U.S. independents' technology transfer initiative mushrooming

PTTC Pres. Deborah Rowell
"We have found that all producers don't see the Internet yet as an every-day necessity. But others are beginning to realize that it is-and will increasingly become-a valuable way for them to access information."

The Washington, D.C., based Petroleum Technology Transfer Council is nearing full operation as it approaches its second birthday.

The non-profit PTTC was established to serve as an information conduit between producers and researchers, making oil and gas professionals aware of technological breakthroughs while making scientists aware of industry's needs.

The program was designed to offer producers solutions to geologic, geophysical, engineering, environmental, and management problems, with the ultimate goals of reducing finding costs, improving operating efficiency, and boosting oil and gas recovery.

PTTC is a decentralized organization, operating mainly through 10 regional centers that focus on the disparate needs of producers in their areas.

The last two regional centers will open by December. PTTC also uses workshops, Internet sites, and a newsletter to disseminate information. It conducts no research on its own.

Producer driven

PTTC Pres. Deborah Rowell said a major goal is to ensure "we were driven by problems that producers have identified."

That's why the PTTC board is dominated by independent producers. Because they supply the technology, the regional centers are directed by the heads of university petroleum engineering or geology departments and state geological survey members.

Also, more than 200 producers serve on advisory groups that direct the activities of the 10 regional centers.

PTTC chairman Robert Nance said "All of our programs are based on technical concerns raised by our producer advisory groups." He is president and CEO of Nance Petroleum Corp., Billings, Mont.

The PTTC board includes representatives from the 10 regions, Independent Petroleum Association of America, Gas Research Institute, Society of Exploration Geophysicists, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Society of Petroleum Engineers, a service company, and a major oil company.

Future funding

The U.S. Department of Energy, seeking better ways to transmit technology to independent producers, has provided most of PTTC's funding so far.

Funding also has come from state governments, industry donations, user fees, and in-kind contributions from universities and state geological surveys.

DOE provided $2.2 million of the $3.7 million PTTC budget in fiscal 1995 and $2.2 million of the $3.9 million budget in the current fiscal year.

The federal government is expected to provide half of PTTC's $4.5 million budget in fiscal 1997, although Congresss has yet to pass an appropriations bill including those funds.

The fiscal 1997 outlay will be $500,000 below what PTTC was projected to receive earlier.

DOE will stop funding the program in 2000, and PTTC already is looking for alternative revenue sources such as user fees, advertising, and service and supply firm sponsorships.

Rowell said, "We think PTTC is a perfect match for state government funding" since several states already have programs to help get information to producers. It is working with Ohio and New York on technical support programs for their producers.

And she said service and supply firms should want sponsorships since the producers who come to PTTC with problems "are ready-made customers for their expertise and hardware."

Regional centers

PTTC has a handful of staff in Washington and a project manager in Denver, but the focus is on the regional resource centers.

They provide industry professionals with libraries and access to technical and referral assistance. Computer workstations have field and reservoir data. The centers also have more than $2 million in donated exploration and production analytical software.

In July PTTC opened its Appalachian regional center at West Virginia University in Morgantown. It serves New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, eastern Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Virginia.

A Rocky Mountain center will open soon at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, serving Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, and the Dakotas.

In December a West Coast center will open at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles for the three West Coast states and Alaska.

Two centers serve single states: the Central Gulf at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and Texas at the University of Texas in Austin.

The Eastern Gulf Region at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa focuses on Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.

Oklahoma and Arkansas are served by the South Midcontinent center at the Oklahoma Geological Survey in Norman, Missouri and Kansas by the North Midcontinent center at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, and Arizona and New Mexico by the Southwest center at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro.

The Midwest center at the Illinois State Geological Survey in Champaign serves Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and western Kentucky.

A view of the home page for Petroleum Technology Transfer Council.

Solutions needed

During the last 2 years PTTC has used workshops to identify the problems that producers face in the field. The results, detailed in a report PTTC issued in March, set a rough agenda for action.

PTTC in the report said, "These workshops identify a broad array of technical barriers, technology needs, and related concerns in all categories of petroleum exploration and production operations in all producing regions of the nation.

"In many of these areas, technologies and solutions already exist that can be brought to bear to address the problems under current economic conditions. In some cases these technologies need to be improved to increase their efficiency or reduce their costs.''

For instance, the study found well and reservoir level geologic and production data, case studies, and analogs were inadequate to enable effective analysis and implementation of existing and emerging technologies.

It cited the lack of production histories, completion data, and well data in the Appalachian basin as one example.

It said producers have insufficient access to or awareness of rules and requirements for environmental compliance and their associated financial liabilities.

For instance, it said Pennsylvania operators lack adequate information and training in preparing operating permits for new air quality compliance regulations.

It said tools, technologies, and methods for cost-effective environmental protection and regulatory compliance are not available to producers, or they are unaware of them.

The study said small producers are not aware, do not understand, or do not have access to advanced seismic and remote sensing technologies for exploration and reservoir development.

For example, it said Midcontinent and Rocky Mountain operators have not been well informed about applications of advanced seismic techniques that could save them money.

It said smaller producers are not well informed on improved technologies such as horizontal drilling, coiled tubing, slim hole, air drilling, and extended reach drilling.

The study saw a need for cost-effective, environmentally safe technologies to manage water channeling, reduce water cut, increase recovery, and cope with other problems such as corrosion and scale.

