production by 2010.

Deputy Energy Sec. Henson Moore said, "Our objective is to give operators, particularly independents, a broader menu of oil field options that can keep endangered reservoirs in production and ultimately maximize the amount of oil this nation can produce."

DOE will fund as much as half of the cost of selected projects, which will have the goal of enhancing production from fluvial dominated deltaic reservoirs, common to 11 of the most prolific oil producing states. Winning projects could be selected as early as next April. DOE plans to provide only minimal oversight, allowing sponsors to determine the best way to conduct the projects.

It is allocating $10 million for projects built on near term techniques that can be commercially applied within 5 years. DOE said those methods may already be in use, but their demonstration across a broader geographic area may spread their use.

DOE will spend as much as $30 million on projects demonstrating techniques that could be in commercial use by the late 1990s.

Those will go beyond preventing field abandonments and attempt to maximize the volume of oil that can be recovered economically from a reservoir.

DOE said many of the techniques have been tested only in laboratories or on a small scale.

DOE will make data from all projects available to operators, state agencies, and others to encourage widespread use of successful techniques.

Copyright 1991 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.