DOE Digest

DOE Makes Three More Independents Awards

DOE's Technology Development with Independents Program provides matching grants of up to $75,000 to small independents (less than 50 employees) to apply innovative approaches that can lower operating costs and extend field life. In the second of three procurement rounds during 2001, DOE made three awards:

• A New Log Evaluation Method to Appraise Mesa Verde Recompletion Opportunities. Benson-Montin-Greer (BMG) Drilling Corporation, New Mexico, with subcontractor Correlations Company, will employ new artificial intelligence and neural network technologies to evaluate Mesa Verde recompletion opportunities in Gavilan and West Puerto Chiquito Mancos fields. Trained on commercial Mesa Verde wells in the neighborhood, these techniques will allow BMG to quickly screen their 63 wells, allowing them to focus their time on the mechanical condition/risk for those that are good candidates. Project contact is Al Greer, phone 505-325-8874.
• Waterflood Design & Implementation of Mississippian Carbonate in South Central Kansas. American Energies Corporation, Kansas, with support of the Kansas Geological Survey, will design and implement a waterflood for the 15-well Wellington field in Sumner County in south central Kansas. The project will demonstrate how inexpensive but modern software tools, such as the spreadsheet-based log analysis program, PfEFFER, developed by the Kansas Geological Survey and Boast98, a numerical simulation package developed by DOE, can be cost-effectively used in reservoir characterization and operational design.
• Low Volume Submersible Pumps. Beard Oil, Oklahoma, will install and test a new type of low volume submersible pump in 10 wells in its Weber field in Dewey, Oklahoma and compare performance with 10 conventional rod-pumped wells. The Weber field produces at a 1% oil cut from depths of 1,000 to 2,000 ft. Run times of 6 months with rod pumped wells are often unprofitable. Field testing is needed to confirm the 50% reduction in operating costs claimed by technology providers.

Applications for the last round in 2001 are due on December 24. DOE is seeking proposals in a competitive solicitation from domestic small (less than 50 employees) independents to demonstrate innovative technologies in their operations. Maximum funding for these short-term projects will be $75K and a minimum cost share of 50% is required.

For more information, visit NPTO's website (http://www.npto.doe.gov) or contact Jim Barnes (phone 918-699-2076 or email Jim.Barnes@npto.doe.gov).

R&D Projects to Boost Gas Flow From Low Permeability Formations

In August, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, through its Strategic Center for Natural Gas, made two R&D awards for projects addressing different aspects of boosting gas flow from low permeability formations.

Innovative Discovery Technologies, Inc., Wyoming, will remove some of the risks and uncertainty of drilling low permeability wells by developing a basin-wide, 3-D model before drilling. The model maps a well's water and gas content, porosity, and its likelihood of producing gas by identifying "sweet" spots. It also locates pressure boundaries and characterizes them. The technology will be demonstrated in the Wind River Basin in central Wyoming.

The University of Texas at Austin will create an improved hydraulic fracturing model using laboratory tests, improved fracture simulations, and analysis for the Bossier play (field) southeast of Dallas. To confirm the predictions of such a model, a fracture monitoring program is proposed with a detailed analysis of current and future fracture treatments. Anadarko Petroleum Corp. in Houston is partnering in this project.

For further information, visit NETL's website (http://www.netl.doe.gov) or contact DOE's Jim Ammer (phone 304-285-4383 or email jammer@netl.doe.gov).

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Correction

A statement in an article in the June 2001 Network News about DOE independents projects (p. 10) stated that Correlations Company was associated with New Mexico Tech's Petroleum Recovery Research Center. The Correlations Company, a software/technology consulting firm located in Socorro, NM, is not related to New Mexico Tech.

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