Issued on: June 26, 2001
PUMP II Seeks "Best Practices" for Oil Recovery, Improved Information Sharing
2nd Round Promotes Rapid Transfer of Data on Recovery Methods and Domestic Production Potential
Tulsa, OK - Two months after announcing its first projects in a new program to transfer "best practices" to the nation's oil producers, the Department of Energy has issued a second call for proposals.
Termed PUMP II - for "Preferred Upstream Management Practices" - the new solicitation asks proposers to identify engineering and geologic practices that can be developed and deployed rapidly to domestic oil companies, especially smaller companies that may have difficulty accessing information.
The Energy Department hopes that by promoting quick and inexpensive application of improved technologies, better data, or other actions, well abandonments can be reduced and the decline in U.S. oil production can be slowed or perhaps halted.
Many U.S. oil fields operating on a marginal basis risk being abandoned and shut down because of operational, economic, regulatory or other factors. Once closed, a field is rarely reopened, because of the considerable costs of restoring the operating infrastructure. The PUMP program is intended to prolong production from reserves that otherwise would be permanently lost.
The initial PUMP program began in June 2000 by when the department's National Petroleum Technology Office (NPTO) in Tulsa, part of the National Energy Technology Laboratory, issued its initial solicitation. In April, 2001, six projects were selected and are now underway.
PUMP II solicits proposals in two technology areas:
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Area 1 comprises developing portfolios of critical production "plays," groups of reservoirs having similar conditions and amenable to similar production techniques, and recovery technologies applicable to reservoirs in the various portfolios.
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Area 2 requests proposals that develop and demonstrate new solutions and cooperative protocols for data and information sharing in a region ( PUMP II retains the program's focus on regional solutions to regional constraints on increased production). Emphasis is on the use of advanced technologies and their improvements.
The Energy Department plans to select six to eight projects, each lasting 24 months or less. Proposers must provide cost-share funding of at least 50%, and DOE will contribute federal funding of up to $500,000.
Proposals will be selected on the basis of their potential for extending the productive life of wells in the U.S. and boosting production from domestic fields by identifying integrated sets of solutions that improve oil field economics and minimize the risk of abandonment. Proposals will be received and evaluated at NPTO, and are due by August 14.
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For inquiries regarding the solicitation:
Keith Miles, e-mail: miles@netl.doe.gov
For information about the PUMP II program:
Rhonda Lindsey, e-mail: Rhonda.Lindsey@npto.doe.gov or 918-699-2037
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