U. S. Department of Energy • Office of Fossil Energy
National Energy Technology Laboratory

The Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory is pleased to present E&P Focus. This quarterly newsletter features highlights of DOE's oil and gas exploration and production research program.

A top drive technician tests the Slider equipment soon after
 installation on a land rig working for Anadarko in Canada.

Access Technologies
'Slider'
Deep Trek

Optimizing Production
CO₂ EOR

Subsurface Imaging
Elastic wavefield

Arctic Energy
North Slope water use

E&P Snapshots

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NEWS BULLETIN
Two NETL projects honored

ACCESS TECHNOLOGIES
Slider technology improves directional drilling efficiency

A small-business spinoff from Noble Corp., in partnership with the National Energy Technology Laboratory under its oil and gas R&D program, has developed a new technology that uses automated torque control to greatly improve the efficiency of conventional downhole motor and measurement-while-drilling (MWD) systems. Slider LLC, Houston, TX, has recently commercialized this technology, called "Slider," which overcomes the shortcomings of steerable motor/MWD systems employed in directional drilling. Field tests of the Slider technology in the Austin chalk showed that the system increased rate of penetration (ROP) by as much as 200 percent for estimated savings of 11 to 23 percent of total well costs.

How Slider enhances directional drilling
Directional drilling is accomplished primarily either with a rotary steering system or with a conventional steerable mud motor in tandem with an MWD system. Rotary systems are highly efficient and make for a smooth wellbore but are extremely costly. High day rates for rotary systems rule them out for most onshore and marginal offshore wells. Steerable mud motor/MWD systems are affordable but often bog down (the hole becomes "sticky") in the "sliding" mode—when the downhole motor is used to transmit power to the drillbit, without rotating the drill pipe, to drill a tangent section of the hole.

In effect, during sliding drilling, the bit and drilling assembly are "pushed" ahead without drill pipe rotation. Sometimes the drilled hole becomes sticky due to contact of the drilling assembly with the formation, and the drillstring's progress is impeded. To overcome this hurdle, directional drillers often use a rocking motion to reduce drill pipe stickiness and improve ROP. "Rocking" the drilling motor and tool face is accomplished from the surface by manually moving the drill pipe a few degrees forward and backward to get the drilling assembly back on the desired directional well path. It is common for the downhole motor to stall during such operations, especially in deeper sections of a well.

Slider is a patented new tool that controls torque from the surface with a combination of hardware and software that integrates surface and MWD data to automate the rocking motion typically applied during the sliding operation. The Slider system overlays the pipe rotation equipment (top drives, power swivels, or silicon-controlled rectifier-driven rotary tables). No equipment is added downhole. Slider deploys a small "robot" mechanism that interfaces with the top drive control and automatically rocks the pipe to the right and left following a rigorous analysis of torque data with specialized software. Because it constantly makes torque and drag calculations, Slider gives the directional driller the capability to reorient the tool face during slide drilling while still remaining on bottom—a task impossible in conventional slide drilling—which results in substantial time savings. Slider also eliminates instances of motor stalling during sliding drilling, reducing the number of unnecessary trips and lengthening motor and bit life. Slider LLC has also built a plug-in interface for control of existing rig top-drive equipment, thus eliminating the need for robotic control. This new interface allows the Slider system to work with any rig utilizing conventional top-drive controls.

Drilling Engineering Association joint industry project
After developing a laboratory-scale physical simulator and conducting field tests, Slider LLC had sought to extend the technology beyond initial field tests, which involved a hydraulic power swivel, to rigs with electric top-drive systems.

To pursue further development of the Slider technology, NETL contributed funding to a Drilling Engineering Association (DEA) joint industry project (JIP)—also funded by Chevron Corp., San Ramon, CA, and Anadarko Petroleum Corp., The Woodlands, TX. The funding provided by NETL was critical to getting the JIP initiated. The DEA JIP focused on modifying the Slider software to accommodate electric top drive drilling systems, building a two-robot system, and testing related robot software. Slider LLC then conducted at least three field tests to validate the technology on electric top drives and documented the cost-effectiveness of the technology. The company also trained directional drillers for the three field tests and analyzed the test results.

