Release Date: March 11, 2003

TULSA, OK - With the nation's oil industry increasingly focused on short-term efforts that generate rapid returns on investment, the Department of Energy is looking to the longer term - the next decade and beyond when new concepts in exploration, drilling, and production will be needed to keep the nation's oil fields in production.

The department has selected 10 new projects that reflect this renewed attention to longer-range, more fundamental oil technology research.

To be located in Alabama, California, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wyoming, the new projects span a range of exploratory research efforts - from "smart wells" that use the latest in downhole sensor technology, to "smart polymers" that adjust within the reservoir to overcome multiple problems that can impede oil recovery.

The 10 projects will share in $8.7 million in federal funding. They were selected from 56 proposals. DOE is providing 74% of the cost, and performers are providing 26%.

They are part of an initiative called PRIME - for Public Resources Invested in Management and Extraction - a program sponsored by the Energy Department's Fossil Energy organization that stresses fundamental oil and gas research and technology development.

PRIME seeks to fill a growing void within the domestic oil industry - an industry increasingly made up of smaller independent companies.

In a market where prices have become increasingly volatile, U.S. oil producers have continued to narrow their focus to projects that return a positive cash flow over a few months, rather than years. Industry-funded oil research laboratories have closed, and private sector support for fundamental research and longer-range technology development has dwindled.

This has led the Federal Government to reorient its oil research efforts. To preserve a vital aspect of future energy security, the Energy Department is conducting research in areas not addressed by industry.

PRIME differs from other Energy Department oil technology R&D programs in that it stresses high-risk research on concepts that may require 5 to 10 years to develop. A major goal is to develop new approaches that can lead to enhanced production of oil resources found on public lands.

Three areas were included in the call for PRIME proposals: (1) new technologies for oil and gas recovery; (2) innovative drilling technology, particularly new materials and downhole fluids for use while drilling; and (3) revolutionary approaches for finding and developing new oil and gas fields in the United States. 

Area 1 - Oil and Gas Recovery Technology

Stanford University, Stanford, California - "Experimental Investigation and High Resolution Simulator of In-Situ Combustion Processes"

The research proposed is directed at recovering the large amounts of heavy oil that remain unproduced in the United States. The purpose is to better understand the process of "in-situ combustion" and to develop a reservoir simulation program to predict the effects of using heat to boost oil recovery.

"In-situ combustion" is an enhanced oil recovery method in which the subsurface oil in the reservoir is ignited. This burning oil breaks down into coke and lighter oil. As the coke burns, the heat reduces the viscosity of the reservoir oil and the heated gases, formed by the combustion, drive the oil toward producing wells. Some of the combustion gases dissolve in the oil further reducing the viscosity of the oil. Large volumes of air must be injected into the reservoir in order to maintain the subsurface combustion. Air injection is a major expense of in-situ combustion.

The Stanford project will ultimately deliver 3-dimensional simulation models for predicting in-situ combustion performance and advance the understanding of chemical reactions in the reservoir by testing and evaluating various chemical additives to optimize an oil field's production.

Project Duration: Four Years
Principal Investigator: Dr. Margot G. Gerritsen
Tel: (650) 725-2727 margot.gerritsen@standord.edu
DOE Total Cost - $1,000,000
Cost Share - $250,000
Total - $1,250,000

Rice University, Houston, Texas - "Surfactant-Based Enhanced Recovery Processes and Foam Mobility Control"

Injecting surfactants is an enhanced recovery method that could help prolong production from oil fields after more conventional production methods have proven ineffective. Surfactants are chemicals that can reduce the oil's tendency to cling to subsurface rocks.

Researchers will tailor new high-performance and cost-effective surfactant molecules for specific crude oils. The objectives of the proposed research are to (1) develop new cost-effective surfactants and processes; (2) present a mechanistic understanding of how these processes work, and (3) develop simulation tools to scale-up the processes for field application.

Project Duration: Three Years
Principal Investigator: Dr. George J. Hirasaki
Tel: (713) 348-5416 gjh@rice.edu
DOE Total Cost - $1,000,000
Cost Share - $271,165
Total - $1,271,165

University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Mississippi - "Smart" Multifunctional Polymers"

Polymers are long-chained, high molecular weight molecules that when mixed with water, increase its viscosity and improve its effectiveness in forcing oil through reservoir rock. Many older U.S. oil fields are kept producing today by "waterflooding." Adding polymers to the water can make waterflooding more efficient and prevent the water from channeling away from oil-rich zones in the reservoir. But individual polymers developed to date are tailored primarily to overcome one type of reservoir obstacle, and it is time consuming and expensive to select the right combination of polymers for a given reservoir.

Southern Mississippi researchers will study "smart polymers" that can perform multiple functions in the reservoir, adjusting to different ranges of acidity, temperatures, ionic properties, and geologic stresses. The goal is to develop a polymer that can respond "in situ" - or in place - to these conditions and significantly improve a waterflood's efficiency in "sweeping" oil from areas of a reservoir that conventional waterfloods might bypass.

Project Duration: Three Years
Principal Investigator: Dr. Charles L. McCormick
Tel: (601) 266-4872 Charles.Mccormick@usm.edu
DOE Total Cost - $1,060,437
Cost Share - $297,411
Total - $1,357,848

University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming - "Fundamentals of Reservoir Surface Energy as Related to Surface Properties, Wettability, Capillary Action and Oil Recovery from Fractured Reservoirs by Spontaneous Imbibition"

University of Wyoming researchers will study ways to increase oil recovery from fractured reservoirs by improving understanding of spontaneous "imbibition." Imbibition is the phenomenon in which oil or water molecules are attracted to the inside of the pores of reservoir rock much like fluids are drawn up the inside of a tiny capillary tube. Imbibition can cause oil droplets to move out of reservoir rock and into the natural fractures that often run through oil reservoirs. Wyoming researchers will try to enhance this phenomenon by using detergent-like "surfactants" to alter the tendency of oil to cling to certain types of reservoir rocks and by changing the composition of saltwater injected into the reservoir. The researchers will also study ways to reduce the "capillary back pressure" that can block the movement of oil at the fracture face.

