PTTC Receives One of Several PUMP Awards
Information about preferred management practices will be thoroughly documented, packaged for different media, and aggressively transferred through personal contacts, one-on-one or small group meetings, workshops, newsletters, reports and especially the Internet. Through sustained interaction, Mentors will help producers develop the confidence to implement new processes. Total project cost is $1.0 million, with DOE's proposed share at $500,000. Other projects that received awards are: Gas Technology Institute (GTI), Chicago, IL, will develop computer-assisted practices for optimizing oil field operations based on neural networks, genetic algorithms, and "fuzzy" logic. Total project cost: $1.2 million; proposed DOE share: $577,110. The Texas Engineering Experiment Station, at Texas A&M, College Station, TX, will carry out two projects. One will apply preferred practices for improving the effectiveness of injecting water to increase crude oil production from the Texas Spraberry Trend, a giant half-million acre oil-bearing formation in Midland, Martin and surrounding counties in West Texas. Total project cost: $2.0 million; proposed DOE share: $362,073. A second project will develop and demonstrate a new practice for increasing oil production by deliberately producing sand from a reservoir, creating an underground cavity around the wellbore that allows oil to flow more easily from the surrounding formation. The technique will be demonstrated in the Wilmington Field in Long Beach, CA. Total project cost: $260,000; proposed DOE share: $130,000. The University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc., Lawrence, KS, will demonstrate several techniques for modeling an oil reservoir in a Central Kansas oil field. Using the information, the university and its partners will then drill horizontal wells (a technique called "horizontal infill drilling") to recover oil that traditional vertical wells may have missed. Total project cost: $813,378; proposed DOE share: $406,086. West Virginia University Research Corporation, Morgantown, WV, will organize a regional council to identify and communicate to operators preferred practices currently in use or transferable to the region, through workshops, contacts with engineers and geologists, publications and an interactive Internet web site. Total project cost: $724,196; proposed DOE share: $362,073. For information about the PUMP program, contact Rhonda Lindsey at DOE NPTO (phone 918-699-2037, email Rhonda.Lindsey@npto.doe.gov). DOE NPTO recently released its PUMP II solicitation. PUMP II seeks proposals in two areas. In Area 1, proposals are sought that will address the development of public play portfolios in a region where the application of preferred geologic and engineering technologies will identify significant exploration and development reserves. In Area 2, proposals are sought that would demonstrate new methods/protocols for data sharing among operators, organizations and agencies to improve the processing of information inherent to increasing production and reserves. DOE currently has $3.5 million available and intends to bring DOE support to $3.79 million. Multiple awards, from six to eight, are anticipated. Cost sharing of 50% or more is required. Short-term projects, 24 months or less, are sought. Applications are due on Tuesday, August 14, 2001. Interested parties can download solicitation information from DOE NETL's website (http://www.netl.doe.gov). These formal PUMP solicitations and awards are just part of DOE's encouragement of "best practices" to stimulate U.S. domestic production. In Alaska, industry and various government groups met to focus on identifying best practices for North Slope production. Driving force behind the meeting was the philosophy that, if further development does occur, it must be done right. Sessions provided an overview of North Slope history and current community, the impact of industrial growth, current best management practices to diminish environmental impact, and challenges that will face the federal, state and local communities in the near future. Attendees committed to continuous identification and use of best practices and best available technologies. A follow-on conference is scheduled for 2002. Contact Bernadette Ward (phone 918-699-2033, email Bernadette.Ward@npto.doe.gov) with DOE NPTO for a CD of conference proceedings. |
The Petroleum Technology Transfer Council (PTTC) received one of six awards in DOE's PUMP (Preferred Upstream Management Practices) solicitation. PTTC will organize a team of Mentors to work with regional producers in Oklahoma/Arkansas and California, working through its South Midcontinent and West Coast Regions. The Mentor-based approach builds upon the positive results experienced in the Permian Basin where Bob Kiker serves as a Mentor for the Texas Region. Three part-time Mentors are planned in California and two in Oklahoma/ Arkansas. The PTTC team will refine understanding of recognized constraints and potentially identify others by interfacing with producers via the Mentors. The team will then search globally for solutions, and considering insights from all of PTTC’s ten regions nationwide, determine those that are practical in the specified regions.
The Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC), established in 1935, represents the governors of 37 states - 30 members and seven associate states - that produce virtually all the domestic oil and natural gas in the United States. IOGCC also has five international affiliates, a program begun in 1995.