Benefits
The Slider technology demonstrated the following benefits:

·        Improved ROP and horizontal-reach capability through automated rocking, using torque as an input.

·        Faster tool-face correction through a torque pulse method (essentially "rolling" or "bumping" the drillstring during rocking).

·        Enhanced well trajectory through an order-of-magnitude improvement in time and ease of tool-face correction while on bottom—on average less than 2 minutes vs. as much as an hour involved with manually adjusting the tool face during conventional sliding drilling.

·        Avoidance of orientation time losses through a semi-automated transition from rotating to sliding.

·        Virtual elimination of stalling, thus extending motor and bit life.

Field tests of the Slider technology in the Austin chalk showed that the system increased sliding ROP by 60-200% for estimated savings of 11-23% of total well costs.

For more information on this project, please visit the NETL website at
http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/Petroleum/projects/EP/AdvDrilling/50396MotorSteerable.html

Deep Trek, NETL's innovative initiative to develop a suite of technologies to tackle the extreme downhole conditions encountered in ultra-deep natural gas drilling, continues to make progress. Most recently, Deep Trek has achieved major milestones in three specific projects. Two of these are designed to develop "smart" tools to enable the Nation's natural gas producers to more cost-effectively drill prospects at 15,000-20,000 feet and even deeper. In a third Deep Trek project, a significant milestone was achieved in the effort to develop a well cement capable of withstanding the extremely high temperatures found in ultra-deep gas wells.

Deep Trek initiative
The Deep Trek initiative specifically focuses on developing an integrated high-temperature/high-pressure (HT/HP) drilling system that will enable industry to economically recover an additional 100 Tcf of natural gas through 2020. Since the program's inception in 2002, NETL has awarded 19 Deep Trek projects totaling over $36.2 million, almost $12 million of which is being contributed by research partners. That includes awards announced in June 2006 (see the announcement of those awards on NETL's website at http://www.netl.doe.gov/publications/press/2006/06036-Deep_Drilling_Technology_Awards.html).

Evaluation board placed in oven chamber for testing Honeywell's HT/HP components.

Addressing drillers' needs in tackling deep gas resources is important for the Nation. Natural gas resources lying at great depths contribute an ever-growing share of U.S. gas supply. For decades, America's gas producers have readily harvested the "low-hanging fruit" of U.S. gas resources—those large reservoirs found at depths of 5,000 feet or less. However, those resources are rapidly being depleted, and the search is accelerating for the deep gas resource in the United States that DOE estimates at more than 125 trillion cubic feet (Tcf). Deep gas (>15,000 feet subsurface) has accounted for about 7 percent of America's gas supply in recent years, and the National Petroleum Council estimates that this share will have to increase to 12 percent by 2010 if the Nation's growing demand for natural gas is to be met.

The challenges become more difficult the deeper a well is drilled. Below 15,000 feet, temperatures can top 400 °F (205 °C) and pressures can exceed 10,000 psi. Such downhole conditions can disrupt or disable conventional geosteering, measurement-while-drilling (MWD), and logging-while-drilling tools. This leads to a dramatic increase in cost. In fact, in deep gas drilling, the last 10 percent of a hole can account for 50 percent of the well's total cost. Developing the electronic tools that can function under these difficult conditions can make the difference in economically securing a big chunk of America's future gas supply.

Honeywell electronic components
Successful testing of four electronic components developed by Honeywell Inc., Plymouth, MN, is the first of two important successes along the path of developing high-temperature-tolerant electronics for smart drilling systems.

In 2003, NETL awarded a $9.3 million, cost-shared contract to Honeywell to develop four critical high-temperature electronic components capable of withstanding the temperatures encountered in deep gas wells. As part of that effort, a group of oil and gas operating and service/supply companies formed a joint industry partnership (JIP) to share costs and provide product user input related to the types of electronic components needed and their performance specifications.

