NETL awards for shale oil, gas research

The National Energy Technology Laboratory has awarded funding to various Department of Energy national laboratories for research into hydrocarbon extraction from shale reservoirs. The idea is to obtain a better understanding of the factors that affect prudent resource development, NETL says. Although recent technical advances have unlocked vast quantities of oil and gas from low permeability rock formations, recovery efficiencies of less than 30 percent for gas and 10 percent for oil indicate that continuing research is warranted, the agency says.

NETL has selected six projects for funding. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is conducting three of the projects, while the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Sandia National Laboratories and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center are each conducting one project. The projects had already been granted a total of $3.6 million in NETL funding but, based on the projects’ merits, that funding has been increased to $4.8 million over a two-year period, NETL says.

Research topics include an investigation into the properties of fractures in shale gas reservoirs and the impact on reservoir sustainability of the materials used to keep fractures open. Another project is investigating the ways in which fluids used for hydraulic fracturing can induce damaged zones that can inhibit the flow of oil and gas.

One project researches the impact on hydrocarbon flow of injected water that is adsorbed onto shale surfaces. Other research areas consist of assessing the production of low-viscosity shale oil; an investigation into hydraulic fracturing processes, to improve hydraulic fracturing performance; and the development of a fluid model for gas release and recovery from shale formations.

- ALAN BAILEY