Petroleum Technology Transfer Council comes to Alaska

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

The Petroleum Technology Transfer Council was a sponsor of the recent coalbed methane conference in Anchorage and the chairman of the council’s board of directors, Leo Schrider, vice president of technical development for Belden & Blake Corp., and the western region director, Iraj Ershaghi of the Department of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Southern California, were in town for the event.

Schrider said that the council, which can be found on the Internet at: http://www.pttc.org/, helps independent operators identify problems and make connections with technical experts, and also sponsors workshops with an operator perspective.

The council was started in 1994 and the west coast region in 1996, Ershaghi said. His involvement stemmed from the fact that larger oil companies are leaving California, which meant smaller companies would become the employers of students USC was training. Also, as major companies close their research centers, ties between university research centers and small independents make a lot of sense.

The council’s workshops, Ershaghi said, feature working ideas and technologies.

The West Coast PTTC has a trouble-shooting program, he said, where consultants sign up to provide a couple of free hours of assistance. Workshops also attract a very large number of consultants looking for continuing education, he said. The region also has a producers advisory group.

The national not-for-profit council is funded primarily by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy through a grant from the National Petroleum Technology Office and Federal Energy Technology Center.

Ershaghi can be reached by phone at (213) 740-8076; by fax at (213) 740-0324; by e-mail at [email protected].