The NETL-sponsored project has marked the following milestones on the four key components:

·         Accomplishing an industry first by moving closer to achieving the top goal on the JIP's wish list—an electrically erasable, programmable, read-only memory (EEPROM) chip capable of withstanding the high temperatures in deep gas wells. Honeywell developed two test chips that proved that the project's technology can produce circuits that will allow instructions to be written to or read from the EEPROM chip. These tests demonstrated the EEPROM's capability of retaining data for over 1,000 hours at 225 °C (437 °F) as well as performing read/write functions at these temperatures. A full-scale design of the EEPROM is completed and has been released for fabrication. This is the last and most complex of the four chips developed by this project to be fabricated.

·         Testing successfully and distributing to JIP members a precision amplifier (OpAmp), which conditions data signals received from downhole sensors. With a designed operating range of -50 °C to 225 °C. (-58 °F to 437 °F), the OpAmp performed well within design specifications at 300 °C for over 1,000 hours. It remained functional at temperatures as high as 375 °C (707 °F).

·         Like the OpAmp, the field-programmable gate array (FPGA) achieved a first-pass design success. The FPGA contains more than 3 million transistors, 32,000 gates, and 492 points for circuit contacts. An FPGA is a semiconductor device whose components and interconnections feature programmable logic. These flexible chips can be reprogrammed in the field to accommodate a change in purpose for a particular electronic circuit. The EEPROM provides instructions to the FPGA.

·         The 18-bit Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) was developed to provide a 16-fold improvement in resolution from the existing standard. This kind of electronic circuit converts continuous signals to discrete digits—basically converting voltage to a binary digital number. Testing of the ADC has shown an operating capability of about 17.5 bits. Detailed testing at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which participated in its design, and at Honeywell revealed a signal-to-noise/harmonic distortion problem between 30 °C and 50 °C. An error in the Dither circuit was discovered. This error was corrected on a test sample and tested successfully but could not be repeated on two subsequent chip repairs. This circuit error, along with some minor changes recommended by the JIP was incorporated in the second design pass, which will soon be released for fabrication.

Honeywell is designing these four components to withstand the extreme heat encountered during deep drilling. It will be the responsibility of the end user to provide packaging for these components to also withstand the high pressures found at these depths. For more information, please see the project summary on NETL's website at http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/NaturalGas/Projects_n/EP/DeepTrek/DT_A_41834SiliconInsulate.html

MWD tools
A second important milestone in the quest for high-temperature-tolerant electronics is Schlumberger Ltd.'s successful testing of a NETL-funded prototype HT/HP MWD tool under development at its Sugar Land, TX, research facility. The first prototype, rated to 17,500 psi and 175 °C, underwent initial testing in April 2006. Initial tests of the second prototype, rated to 35,000 psi and 200 °C, got under way in May 2006. In addition to gauging the tool's ability to withstand such extreme conditions, its no-trip retrievability/reseatability also was tested.

Schlumberger conducted tests of the tool at its Genesis test facility, which simulates real-world HT/HP conditions. Data gathered there were used to prepare for planned field testing in high-temperature wells. Work is continuing on issues identified during the tests, including the need to reduce power consumption and increase battery life. These prototype tools are the forerunners of a new MWD tool that is expected to provide industry with continuous, reliable real-time information on direction and inclination, pressure near the bit, and gamma ray formation evaluation data in deep wells. Attaining this capability in deep wells is expected to reduce drilling costs, improve real-time geoscience and engineering information, and enhance safety through early detection of high-pressure gas kicks

NETL is funding $4.2 million of the $6.4 million project. For more details, please see the project summary at http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/NaturalGas/Projects_n/EP/DeepTrek/DT_A_41835MWDTool.html

Supercement
CSI Technologies, Houston, TX, chose two cement types for further field testing in the third phase of a project to develop "supercement" for cementing casing in HT/HP wells. HT/HP wells often encounter problems with isolation of production zones due to cement failures. This can result in expensive repair jobs and costly shut-ins of high-volume wells.

