DE-AC26-07NT42677

Goal
The goal is to maximize the value of indigenous U.S. natural gas and other petroleum resources with a focus on near-to-mid-term results. Priority resources to be addressed include ultra-deepwater natural gas and onshore unconventional natural gas (tight gas sands, gas shales, and coalbed methane) which have been identified by the National Petroleum Council (NPC) and others as strategic areas for future natural gas supplies. The program will increase the supply of these resources by implementing a research program to reduce recovery costs and increase the efficiency of exploration and production (E&P) while improving safety and minimizing environmental impacts. An additional goal is to provide small producers with the tools necessary to develop natural gas and other petroleum resources and the knowledge base to effectively increase production and resource recovery.

Performer
Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA), Sugar Land, TX 77478

Background
In August 2005, President Bush signed the Energy Policy Act (EPAct) (the first national energy plan in more than a decade) into law. EPAct Sections 965, 968, and 999 all support oil and gas R&D. The first two of these sections relate to programs that DOE?s Office of Fossil Energy and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) are already implementing. Section 999, however, adds a new dimension to the overall DOE oil and gas R&D effort that involves enhancing opportunities to demonstrate technologies in the field and accelerating their implementation in the marketplace.

The Ultra-Deepwater and Unconventional Natural Gas and Other Petroleum Resources Program launched by Section 999 is a public/private partnership designed to increase America?s domestic oil and gas supply and reduce dependency on imports. A portion of the funding is directed toward cost-shared research partnerships, while another portion will be used by NETL to carry out complementary R&D.

Section 999 sets the funding for this program at a level of $50 million per year over 10 years, provided from federal lease royalties, rents, and bonuses paid by oil and gas companies. The funds are directed specifically towards research targeting four areas: ultra-deepwater resources (35%), unconventional natural gas and other petroleum resources (32.5%), technology challenges of small producers (7.5%), and fundamental research complementary to these areas (25%). The complementary research will be performed by NETL, while all other research will be administered by the consortium overseen by NETL. Each year, RPSEA will develop and submit to DOE a draft Annual Plan, which will be used to develop the DOE Annual Plan for Section 999.

Impact
The program will increase the supply of ultra-deepwater oil and natural gas and onshore unconventional natural gas (tight gas sands, gas shales, and coalbed methane) through research to reduce recovery costs and increase the efficiency of E&P while improving safety and minimizing environmental impacts. It will also provide small producers with the tools needed to develop natural gas and other petroleum resources and the knowledge base to effectively increase production and resource recovery.

Accomplishments
Every year since 2007, Annual Plans for the Ultra-Deepwater (UDW) and Unconventional Natural Gas and Other Petroeleum Resources Program have been submitted for review and comments by two federal advisory committees (Ultra-Deepwater Advisory Committee [UDAC] and Unconventional Resources Technology Advisory Committee [URTAC]). Upon their approvals, the plans are submitted to Congress and published in the Federal Register Copies of the annual approved plans can be found on the RPSEA website [external site]. Program funds are granted by Congress and released to DOE. Based on the annual level of funding, RPSEA releases solicitations and awards projects in these areas. Listing of awarded projecs can be found on the RPSEA website. The number of annual awarded projects per research area since 2007 is displayed in the following chart:

RPSEA submitted their Draft Annual Plan for years 2012?2014 to NETL on November 11, 2011. The 2012 Annual Plan was completed and submitted to the Unconventional Resources Technology Advisory Committee (URTAC) and the Ultra-Deepwater Advisory Committee (UDAC) in January 2012. The URTAC and UDAC completed their review and submitted their recommendations to the Secretary of Energy in March 2012. RPSEA also submitted a draft Management Plan, draft Solicitation Process, and draft High-level Metrics Plan to DOE/NETL for review.

