Show Me the Money: DOE Funds Micro Projects
The Department of Energy earlier this year awarded funding for projects that are designed to push microhole technology closer to commerciality and widespread adoption by the U.S. oil and gas industry.
The initiative involves developing technologies associated with drilling wells smaller than 4.75 inches in diameter and related downhole micro-instrumentation.
The total value of the projects is nearly $14.5 million, with DOE providing $7.7 million and industry partners contributing $6.8 million.
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The Department of Energy earlier this year awarded funding for projects that are designed to push microhole technology closer to commerciality and widespread adoption by the U.S. oil and gas industry.
The initiative involves developing technologies associated with drilling wells smaller than 4.75 inches in diameter and related downhole micro-instrumentation.
The total value of the projects is nearly $14.5 million, with DOE providing $7.7 million and industry partners contributing $6.8 million.
DOE officials say that the industry cost share of about 47 percent demonstrates the petroleum industry's strong commitment to these advanced technologies and suggests strong future support for their commercialization and adoption.
Funded projects in addition to Geoprober Drilling are:
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Gas Technology Institute (Des Plaines, Ill.) -- A proposal to field test a next-generation microhole coiled tubing rig -- the MOXIE experimental rig, fabricated by Coiled Tubing Solutions (Dallas).
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Confluent Filtration Systems (Houston) -- Development of a new elastic-phase, self-expanding tubular technology called CFEX, intended to develop self-expanding well casings to any diameter.
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Tempress Technologies (Kent, Wash.) -- Development of a small, mechanically assisted, high-pressure waterjet drilling tool to help overcome the limited reliability, power and torque of small-diameter drill motors.
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CTES (Conroe, Texas) -- Improving the performance and reliability of microhole coiled tubing drilling bottomhole assemblies while reducing the cost and complexity associated with drilling inclined/horizontal well sections greater than 2,000 feet.
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Technology International Inc. (Kingwood, Texas) -- Development and testing of a high-power turbodrill to deliver efficient power at relatively high revolutions per minute and low bit weight.
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Ultima Labs Inc. (Houston) -- Combining existing technologies for measurement-while-drilling (MWD) and logging-while-drilling (LWD) into an integrated, inexpensive measurement system to facilitate lowcost coiled tubing drilling of smalldiameter (3.5 inches) wells at depths shallower than 5,000 feet.
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Baker Hughes Oilfield Operations (Houston) -- Creating a wireless system to help steer drilling in a microbore by a downhole bidirectional communication and power module and a surface coiled tubing communication link. Gas Technology Institute (Des Plaines, Ill.) -- Designing, developing and evaluating a counter-rotating motor drilling system for reducing costs associated with drilling wells targeting unconventional gas.
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Confluent Filtration Systems (Houston) -- To prove and develop a concept for a self-expanding, high-flow sand screen that could be constructed from a wide range of materials. Plans call for ultimately deploying the technology in a demonstration well.