After evaluating a large number of cement formulations, CSI determined that resin and magnesium oxide cements showed very good mechanical strength and bonding characteristics as well as exhibiting properties that remain controllable at HT/HP conditions. The new resin cement formulation has been used successfully in more than 50 field plugging jobs and in one HT/HP squeeze job. This is the "supercement" that earned CSI an award for engineering innovation from Hart's E&P magazine (see preceding News Bulletin).

A second supercement formulation developed by CSI is Portland cement-based. This cement expands to a greater degree than conventional cements during the curing process, and in the confined wellbore environment develops significant cement matrix compressive stress during cure, resulting in a compressive pre-load. In practice, the compressive pre-load functions to elevate the effective tensile strength of the material because the compressive stress must be relieved before the material can experience tensile stress. Additionally, the pre-load functions to keep the material tightly bound to the wellbore tubulars, thereby reducing the tendency of repeated stress cycles to form a microannulus.

NETL is funding $1.6 million of the $2.7 million project. For more details, please see the project summary at http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/NaturalGas/Projects_n/EP/DeepTrek/DT_A_41836SuperCement.html. More information is available on the Deep Trek program on NETL's website at http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/EP_Technologies/AdvancedDrilling/DeepTrek/index.html

The Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas-Austin, in partnership with NETL and as a part of NETL's core oil and gas R&D program, has completed a 3-year project that demonstrates innovative new seismic imaging technology that could revolutionize the way that geophysicists interpret and map subsurface data.

Comparision of a deep, depth-equivalent, P-P and P-SV data windows, Gulf of Mexico. These data are a classic example of the principle of elastic-wavefield seismic stratigraphy in that the sequence geometry defined by P-SV features 1 and 2 differs from the P-P geometry.

The research project developed and demonstrated a new approach to seismic interpretation based on elastic wavefield seismic stratigraphy. The results of this research provide the oil and natural gas industry with a better methodology for understanding reservoir and seal architectures in order to improve interpretation of hydrocarbon systems. As domestic exploration targets become harder and harder to locate, the addition of such new tools to the exploration geophysicist's toolbox is critical to our ability to find every bit of oil and gas remaining in our Nation's mature producing areas.

Project background
Seismic stratigraphy has been applied as a formal seismic interpretation science since the mid-1970s, but for decades has been limited to the use of single-component P-wave seismic data. This project has expanded that science to multicomponent seismic data and showed how this concept can improve the detection of subtle stratigraphic traps.
The approach demonstrated in this research represents a departure from conventional seismic stratigraphy, which develops reservoir and geologic models primarily from the P-P wave mode.

In this project, researchers view all modes of an elastic wavefield as having equal value for studying subsurface geology. Specifically, one wave mode of a multicomponent seismic wavefield often reveals depositional sequences and facies across a stratigraphic interval that cannot be detected with the other modes of that wavefield. Elastic wavefield seismic stratigraphy involves the imaging and interpretation of four elastic modes (P, SH, SV, and C). The project demonstrated that each of those four modes can image different stratal surfaces.

The results showed that each reflected wave mode can provide rock and pore-fluid information for reservoirs. Researchers investigated 3-C, 4-C, and 9-C data in both offshore and onshore areas, analyzed both deep and shallow targets, and studied both carbonate and sand/shale sequences.

Project details
In Year 1, the study focused on West Texas 3-C/3-D seismic data and demonstrated how this new science improves detection of carbonate stratigraphic traps. In Year 2, the research moved to a 3,000 square-mile area of 4-C/2-D seismic data coverage across the northern shelf of the Gulf of Mexico and showed that new elastic-wavefield concepts allowed critical new insights into the distribution of stratigraphic traps in sand/shale sequences. In Year 3, the study concentrated on applying elastic-wavefield interpretation concepts to 9-C/3-D seismic data across the Williston Basin. In each study area, the principal challenge being addressed was improvement of the detection of stratigraphic traps.