It said, "Operators in the Los Angeles basin are not aware of recent advances in gel technologies that may help reduce the producing water cut from older, mature waterfloods and water drive reservoirs."

The paper said many producers have expressed a desire to learn more about applications for reservoir management, logging, simulation, and characterization tools and software.

It said producers need help with methods that reduce operating costs for primary, secondary, and enhanced recovery.

"Producers in Wyoming, Kansas, Louisiana and other states where large numbers of wells are electrified would benefit greatly from improvements in artificial lift mechanisms that would decease electricity usage. Texas operators could benefit from additional knowledge in cost-effective fracture treatment design."

Workshops

As part of its mission, PTTC has actively sponsored technology workshops around the nation that are focused on specific E&P problems.

In 1995-96, PTTC's regional centers sponsored about 30 such focused technology workshops. They also cosponsored about 20 other technical workshops with other organizations.

Regional PTTC groups may hold workshops on the same subjects, but each is tailored to the needs of its geographic area.

Also during the last 2 years PTTC held 35 workshops across the U.S. to identify problems that small producers face.

And its Texas region has held six workshops specifically on the problems operators face in separate Texas geologic plays.

Those pay-based user groups are permanent organizations composed of persons from every discipline to explore business opportunities, discuss technical developments, and share ideas regarding the production trends.

Rowell said, "I like the variety here. People are discovering what their regional needs are and using PTTC in different ways."

PTTC plans workshops in the next few months on subjects including Internet training, underbalanced drilling techniques, waterflooding, electrical efficiency in the oil field, 3D seismic, carbon dioxide recovery methods, and Oklahoma's Cleveland and Peru sand plays.

Charges for the workshops are nominal, generally about $75/day, and vary by location.

Rowell said other regions are interested in copying Texas' play-based user groups. She said one of the most popular workshops is "Internet Explained for the Petroleum Professional."

Another success was a 3D seismic workshop in New Orleans that the Central Gulf region cosponsored with Louisiana State University. It filled to capacity, 270 persons.

Also in New Orleans, 482 persons registered for an "Offshore Lease Abandonment and Platform Disposal" workshop last April.

Louisiana experience

PTTC's oldest region, established only 18 months ago, offers insight into how the regional centers operate.

The Central Gulf Coast research center is at LSU's Center for Regional Studies in Baton Rouge. Bob Baumann is director, and Keith Long is regional coordinator.

Long said in addition to the 3D seismic and lease abandonment workshops, the region has had great success with its produced water seminar.

The center also is informing operators about a downhole water injection pump developed at LSU that has been successfully field tested.

Long said, "Our biggest accomplishment has been interfacing with all the state agencies in trying to help disseminate information."

The center has worked with the state conservation and severance tax departments to develop a PC diskette containing forms operators need to file with agencies. It has been distributed free to all 1,100 operators in Louisiana.

With the cooperation of state agencies, it copublished with Basin Research Institute a CD-ROM containing all state regulations affecting exploration and production. It covers conservation, pipeline, environmental quality, water quality, and coastal management rules. About 300 have been distributed.

The center is working on a marine operations handbook and a desktop reference of well locations and field production data, both in electronic format.

Long said the Central Gulf home page contains crude postings by five transporters, Nymex gas prices, field and lease production information, historical oil and gas prices, and state forms that can be downloaded.

He said "hits" and downloads from the center's home page increased 30% last month.

He said the Baton Rouge center also offers operators a variety of software for training purposes. "That's going to be a big help for those who try it."

Changing directions

PTTC had always planned to use the Internet to disburse technology, but it has grown so quickly that it will play a larger role in the council's operations than originally planned.

Rowell said producers still will need the regional research hubs and the expert help available there, and PTTC even plans to establish some satellite centers.

The regional centers issue newsletters and technical reports, and each has an Internet web page connected to PTTC's other nine regional web sites and the national page, at http://www.pttc.org/hq/.

The national home page also offers producers links to other Internet locations, a calendar of events, and four technical forums: exploration and development, drilling and completion, production and reservoir, and environment and safety.

The forums are free and interactive. Producers can post detailed questions, respond to the questions of others, or post comments and notices.

Rowell said, "We take the forums one step further by asking the directors of the regional centers to respond to all questions."

"We have found that all producers don't see the Internet yet as an every-day necessity. But others are beginning to realize that it is and will increasingly become a valuable way for them to access information."

She said PTTC has expanded scope. It originally was to focus on improved recovery methods. Now it will cover all upstream technology, including natural gas production and offshore operations. "We want to be the place that lets you know what's happening in new exploration and production techniques."

Also, Rowell said majors are beginning to discover PTTC, although it was created to help independents and will retain that focus. She said Texaco Inc. and BP America Inc. have been particularly active.

IPAA has formally acknowledged PTTC as its technology transfer agent, and its November annual meeting in San Antonio will feature a PTTC workshop on three case studies.

Gauging success

Although the nature of its activities defies yardstick appraisals, PTTC is seeking ways to gauge its achievements.

For one, it is trying to quantify the transfers of existing technologies that have helped producers immediately. It calls such exchanges "early wins."

Circulation of its quarterly newsletter, which is free to independents, has grown to 4,000. And the PTTC website is getting 200-300 visits/month.

Rowell said many people in the oil industry still have not heard of PTTC, which is not a surprising problem for a new organization, but name recognition is growing daily.

An example of that, she said, is that "More and more, we are being asked to speak at forums about emerging technologies and the needs of independent producers."

Copyright 1996 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.