Production of unconventional gas (tight gas, shale, coalbed methane) is currently 40% of the total domestic gas production, including offshore. Tight gas is the largest piece of that mix, but requires massive hydraulic fracture stimulations to produce the gas from the low permeability rocks. DOE has funded two projects that will produce better frac designs to take advantage of natural fractures and to minimize formation damage. They are:

• The University of Texas at Austin will design and implement "energized" frac jobs in tight gas sands. A frac fluid is energized with the addition of carbon dioxide or nitrogen to overcome problems associated with reductions of well productivity due to water blockage and insufficient cleanup of frac fluid residues. However, no model exists to predict the effectiveness of the energized frac. UT will develop and test, with Anadarko Petroleum, a 3-D model to design and optimize energized frac jobs systematically. DOE will provide 45% of the $1.5 million project cost.

• The Massachusetts Institute of Technology will develop a novel analytical technique to better locate and characterize naturally fractured sweet spots and induced fractures in tight gas reservoirs. They plan to develop a new method of scattered wave analysis of seismic traces obtained by receivers in the wellbore (vertical seismic profiling). Taken over time (4-D), it will be used to identify fractures and locate development wells. It will be tested with Encana in the Jonah field of Wyoming. DOE will provide over half of the project's nearly $1 million cost.

For more information go to www.netl.doe.gov/public
ations/press/2006/060
42-Unconventional_Gas_
Projects_Announ.html.

A unique collaboration of industry, government, and academia led by the West Virginia University Research Corp. has produced a complete geological, geochemical, and geophysical study of two plays in the high-potential Trenton-Black River carbonate units of Appalachia. Led by WVU and NETL, seventeen gas exploration companies joined the consortium, contributing cost share through a two-year membership fee. The study characterizes the hydrothermal dolomite gas play on the west side of the basin and the fractured limestone gas play on the eastern side of the basin, with the Rome Trough defining the border between the two. Objectives were:

• Develop an integrated structural-stratigraphic diagenetic model for the origin of the Trenton-Black River hydrothermal dolomite reserves

• Highlight the most prospective areas for more detailed study and potential exploitation of the gas reservoirs in those areas

• Develop an integrated, multi-faceted, resource assessment model of Trenton-Black River reservoirs in New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and West Virginia

The goals were achieved through research in structure and seismic analysis, stratigraphic trends, petrographic data, geochemistry, and production history. Results are available in the playbook report and website and database. The consortium estimates that there is a 90% likelihood of finding an additional 2.7 TCF of gas in the two plays, and a 10% likelihood of as much as 11 TCF.

Novel carbon dioxide capture technologies and the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships are just two of the many items highlighted in the updated Carbon Sequestration Technology Roadmap and Program Plan and Carbon Sequestration Project Portfolio recently released by the DOE.

• The Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships are progressing to the validation phase in which 25 field tests are being conducted.

• Pilot-scale tests and modeling of amine-based CO2 capture have shown that operating an amine stripper at vacuum can reduce energy use 5–10 percent per unit of CO2 captured.

• Novel metal organic frameworks have shown significant potential as CO2 sorbents.

The roadmap and portfolio are key resources for understanding what is happening in DOE's Carbon Sequestration Program.

In 2005 Argonne National Laboratory, in a DOE-supported project, began to collect extensive information on the commercial E&P waste disposal companies in the United States. This information updates a similar effort that was published in 1997.