Among the project highlights:

·        9-C/3-D seismic data from the Williston Basin were interpreted. The research team documented distinctions and similarities between P and S seismic sequences and seismic facies observed in these data.

·        The greatest differences observed between P and S seismic sequences and facies occurred in deepwater, near-seafloor strata. Several examples were documented.

·        A numerical study of P-P, P-S, and S-S reflectivities was undertaken to define key petrophysical properties that cause these modes to exhibit different reflection behavior for identical geological layering.

Other partners in the project with BEG-UT were Fasken Oil & Ranch, Midland, TX; Vecta Technology, Dallas, TX; and WesternGeco, Houston, TX. NETL funded almost 80 percent of the nearly $930,000 project.

For more information on this project, please visit the NETL website at http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/Petroleum/projects/EP/Explor_Tech/15396.htm

As part of its oil and gas research program, NETL is teaming with an oil producer, a power company, and university researchers to deliver a two-for-one solution to two of the Nation's most critical energy and environmental challenges: enhancing oil and natural gas recovery and sequestering carbon dioxide (CO₂) to prevent its impact as a greenhouse gas. NETL recently announced the selection of a cost-shared project in Alabama that will initiate a CO₂ flood and at the same time assess the potential for storing industrially generated CO₂ in the reservoir once the oil is depleted rather than emitting it into the atmosphere. The results of this high-profile demonstration will help open the door to similar projects around the country, simultaneously increasing domestic oil production and reducing the greenhouse gas impact from power generation.

Joint EOR/Sequestration potential untested in U.S.
CO₂ enhanced oil recovery (EOR) paired with sequestration efforts shows great promise; at least three major projects are currently under way outside the United States. But until now no U.S. project has proceeded with the intent of both enhancing oil recovery and assessing the feasibility of CO₂ sequestration.

Recognizing the potential dual energy and environmental benefits of CO₂ EOR/sequestration, Congress mandated in the 2005 Energy Policy Act (EPACT) that DOE pursue demonstration projects to promote the capture, transportation, and injection of produced CO₂ for sequestration into oil and gas fields while boosting oil and natural gas production. In response to that EPACT mandate, DOE launched a funding opportunity in 2006 to fund new research in conducting EOR projects while increasing sequestration of the greenhouse gas.

Growing interest in CO₂ sequestration dovetails with growth in the use of CO₂ as a means to enhance oil and natural gas recovery. CO₂ flooding is the fastest-growing EOR technique, and incremental oil production from the application of this technology now accounts for 237,000 barrels per day—almost 5 percent of the Nation's oil production.

This pumpjack in Hall-Gurney oilfield, together with the ethanol plant in the background near Russell, KS, demonstrates the synergistic environmental and energy benefits of using industrial waste carbon dioxide in a CO2 flood.

Commercial CO₂ EOR flood projects in the United States have been limited largely to the prolific oil reservoirs of the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico. CO₂ flooding is a costly operation, and the process generally is uneconomic, even at today's high oil prices, without a low-cost source of the gas readily available. This explains why roughly half of the world's CO₂ floods are in the Permian Basin, not far from some of the largest natural sources of CO₂ in the United States. However, with the proper incentives and CO₂ availability to underpin an accelerated program, the application of current technology to existing fields has the potential to double CO₂-enhanced oil production by 2015 and quadruple it by 2025, according to NETL in-house modeling.

An EOR project that uses an industrial source of CO₂—that otherwise would be vented to the atmosphere—would have the added environmental benefit of sequestering the greenhouse gas. The potential for sequestering CO₂ in depleted oil and gas reservoirs is enormous. One study conducted for DOE estimated that the global sequestration capacity in depleted oil and gas fields equates to 125 years of current worldwide CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants.