Project Duration: Five Years
Principal Investigator: Dr. Norman R. Morrow
Tel: (307) 766-2838 morrownr@uwyo.edu
DOE Total Cost - $1,000,000
Cost Share - $250,001
Total - $1,250,001

Area 2 - Drilling, Completion and Stimulation

Terra Tek, Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah - "Smaller Footprint Drilling System for Deep and Hard Rock Environment; Feasibility of Ultra-High Speed Diamond Drilling"

Future oil wells in the United States will likely have to probe deeper and into harder formations than the wells of today. This project will focus on long-term developments in deep well and hard rock drilling which offer significant improvements in drilling deep hard rock by applying ultra-high (greater than 10,000 rpm) rotational speeds. High speed drilling holds the potential to reduce drilling costs, and produce a smaller footprint in environmentally sensitive areas.

Project Duration: Two Years
Principal Investigator: Gordon Tibbitts
Tel: (801) 584-2429 gtibbitts@terratek.com
DOE Total Cost - $769,712
Cost Share - $250,000
Total - $1,019,712

The University of Texas at Austin, Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering Department, Austin, Texas - "A Comprehensive Statistically-Based Method to Interpret Real-Time Flowing Well Measurements"

To produce more oil from more complex and harder-to-reach reservoirs, the nation's producers have begun to employ a variety of sophisticated new drilling approaches - such as wells that extend horizontally through an oil-bearing reservoir, or that radiate out from a central borehole, or that branch in multiple directions.

This project will develop new methods for measuring the entry of oil, gas and water into these more complex wells. These methods are needed to take full advantage of "smart" well instrumentation, a technology that is rapidly evolving. "Smart" wells employ a variety of downhole sensors to send information from the bottom of the hole rapidly to operators on the surface, enabling them to adjust drilling and production to optimize a well's performance.

Project Duration: Two Years
Principal Investigator: Dr. A. D. Hill
Tel: (512) 471-6262 danhill@mail.utexas.edu
DOE Total Cost - $869,747
Cost Share - $236,969
Total - $1,106,716

University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma - "Development of Next Generation Multiphase Pipe Flow Prediction Tools"

As the nation's oil industry moves into deeper offshore waters, it becomes increasingly important to understand how gas, oil and water behave as they flow in wells, flow lines and pipelines. Tulsa researchers will develop a unified model for gas-oil-water three-phase flow in these systems. The model will enable companies to predict flow characteristics such as flow patterns, phase distributions, and pressure gradient encountered during petroleum production at different flow conditions (pipe diameter and inclination, fluid properties and flow rates). A new model for three-phase flow is increasingly important for the special handling requirements necessitated by offshore drilling targets in water deeper than 5,000 feet.

Project Duration: Five Years
Principal Investigator: Dr. Cem Sarica
Tel: (918) 631-5154 cem-sarica@utulsa.edu
DOE Total Cost - $731,995
Cost Share - $833,560
Total - $1,565,555

Area 3 - Advanced Diagnostic and Imaging Systems and Reservoir Characterization

University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama - "Basin Analysis and Petroleum System Characterization and Modeling, Interior Salt Basins, Central and Eastern Gulf of Mexico"

Employing state-of-the-art computing facilities, researchers at the University of Alabama will model and characterize the petroleum-rich formations in two of the most important provinces in North America for oil and gas accumulations: the North Louisiana Salt Basin (which covers portions of Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas) and the Mississippi Interior Salt Basin in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico region. Information from the University's research will provide an advanced approach for targeting geologic "traps" where oil and natural gas may have collected. The models will be directed at aiding future exploration efforts for petroleum buried below 15,000 feet, well below the depth of most ongoing operations today.

Project Duration: Five Years
Principal Investigator: Dr. Ernest A. Mancini
Tel: (205) 348-4319 emancini@wgs.geo.ua.edu
DOE Total Cost - $999,959
Cost Share - $359,094
Total - $1,359,053

The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Austin, Texas- "Elastic Wave Field Stratigraphy - A New Seismic Imaging Technology"

University of Texas researchers hope to show how a new seismic imaging technology called "elastic wave field stratigraphy" can improve understanding of the geology of oil- and gas-bearing formations. University researchers will study different combinations of seismic waves to determine their effectiveness in identifying potential rock formation properties and help producers pinpoint new oil and gas resources. From this effort, the researchers hope to show oil and gas companies how this new seismic imaging technology should be applied to improve geologic understanding of oil and gas systems.

Project Duration: Three Years
Principal Investigator: Dr. Bob A. Hardage
Tel: (512) 471-0300 bob.hardage@beg.utexas.edu
DOE Total Cost - $740,573
Cost Share - $189,000
Total - $929,573

Texas Engineering Experiment Station, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas - "Interwell Connectivity and Diagnostic Using Correlation of Production and Injection Rate Data in Hydrocarbon Production"

This work aims to develop a new approach to evaluating the flow paths between injection and production wells. The procedure will use injection and production rates and target three different production scenarios: fields with wells shut in for extended periods; fields with non-uniform compressibility; and very heterogeneous reservoirs.

Project Duration: Three Years
Principal Investigator: Dr. Jerry L. Jensen and Dr. Larry W. Lake
(University of Texas at Austin)
Tel: (979) 845-2206 jensen@spindletop.tamu.edu
DOE Total Cost - $538,788
Cost Share - $167,394
Total - $706,182