Table of Contents

Vol. 6, No. 2
2nd Quarter 2000

Native American Tribes Join DOE’s Oil Technology Assistance Program

Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson announced in May that the Jicarilla Apache Tribe in New Mexico and the Ute Indian Tribe in Utah will be part of two new projects under the US Department of Energy (DOE) Native American oil technology program. DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy will provide a total of $695,000 to fund the projects, which were selected from 15 proposals. Participants will contribute a total of $337,000.

The two tribes – both with large tracts of virtually unexplored land that could hold millions of barrels of crude oil – will join in DOE’s program to apply high-tech innovations to help locate energy resources. These projects are the second set of Native American oil technology proposals to be selected for federal support. Last year, DOE announced federal funding to assist tribes in Montana, Oklahoma, and Wyoming.

The New Mexico Project

The Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation has a rich history of oil and gas production but mostly in the reservation’s southern half. Although it is part of the same geologic trend as surrounding oil fields, the northern half is largely unexplored. Advanced Resources International, in Denver, will screen the northern region using data from satellite and seismic imaging, gravity measurements, and aerial magnetic surveying.

The Utah Project

Wind River Resources Corporation, from Roosevelt, Utah, will work with the Ute Indian Tribe in the Uinta Basin to apply 3-D seismic surveying on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation. Using a 15-square mile area where no 3-D seismic surveys have ever been conducted, researchers will use 3-D seismic to try to identify future drilling targets.

Details on the projects can be found on the DOE Fossil Energy website at www.fe.doe.gov.

NPTO Selects Five Independent Oil Producers to Receive Final Technical Assistance Grants

The US Department of Energy’s National Petroleum Technology Office (NPTO) has awarded the final five grants under its Technical Assistance Program to Independents. The winning companies have proposed innovative approaches for extending the productive life of their reservoirs. The fourth and final round of awards, as with the previous awards, were limited to independent oil companies with fewer than 50 employees. The program, under DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy, has provided the winners with grants of up to $75,000 each to help lower operating costs and maximize production in marginal fields.

Announced in May, the winners of the final round of grants are:

• Macpherson Oil Company, Santa Monica, CA, will use reservoir simulation to select the most efficient combination of horizontal wells and steamflood process to produce heavy oil. (Round Mountain Field, Kern County, CA)
• Fritzler Resources, Inc., Fort Morgan, CO will use solar energy to heat and treat paraffinic crude oil in storage tanks to meet specifications required for sale. (Oxbow/Last Chance Field, Washington County, CO)
• Energy, Inc., Fairmount, IN, will install a compressed-air-driven oil production system to avoid the downhole corrosive conditions impeding the efficiency of standard pumpjack equipment (Trenton Field in Washington and Wabash Counties, Indiana)
• Stanton Mineral Development, Inc., Austin, TX, will use slimhole drilling technology to reduce costs where standard well drilling and completion costs are too high for economical development of marginal prospects. (Oak Hill Field, Bastrop County, Texas)
• GEOPETRO, LLC, Worthington, OH, will compile an extensive body of field data using advanced reservoir description technologies and 3-D simulation modeling to develop alternative field development approaches for optimal oil production. (Householder Field, Fairfield County, Ohio)

The recipients of the grant will provide nearly $1.8 million in cost sharing for the five projects, and DOE will contribute a total of $322,000. With this final selection of grant recipients, DOE has awarded 22 small oil producers with nearly $1.5 million dollars through technical assistance grants.

For more information, contact Herb Tiedemann, NPTO, phone 918-699-2017, email htiedema@npto.doe.gov. or visit the DOE website at www.fe.doe.gov