Project details
The project selected under this funding opportunity is one proposed by the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB), of Birmingham, AL. It calls for implementing a CO₂ flood in Citronelle oilfield in Mobile County, AL. Citronelle field, Alabama's largest producer, is an ideal site for a CO₂ flood. It is a mature field that has already undergone waterflooding, with an existing infrastructure that includes deep wells. The field's geologic character—a fluvial deltaic sandstone reservoir in a simple structural dome with little faulting—make it ideal as a stable CO₂ storage location.

Typically, an additional 20 percent of the original-oil-in-place in a reservoir can be recovered using CO₂ EOR. In Citronelle's case, it is estimated that an incremental 64 million barrels of oil could be recovered with a CO₂ flood. When all remaining economically recoverable oil is produced, the reservoir and adjacent formations can provide sites for storage of CO₂ produced from the combustion of fossil fuels in power plants and other processes that generate large amounts of CO₂. One of America's largest generators of electricity, Southern Company of Atlanta, GA, is evaluating the capacity of similar reservoirs as possible locations for permanent sequestration of CO₂ separated from the combustion products at its power plants.

The proposed demonstration project will introduce CO₂ EOR for tertiary recovery from Alabama oil reservoirs and provide oilfield operators and CO₂ producers with improved estimates of incremental oil yield from EOR and the capacity of depleted reservoirs to sequester CO₂. Another objective of the project is to improve the reliability of computer simulations of oil recovery and sequestration capacity for a given geologic formation and of the rate at which CO₂ can be introduced into these underground formations. The Citronelle simulations will be integrated with computer visualizations of the migration of oil, water, and CO₂, making the data accessible to reservoir engineers, geologists, utility planners, and climate-change modelers.

Partners with UAB and Southern Company in the project are the Citronelle field owner and operator Denbury Resources Inc., Plano, TX; University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL; Alabama A&M University, Huntsville, AL; Geological Survey of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; and University of North Carolina at Charlotte, NC. Total project cost is about $6 million, with DOE's share just under $3 million and the project performer's cost share accounting for the balance.

A successful demonstration of the technology in this project could open the door to commercial CO₂ EOR/sequestration efforts across the Nation, offering a potential two-for-one solution to two of America's crucial energy security and environmental concerns. For more information on NETL-sponsored CO₂ EOR research, please download our brochure at http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/publications/brochures/CO2Brochure_Mar2006.pdf

NETL’s pioneering research with the University of Alaska-Fairbanks (UAF) on the impact of oil and natural gas industry operations on Alaskan North Slope hydrology is garnering wider attention. Early results show that continued withdrawal of water from freshwater lakes for the purpose of building ice roads and drilling pads will not harm the environment. Planning tools are being developed based on the research data that will allow industry and regulators to continue to provide for exploration and development fresh water needs in an environmentally safe manner.

Midwinter data gathering on a North Slope lake. The instrumentation raft is shown just left of center.

For years the oil industry has withdrawn water from freshwater lakes on the North Slope of Alaska to build ice roads for access to remote sites and to create drilling pads at those sites. This technique is quite important to industry because it allows oil field development and maintenance to take place while avoiding the cost and environmental disturbance associated with construction of gravel roads and pads. Construction of ice roads and pads begins in December or January, when the tundra mat is frozen and can support construction traffic, and continues through April (depending upon the weather), providing for a 4- or 5-month "ice-road season."

With NETL sponsorship, UAF researchers have joined with representatives of the oil industry, various environmental organizations, and State and Federal agencies to address questions regarding the potential environmental consequences of water withdrawal for use in building ice roads and pads. Possible effects include impacts on aquatic organisms and impacts on the lake-water chemistry. Questions have also been raised about the consequent effects of water withdrawal on neighboring (and potentially connected) unfrozen zones within frozen rivers that serve as over-winter fish habitats.