Some selected RPSEA?s project successes since 2007 include:

The Dry Trees / Direct Well Intervention and Risers in 10,000-foot Water Depth
The ultra-deepwater dry tree system for drilling and production projects has opened the door to a commercial product that will allow the oil and gas industry to safely and effectively drill for and produce oil and/or gas in water depths to 10,000 feet. To date, no system is capable of exceeding 9000 feet of water depth. Other ultra-deepwater drilling and production systems offer a much smaller work area, thus limiting the type of work that can be performed. Moreover, since this is a dry tree system, it allows for direct well intervention in the safest of manners?well re-entry is accomplished on the drilling floor, where personnel can keep a close eye on systems and repair them easily when necessary.

Novel Concepts for Unconventional Gas Development in Shales, Tight Sands and Coalbeds
An alternative method of formation stimulation (beyond hydraulic fracturing) was developed that could effectively increase the net gas production from shale while reducing the amount of water required. Over a dozen new concepts were evaluated leading to the identification of a promising new method? a downhole cable saw cuts a pathway or ?slot? into the shale formation all along the length of the horizontal well bore. Discussions are under way with service companies regarding commercializing the technology.

Enhancing Appalachian Coalbed Methane Extraction by Microwave-Induced Fractures
Microwave energy can, in the absence of confining stress, induce fractures in coal. Creation of new fractures and increasing existing cleat apertures via short burst, high-energy microwave energy was evaluated for both hydrostatically stressed and unstressed North American bituminous coal cores. The results of this study indicate that microwaves are likely to have the potential to enhance the communication between a horizontal wellbore and the existing cleat network in coal seams at depth, for improved gas recovery or CO₂ injection.

Preformed Particle Gels For Mitigating Water Production And Extending The Life Of Mature Oil Wells and Further Improve Particle Gel Technology
The goal was to develop methods to optimize preformed particle gel (PPG) treatments to increase oil recovery and reduce water production by improving waterflood sweep efficiency. Field applications of PPG conformance control treatments in various reservoir conditions were summarized. Guidelines for PPG treatment design were provided. The results will aid in the field design of PPG treatments for a large range of well conditions, allowing for improved recovery from existing waterflood operations.

Near Miscible CO₂ Application to Improve Oil Recovery for Small Producers
The feasibility of near miscible CO₂ flooding for improved oil recovery in an Arbuckle reservoir in Kansas was studied. These reservoirs have produced an estimated 2.2 billion barrels of oil representing 35% of the 6.1 billion barrels of oil of total Kansas oil production. Many of the Arbuckle reservoirs operate at pressures below the minimum miscibility pressure (MMP), the pressure at which CO₂ and oil will completely mix. The study found that injection of CO₂ at field operating pressures, below the MMP can improve recovery of oil and leave residual CO₂ behind in the reservoir after depletion.

Current Status (June 2012)
Solicitations based on the 2011 Annual Plan for the Unconventional Resources Program and the Small Producers Program were released in December 2011 and projects selections are expected to be announced in June 2012. Solicitations for the Ultra-Deepwater Program are anticipated to be released in June 2012, with selections expected to be made in November 2012. The technical areas for these solicitations can be found in the 2011 Annual Plan. Solicitations will be open for a minimum of 60 days. Additional information on RPSEA and the upcoming solicitations can be found on the RPSEA website [external site].

Project Summaries are being developed for each RPSEA project. These summaries can be found at http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/EPAct2005/Projects/Index.html.

DOE anticipates submitting the 2013 Annual Plan (DRAFT) to both the UDAC and URTAC for review in September 2012, It is anticipated that the 2013 Annual Plan will be submitted for approval in December 2012.

Project Start: January 4, 2007
Project End: January 3, 2017

DOE Contribution: $356,250,000
Performer Contribution: $87,615,348 (based on minimum 20% cost share for R&D)

Contact Information
NETL ? Gary Covatch (gary.covatch@netl.doe.gov or 304-285-4589)
RPSEA ? Robert Siegfried (bob.siegfired@rpsea.org or 281-690-5502)

Additional information:

2011 annual Plan [PDF]

2010 Annual Plan [PDF]

2009 Annual Plan [PDF]

2008 Annual Plan [PDF]

2007 Annual Plan [PDF]