DOE funds $5.5 million in Alaska research

Patricia Jones

Petroleum News Contributing Writer

In 2003, its second year of funding competitive energy research projects in Alaska, the Arctic Energy Office in Fairbanks will hand out roughly $5.5 million through the U.S. Department of Energy.

Two new fossil energy projects and four remote energy projects will receive DOE monies this year. (See sidebar for projects.)

Eight research projects were funded in 2002 and the Arctic Energy Office funneled about $3 million of DOE funds to Alaska-based energy research.

That’s just a fraction of the $750 million annually funded by DOE for its research branch, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, which has four locations nationwide. The Arctic Energy office is the newest of the four — other locations are in Pittsburgh, Pa., Morgantown, W.V. and Tulsa, Okla.

Top DOE officials said they don’t know whether Alaska’s share of federal research funding will increase in future years.

“It’s difficult to say what the future holds, but certainly Alaska will remain vitally important to us for the production of oil and natural gas,” said Carl Michael Smith, DOE’s assistant secretary for fossil energy, during his visit to Alaska in early April.

Alaska research projects are selected using a competitive process, working with the Arctic Energy Technology Development Laboratory at UAF, set up to collect, evaluate and monitor research. The awards are cooperative agreements with the research teams.

Looking to help independents

Although industry typically moves faster than government agencies in oil and gas research, Sheets said, the new DOE agency could provide research support that could be of assistance to independents looking at Alaska.

“We’re seeing more activity in the state by independent oil companies, who typically do not have as much money to put into research,” Sheets said. “We hope to assist independents to meet those kinds of technical needs.”

2003 energy projects

A review panel consisting of representatives from Alaska’s oil, gas and coal industries evaluated nine finalists March 11 out of 22 fossil energy research projects submitted by University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers for the competitive federal funding.

Those nine projects were ranked, and funding will likely be awarded later this year for the top two. Should additional funds become available, more projects will receive money in order of their ranking.

The top ranked project is characterization and alteration of “wettability” states of Alaska reservoirs to improve oil recovery efficiency: UAF researchers are teaming up with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to evaluate different injection agents used in enhanced oil recovery on the North Slope. Interfacial tracer technology will be used in both laboratory and field evaluations in this study. The research team requested $200,000.

The second ranked project is rural Alaska coalbed methane: application of new technologies to explore and produce energy: UAF researchers are teaming up with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources to find ways to reduce the cost of drilling wells and recovering coalbed methane. The research team requested $350,000.

The remaining ranked projects include: a study of novel chemically bonded ceramic borehole sealants for Arctic environment; continuation of research approved in 2002 of physical, biological and chemical implications of mid-winter pumping of tundra ponds; impact of geotechnical hazards, such as earthquakes and soil heaves on chilled gas pipelines in Alaska; ash, sulfur and washability characterization of Two Bull Ridge Coal, Usibelli Coal Mine’s new production coal; reservoir characterization using chemostratigraphy for Alaskan oil fields; effect of a diverse throughput on trans-Alaska oil pipeline operation, including more heavy oil and gas-to-liquids products; and testing oil wells drilled in the Bristol Bay region in the 1950s and 1960s for the presence of gas.