NETL's Tundra Lakes Project includes continuous monitoring of water characteristics that may be affected by pumping activities, as well as evaluation of the factors that impact biological populations and chemical concentrations. The investigators also are examining the interconnectivity of lakes and channel networks in early spring to determine if pumping from one lake impacts a neighboring lake or river channel. Finally, the study evaluates winter water use in field operating areas in order to develop watershed modeling tools that, if adopted, should aid industry and regulators in determining safe water withdrawal volumes.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that chemical and physical impacts of midwinter pumping are undetectable at the currently accepted levels of water removal (The Phase 1 report is now available at http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/product.biblio.jsp?osti_id=898358&qu). However, as development moves into less water-prone regions of the North Slope, industry's water usage could become increasingly controversial. Guidelines and analysis tools are needed to enable water-use planning for exploration and construction efforts and to ensure access to adequate supplies of water without the risk of adverse environmental impacts.

A primary objective of Phase 2 of the project, now underway, is to develop modeling tools that will use historic data and current conditions to provide planning estimates of available recharge water volumes. These estimates will be used to support the planning, permitting, and operations aspects of water use.

While NETL research has shown that alternatives exist to current practices that severely limit the withdrawal of water, the water-use issue will become increasingly important as development proceeds in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and other areas west of Prudhoe Bay. Recently, U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials, NETL representatives, and UAF staff began working together to use data generated by the project to validate new instruments being developed by BLM to study North Slope hydrology. There is a consensus among all parties regarding the need to expand the current hydrologic data collection network on the North Slope.

North Slope hydrology is becoming an area of increasing interest across the border into Canada as well. Project investigators met with officials from Fisheries and Oceans-Canada regarding parallel lines of research. The Canadian agency delivered a poster on the use of water from lakes in the Mackenzie River Delta area, while two poster presentations on the NETL Tundra Lakes & Ponds project were given at the AWRA (American Water Resources Association) Specialty Conference on Adaptive Management of Water Resources. Canadian and U.S. researchers discussed opportunities to coordinate the two project efforts. As a result of this conference participation, a series of topical journal articles have been prepared, along with Canadian colleagues, for an invited selection in the Journal of the American Water Resources Association concerning water usage for development. The papers are going through the technical review process. Publication of the AWRA journal is expected in late 2007.

Understanding arctic hydrology and developing methods to meet oilfield water uses will help protected ecosystems while supporting oil and natural gas development in these challenging environments. For more information on this project, please visit the NETL website at http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/Petroleum/projects/Environmental/Reg_Streamlining/41248_3_03_2.htm

E&P Snapshots

DOE-Funded 'Microhole' Drilling Rig Demonstrated Successfully in Midcontinent A DOE-funded technology that could change the way America's oil and natural gas wells are drilled has been successfully demonstrated in the Nation's Midcontinent region.

DOE's Microhole R&D Program Yielding Promising New Tools Technology being developed under the Energy Department's ambitious, two-year-old Microhole Initiative is already yielding new tools designed to drill ultrasmall-diameter natural gas and oil wells. More on microhole drilling.

Colorado Company Pursues Low-Cost, Low-Impact Technology to Develop Nation's Oil Shale Resources A DOE-funded project has successfully demonstrated the viability of a new technology that could prove to be the key to unlocking America's largest potential source of oil.

DOE Project Revives Oil Production in Abandoned Fields on Osage Tribal Lands A technology developed with DOE funding has revived oil production in two abandoned oilfields on Osage Indian tribal lands in northeastern Oklahoma.

DOE-Funded Technology to Upgrade Low-Quality Natural Gas Commercialized The research targets subquality gas resource comprising a third of U.S. gas reserves.

Model Shows $250 Billion of Benefits from DOE’s Core Oil & Natural Gas R&D—Also read R&D success stories Recent results from DOE’s National Energy Modeling System have indicated that the Office of Fossil Energy’s core Oil and Natural Gas R&D Program will benefit the Nation by $250 Billion of cumulative benefits through the year 2025.

UPCOMING PRESENTATIONS
In the next three months nine presentations relating to NETL sponsored oil and natural gas projects will be given at various conferences throughout the United States. Please visit the Reference Shelf for more information on these presentations.

