DOE Digest

Four Native American Projects Awarded by DOE

Since 1999, the Department of Energy has sponsored a program to help Native American Tribes develop and manage their oil and gas resources. In the latest round of competition, DOE added four new projects (from among 14 proposals). Each teams tribes with oil producers and service companies.

Advanced Resources International (ARI) ($298K DOE) will collaborate with the Three Affiliated Tribes (Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa), and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to develop an integrated, non-invasive procedure to assess oil exploration potential in the Williston Basin, on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in western North Dakota. Of particular interest are the Madison carbonate and Bakken shale plays, which contain an estimated 320 million barrels of recoverable oil. Project partners will use remote satellite imagery from NASA, existing seismic data, and digital well logs to identify specific areas for resource development, and identify drilling sites. Contact: Scott Reeves, Advanced Resources International, phone 713-780-0815, email sreeves@adv-res-hou.com.

Golder Associates Inc. ($737K DOE) will team with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Red Willow Production Company, Legacy Energy Corp., Colorado School of Mines, Western Geco, Axis Geophysical, Eby Petrographic Services and Schlumberger Oilfield Services. They will conduct a detailed reservoir study using cutting edge three-dimensional, three-component (3D3C) seismic data to improve existing predictive models. The 3D3C technology will be used to select optimum drilling paths in the numerous small carbonate mound reservoirs, thereby increasing production. The resulting information will be used in selecting enhanced recovery processes that maximize environmental stewardship and oil recovery. This work will be performed on the Roadrunner/Towaoc Fields of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, located in the southwestern corner of Colorado. Contact: Dr. Paul LaPointe, Golder Associates Inc., phone: 425-883-0777; email: plapointe@golder.com 

Grand Resources Inc. ($400K DOE) will evaluate horizontal waterflooding in the Bartlesville formation in the Woolaroc Field located in Osage County, Oklahoma. The Bartlesville sand is a shallow, naturally fractured reservoir with low permeability. The project addresses the failure of vertical waterflooding in low permeability fractured reservoirs, and the potentially higher success rate for horizontal water injection at lower parting pressures. Grand Resources Incorporated will partner with the Osage Tribe, Dauben International Energy Consultants, and Dr. Leonid Germanovich. Contact: Scott Robinowitz, Grand Resources Inc., phone: 918-492-2366, email: scott@grandoil.com 

Jicarilla Apache Nation ($343K) will collaborate with Jicarilla Apache Energy Corporation and John D. Jones, Engineering Inc. to develop a feasibility study to design and construct an oil processing facility on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation in southeastern New Mexico. The southern portion of the Reservation has been extensively developed, and the relatively unexplored northern part of the Reservation lies on the same geologic and structural trend. Current developments and a new Minerals Development Agreement are stimulating activity in the northern area. The planned oil processing facility will provide the necessary infrastructure for expanded development of petroleum reserves on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation. Contact: Jesse Evans, Jicarilla Apache Nation, phone: 505-759-3224, email: jevans232000@yahoo.com

DOE Makes 6 PUMP III Awards

Alaskan Oil and Gas Exploration, Development and Permitting, The State of Alaska, Juneau, AK ($1,394K DOE). The goals of this project are to encourage exploration and development of the state's vast oil prospects, to improve permitting of oil exploration and development activities and create a shared GIS environment to support exploration, development and permitting. The project is statewide in scope, with emphasis on the North Slope and Cook Inlet. 

Adaptive Management and Planning Models for Cultural Resources in Oil and Gas Fields-New Mexico and Wyoming, Gnomon, Inc., Carson City, NV ($1,461 DOE). The project will examine and analyze existing cultural resource and historic preservation management practices in Wyoming and New Mexico. The project will allow regulatory agencies and industry to anticipate or avoid regulatory entanglement when petroleum exploration and production permitting intersect with historic preservation issues. 

Distributed Generation Power Units at Marginal Oil Well Sites (Offgases for Oil), Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, Oklahoma City, OK ($1,000 DOE). This project will increase oil production and reduce green house gases and NOx emissions in California by utilizing flare and shut-in gas from California's oil-fields to generate valuable electricity from new proven distributed generation technologies. Several types of conventional and new microturbine generators will be tested at selected sites from among California's 21,000 marginal wells.

Implementing a Novel Cyclic CO2 Flood in Paleozoic Reefs, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI ($1,062K DOE). The goal of this project is to show that bypassed oil in isolated areas can be economically recovered using existing technologies combined in new ways. Recycled CO2 will be used to produce bypassed oil from Silurian pinnacle reefs in the Michigan Basin. Waste CO2 from the Antrim shale production will be captured, compressed and re-injected into nearly pinnacle reefs.

Development Practices for Optimized MEOR in Shallow Heavy Oil Reservoirs, University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, MO ($630K DOE). This project will demonstrate an economically viable and sustainable method of producing shallow heavy oil reserves in Southwest Missouri and Southeast Kansas using a combination of microbial enhanced oil recovery and hydraulic fracturing in vertical wells.

Reviving Abandoned Reservoirs with High-Pressure Air Injection: Application in a Fractured and Karsted Dolomite Reservoir, The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Austin, TX ($1,092K DOE). Researchers will evaluate the applicability of high-pressure air injection in revitalizing an abandoned carbonate reservoir in the Permian Basin of West Texas. 

For additional details, visit DOE National Petroleum Technology Office's website (www.npto.doe.gov).

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