Number of Projects	Total Value* (Million $)	DOE Share (Million $)	Job Benefits**
Oil & Gas Projects	15	$34.05	$18.07	970

*Includes DOE and private sector cost-sharing

**An average of 28.5 direct and indirect jobs per $1 million in R&D funding is used based on the Department of Commerce's Regional Input-Output Modeling System II formula.

Oklahoma Universities Advancing the State of the Art in Petroleum Technology

• The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK, is managing two projects that are advancing exploration and production technologies to reduce costs and improve the economics of oil production. These two projects have a total value of $13.94 million, with DOE providing $3.71 million.

  • Reservoir Field Demonstration - As part of this DOE program, University of Tulsa researchers received $2.98 million from DOE for this $12.38 million project to optimize recovery methods in the West Carney Field in Lincoln County, Oklahoma. In recent years, the field has seen an increase in drilling activity with the development of more advanced technology. University researchers seek to understand the mechanism under which oil is produced from the geological formation in this field, and to propose techniques to optimize performance of the reservoirs using various technologies.

  • Next Generation Multiphase Pipe Flow Prediction Tools - The objective is to thoroughly investigate three-phase gas-oil-water flows for the entire range of inclination angles and develop a unified model to predict gas-oil-water flow characteristics. The Tulsa University Fluid Flow Projects Consortium will conduct basic and applied multi phase flow research using the existing flow facilities on campus in an effort to develop a new model for predicting multi-phase flow in systems (simultaneous gas, oil and water, possibly with sand, hydrates, and waxes). The total cost of this project is $1.56 million (DOE share: $732,000).

• Produced Water Analysis - Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, will determine the extent to which laboratory toxicity tests of produced water samples from an oil well on Lake Skiatook, OK, indicate the potential for effects of the water as it infiltrates the benthic zone of the lake due to subsurface transfer from leaking evaporation pit. The total cost of this project is $230,000 (DOE Share: $183,800).

• Enhanced Oil Recovery - The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, is developing and field testing an in situ biosurfactant production technology for enhanced oil recovery. The total cost of this project is $856,000 (DOE Share: $676,000).

Foundation Promoting Environmental Awareness, Oil Production

• Enhance Oil and Gas Production and Protect Environment - The Ground Water Protection Research Foundation, Inc., Oklahoma City, OK - The purpose of this project is to make available to industry the Risk-Based Data Management System for oil and gas production- and injection-related activities to streamline permitting on state and federal lands, reduce the cost of environmental compliance, and develop user-friendly, on-line reporting techniques. The total cost of this project is $5.93 million with DOE contributing $4.18 million.

• Interagency Data Sharing - The Ground Water Protection Research Foundation hopes to increase the production of oil and gas on federal lands by meeting two objectives. The first objective is to give industry access to the data needed to target exploration opportunities in the full light of existing lease stipulations, resource inventory assessments, and environmental data available for proposed geographic locations. Objective 2 is to develop a XML schema that conforms to the data requirements for oil and gas well regulation. This schema ultimately will be the underlying data format for future work to automate the permit application/review process over the Internet. DOE is contributing $1.35 million to this $1.80 million project.

State Agencies Partnering with DOE's Office of Fossil Energy

• The Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC), Oklahoma City, OK, has partnered with DOE on six projects with a total value of $7.60 million (DOE share: $5.16 million)

  • Produced Water Management Practices - This project is aimed at improving the efficiency and reducing the cost of managing produced water from conventional production in order to extend the productive life of wells which increases the ultimate recoverable reserves while providing improved environmental protection. Cost reductions will be achieved by identifying existing and emerging best management practices for operators to evaluate and implement. If the uses of these handling, treatment and/or disposal practices are utilized in a widespread manner then conventional operators will be able to evaluate and utilized these options and
    not be constrained to costly options such as deep injection and water treatment. DOE is contributing $701,000 to this $877,000 project.

  • Collaborative Streamlining with States - IOGCC is involved in multiple projects supporting state regulation of domestic petroleum exploration and production. The focus is on technical and training assistance, public education, regulatory and data management standardization, and dialogue on regional oil and gas issues. The total project value is $1.95 million with DOE providing $1.50 million.
    

  • Distributed Generation Power Units at Marginal Well Sites - The goal of this project is to increase oil production and reduce greenhouse gases and NOx emissions in California by utilizing fare and shut-in gas from California's oilfields to generate valuable electricity from new proven distributed generation technologies. IOGCC is receiving $1.0 million from DOE to help fund this $2.3 million project.

  • Compilation of Oil and Gas Leasing Data - To date the majority of proposed oil and gas development documents i.e., (EISs, EAs, Project Plans), can be characterized by their lack of oil and gas references, conflicting model parameter assumptions and inconsistent analyses. This project being undertaken by the IOGCC will include the development of data management tools that provide faster and more comprehensive access to existing data. To accomplish the IOGCC will conduct research focused toward improving consistency for decision-makers, defining technically sound analytical methods, detailing real case scenario energy industry parameters, and compiling and presenting nationally assessed data relative to on-shore oil and gas leasing and development, in a manner that is requisite for an efficient NEPA review process. Data and information from the results of the research will be assembled into a manual with nationwide applicability. DOE is contributing $893,000 to this $1.14 million project. 

  • Reducing Onshore Oil & Gas Exploration and Production Impacts - The objective of the proposed research project is aimed at evaluating practices that are common and key to moving development forward through minimizing impacts and that also identify the cause of the most notable issues relative to delaying or curtailing E&P activities.  Reducing impacts from E&P activities by engaging in a broad-based stakeholder approach with organizations such as landowners, ranchers, farmers, and other concerned citizens, as well as state and federal agencies and industry will lead to practices that ultimately overcome impedances or delays in development of new energy resources.  DOE is contributing $370,000 to this $466,800 project. 

  • State Level Solutions for Developing Environmental Legislation - The purpose of this project is to assist State governments in the effective, efficient and environmentally sound regulation of the exploration and production of natural gas and crude oil.  There are two basic thrusts of these efforts: 1) research and 2) transferring findings to appropriate constituencies.  The project will address orphan wells, impacts of new environmental technologies, and environmental issues acssociated with wells nearing the end of productive life. DOE is contributing $691,000 to this $868,500 effort.

Additional Industry Projects in Oklahoma

• Coalbed Methane Research - Arthur Langhus Layne LLC, Tulsa, OK, is Improving the efficiency and reducing the cost of managing produced water from coal bed methane (CBM) production for beneficial use. DOE is providing the entire $245,000 total project cost.

• Advanced Mud System for Microhole Drilling - IMPACT Technologies, LLC, Tulsa, OK, is developin a mud system compatible with a coil tubing drilling system to drill small diameter holes for vertical, horizontal, and multi-lateral drilling and completion applications. The total cost of this project is $592,000 (DOE Share: $473,600).