April 2, 2007: The poster presentation “New Techniques for New Discoveries—Results from the Lisbon Field Area, Paradox Basin, Utah” will be given at the American Association of Petroleum Geologists’ annual convention in Long Beach, CA. The presentation is related to the NETL project DE-FC26-03NT15424 entitled “The Mississippi Leadville Limestone Exploration Play of Utah and Colorado—Exploration Techniques and Studies for Independents.” View abstract and other project information.

April 2, 2007: The poster presentation “Covenant Oil Field, Central Utah Thrust Belt: Possible Harbinger of Future Discoveries” will be given at the American Association of Petroleum Geologists’ annual convention in Long Beach, CA. The presentation is related to the NETL project DE-FC26-02NT15133 entitled “Major Oil Plays in Utah and Vicinity/PUMP 2.” View abstract and other project information.

April 2, 2007: The paper “Microbial enhanced oil recovery technologies: A review of the past, present, and future” will be given at the Society of Petroleum Engineers Production and Operations Symposium in Oklahoma City, OK. The presentation is related to the NETL project DE-FC26-04NT15522 entitled “Development of an In Situ Biosurfactant Production Technology for Enhanced Oil Recovery.” View abstract and other project information.

April 3, 2007: The paper “Estimating Fracture Reorientation Due to Fluid Injection/Production” will be given at the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ Production and Operations Symposium in Oklahoma City, OK. The presentation is related to the NETL project DE-FC26-06NT42955 entitled “Design and Implementation of Energized Fracture Treatment in Tight Gas Sands.” View abstract and other project information.

April 5, 2007: The presentation “Innovative Technologies for Stripper Well Operators” will be given at the Tertiary Oil Recovery Project’s 17th Annual Oil Recovery Conference in Wichita, KS. The presentation is related to four NETL projects in which Impact Technologies LLC of Tulsa, OK, has been a project performer: DE-FC26-04NT15502, entitled “Advanced Ultra-High-Speed Motor for Drilling”; DE-FC26-03NT15476, entitled “Advanced Mud System for Microhole Coiled Tubing Drilling”; and the Stripper Well Consortium program covered under DE-FC26-00NT41025, entitled “Establishment of an Industry-Driven Consortium Focused on Improving the Production Performance of Domestic Stripper Wells” and which included funding for the “Advanced ASJ Drilling System” and “Novel Single-Stage Water Mitigation Treatment” projects. View abstract and other project information.

April 30, 2007: The paper “Numerical Studies of Geomechanical Stability of Hydrate-Bearing Sediments” will be given at the 2007 Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, TX. The presentation is related to the NETL projects ESD05-036 and DE-FC26-05NT42664 entitled “Numerical Studies on the Geomechanical Performance of Hydrate-Bearing Sediments in Offshore Environments.” View abstract and other project information.

April 30, 2007: The paper “Gas Production From Oceanic Class 2 Hydrate Accumulations” will be given at the 2007 Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, TX. The presentation is related to the NETL project FWP-G302 “Numerical Studies for the Characterization of Recoverable Resources From Methane Hydrate Deposits.” View abstract and other project information.

April 30, 2007: The paper “Strategies for Gas Production From Oceanic Class 3 Hydrate Accumulations” will be given at the 2007 Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, TX. The presentation is related to the NETL project FWP-G302 entitled “Numerical Studies for the Characterization of Recoverable Resources from Methane Hydrate Deposits.” View abstract and other project information.

May 21–25, 2007 (presentation date TBD): The paper “Novel Applications for Biogeophysics: Prospects for Detecting Key Subseafloor Geomicrobiological Processes or Habitats” will be given at the American Geophysical Union’s 2007 Joint Assembly in Acapulco, Mexico. The presentation is related to the NETL project FLU5A425 entitled “Methanogenesis in Hydrate-Bearing Sediments: Integration of Experimental and Theoretical Approaches.” View abstract and other project information.

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E&P Focus is a publication of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory.  It features highlights of DOE’s oil and natural gas E&P research programs.

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http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/EP_Technologies/EP_main.html