DOE to Support "Small Footprint" Technologies for Oil and Gas Fields

Focus of Six New Projects is on 2-Inch Diameter "Microholes" That Lessen Environmental Impacts, Costs

Washington, DC - The Department of Energy (DOE) today announced a major new research and development initiative to develop "microhole" technologies that use portable drilling rigs with a smaller footprint and lower environmental impact. The program is designed to bring about faster, cheaper and safer oil and gas projects.

Microhole drilling systems will bore oil and gas wells with diameters much smaller than conventional wells.

"This is a major new research and development initiative that is aimed at reducing the environmental footprint of oil and gas operations at the same time it reduces costs and increases America's oil and gas production," Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham said. "It's clear this initiative will help meet President Bush's goals for energy and the environment."

DOE will help fund six new projects to develop microhole technologies that can drill wells that are less than three inches in diameter. Micro-drilling technology, along with micro-instrumentation, could provide potentially low-cost wells for exploration, long-term reservoir monitoring, and production.

The total value of the six projects is nearly $5.2 million with DOE providing $3.7 million and industry partners contributing more than $1.4 million. The industry cost-share of almost 30 percent indicates the petroleum industry's strong commitment to these advanced technologies, and suggests strong future support for their commercialization and adoption.

Reduction in materials, labor, and support equipment can reduce drilling costs by as much as one-fifth of the cost of drilling a conventional well. Volumes of drilling fluids and cuttings can also be reduced by approximately one-fifth, thereby reducing disposal costs. Smaller footprints and reduced disposal volumes lower the environmental impact of drilling activities.

The projects will be managed for the Energy Department by the Office of Fossil Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory.

The six new projects are:

• Gas Production Specialties (Lafayette, Louisiana) –  The goal of this project is to develop a novel artificial lift system for gas wells that can remove downhole fluids that hinder gas production The lift system developed is expected to overcome problems of mature, low-pressure reservoirs that can’t overcome the weight of the wellbore fluids thereby preventing gas production. The technology will allow operators, particularly those in the Gulf of Mexico, to reactivate wells that can no longer flow by natural reservoir pressures. This technology will allow operators to extract more reserves out of reservoirs whose natural pressure have been depleted by previous production. (Project cost: $210,000; Duration: 8 months)
  
• Stolar Research (Raton, New Mexico) –  Researchers will develop technologies to guide the drill bit when drilling vertical and horizontal wells, and transmit rock and fluid information to the surface as it is collected. Radar will be used to determine the location of the drill bit, and radio data transmission will be used to communicate the measurement data to the surface. (Project cost: $921,875; Duration: 18 months)
  
• Baker Hughes Inteq (Houston, Texas) –  The objectives of this project are to design and fabricate a drill bit steering device and a tool that measures the electrical resistivity of the rock. Both the bit steering device and the motor will be 2-3/8 inches in diameter to serve a 3-1/2 inches or smaller hole size. The modules will be designed so they fit seamlessly in the already commercially available module 2-3/8 inches CoilTrak™, a coiled tubing drilling assembly. Development of these tools will provide a modular and effective coiled tubing drilling system that enables higher, more effective production from existing domestic oil fields. (Project cost: $986,084; Duration: 18 months)
  
• Schlumberger IPC (Sugarland, Texas) – Researchers will develop and build a microhole coiled tubing drilling rig that is designed specifically for the abundant shallow oil and gas reservoirs found in the lower 48 states. The rig will be designed to improve the economics of shallow well drilling by using small and purpose-built equipment that is easy to move and fast to mobilize, yet versatile in its application. (Project cost: $1,836,423; Duration: 18 months)
  
• Western Well Tool (Anaheim, California) – The goal of this project is to develop a downhole tractor tool that helps transport the drill bit and measurement tools into long (3,000+ ft) sections of horizontal wells. The use of the drilling tractor is expected to cost 25–50 percent lower than conventional drilling methods and allow faster drilling of small-diameter horizontal sections of microboreholes. (Project cost: $645,420: Duration: 14 months)
  
• Bandera Petroleum Exploration (Tulsa, Oklahoma) –  The principal objective of this project is to develop 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 mud system must be able to mix the required fluids, circulate that mixture downhole, clean and store the returned fluids, and be able to perform these functions in an underbalanced condition with zero discharge and acceptable levels of environmental impact. It should also meet the stated rate requirements of solicitation of 15 gpm at 5000 psi and 500 gpm at 1000 psi and utilize standard oilfield mud pumps. A secondary objective of the proposed work is to investigate a new drilling fluid technology and determine its application to microhole drilling.(Project cost: $592,000; Duration: 30 months)

For more information, contact: Drew Malcomb, DOE Office of Public Affairs, 202-586-5806