The DOE recently announced that is has selected a project submitted by the University of Alabama-Birmingham and their partners to inject CO2 for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) into Citronelle field in Alabama. The project will provide oilfield operators and CO2 producers improved estimates of the potential of tertiary recovery of fields in the area and their capacity to sequester the CO2 after completing the flood. Partners include Denbury Resources, who operates and owns a majority interest in the field and has a number of ongoing CO2 EOR projects in Mississippi as well as operating the Jackson Dome CO2 deposit and pipeline system, Southern Company, one of the largest U.S. generators, University of Alabama, Alabama A&M, Geological Survey of Alabama, and the University of North Carolina. The project cost is $6 million, with DOE providing just under $3 million. A primary objective of the project is to "improve the reliability of computer simulations of the oil yield and sequestration capacity of a given geologic formation and the rate at which CO2 can be introduced into the underground formations. The Citronelle simulations will be integrated with computer visualizations of the migration of oil, water, and CO2, and made available to the public." This project is the culmination of the pre-solicitation workshop hosted by PTTC (www.pttc.org/
workshop_presentations.htm#
co2) in Houston earlier this year.

that promise to dramatically reduce deep (20,000 ft. +) drilling costs, which can be 12 times as much as a 6,000 ft. well. Pressures in such wells can exceed 15,000 psi and temperatures exceed 400 °F. The new projects are:

• Giner, Inc. will develop an all-solid state, high voltage electrochemical-electrolytic capacitor for operation at temperatures exceeding 400 °F. It will be incorporated into the electronic devices to steer and log while drilling deep formations.

• Hamilton Sundstrand will adapt technology from the aerospace industry to develop high-temperature, metallized fluorene polyester capacitors for the deep drilling industry.

• Electrochemical Systems Inc. will develop a high temperature rechargeable battery cell to power electronics in drilling and logging in environments up to 482 °F.

• Honeywell International proposes to extend its silicon-on-insulator process to develop a reconfigurable processor for data acquisition in measurement while drilling and production systems.

• Oklahoma State University plans to develop an extremely temperature-efficient, regulated power supply for well logging, measurement while drilling, or drill bit control.

• GE Global Research proposes to develop a flexible, polyimide-based packaging approach that tests three different strategies to interconnect the electronics to withstand high temperatures and vibration.

• Drill Cool Systems Inc. proposes to extend the insulated drill pipe technology already demonstrated in geothermal drilling to high temperature, high pressure deep gas drilling.

The total cost of all projects is just under $5 million, with DOE funding $3.3 million.

The DOE has initiated a new program to develop best practices to minimize the environmental impact of finding and producing domestic oil and gas. The LINGO program (Low-Impact Natural Gas and Oil) is designed to demonstrate that ultra-low impact technologies and practices can be deployed in sensitive areas without environmental damage. Three projects have been chosen for funding under the LINGO program:

• University of Arkansas will team up with Argonne National Laboratory for a project designed to minimize ecological effects of drilling in the Fayetteville Shale, considered to be the next big shale play after the Barnett in the Fort Worth Basin. They will develop a web-based interactive software application and database to enable the smaller independents to generate development plans for the play that employ best environmental practices and meet all regulatory requirements.

• Michigan Technological University has teamed up with Western Michigan University and Jordan Development Company LLC to develop novel horizontal drilling and openhole completion technologies to overcome environmental issues and regulations that place large tracts of the Antrim Shale natural gas play off limits in Michigan. Concerns include groundwater contamination with drilling fluid and air contamination with produced CO2. The new techniques will require fewer wells to develop larger tracts.

• Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) has teamed with Devon Energy and ALL Consulting to develop an Adverse-Impact Reduction Handbook to help producers identify barriers, minimize impacts and includes a benefit analysis of each option. Input will be solicited from landowners, ranchers and other concerned citizens to develop this "best practices" handbook.