Oil and natural gas are the lifeblood of our economy, accounting for more than 60 percent of the energy consumed in the United States. To meet projected demand, our Nation has a vital interest in ensuring that competitively-priced domestic natural gas and oil remain part of the U.S. energy portfolio for decades to come. Read More.

Announcements Corval Group Selected to Conduct NETL-Sponsored North Dakota Refinery Feasibility Study In an NETL-sponsored project, a steering committee of oil industry leaders has selected the Corval Group to conduct a feasibility study of oil refinery capacity in North Dakota. This study may spur additional exploration and development of the oil-producing Bakken Formation and the newly discovered Three Forks Formation underlying the Bakken. Increased oil production from these formations could result in a positive economic impact to North Dakota and the region, and a reduction in dependence on foreign oil supplies. Read more about this project Request For Proposals (RFP) for Technology Transfer Services Released. The Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA) has released an RFP for Technology Transfer Services in support of the Ultra-Deepwater and Unconventional Natural Gas and Other Petroleum Resources Program, which RPSEA administers for the U.S. Department of Energy. The RFP was issued on February 1, 2010 and the due date for proposals is March 2, 2010, 4 p.m. CST. Read the RFP [external site]. DOE seeking candidates for two advisory committes The Department of Energy is currently seeking nominations of qualified individuals to serve on the Ultra-Deepwater Advisory Committee and the Unconventional Resources Technology Advisory Committee. The closing date for receipt of applications is March 1, 2010. Read more New Edition of the E&P Focus Newsletter Now Available This issue of E&P Focus highlights a number of environmentally focused projects selected from the various elements of the NETL R&D Program. Read more on E&P Focus including subscription information Volume 9, Issue 4(Fall 2009) of Fire In The Ice Now Available! In this edition read about Japan's R&D program, Hydrate in nature, the HYFLUX expedition, sub-sampling for gas hydrates, gas production geomechanical implications, and the contributions to hydrate resarch of Peter Schultheiss and Melanie Holland of Geotek. Extreme Drilling Laboratory Is Ready to “Rock and Roll” The Extreme Drilling Laboratory (XDL) at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) proudly announces the much-anticipated debut of its prototype Ultra-deep Drilling Simulator (UDS). The concept of the high-tech facility located in Morgantown, W. Va., was conceived in cooperation with industry and funded by the Federal Government under Section 999 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Research conducted in the XDL is expected to have a direct impact on increasing our domestic supply of oil and natural gas (NG) by developing affordable, efficient, and environmentally safe means to harvest ultra-deep oil and NG resources. DOE-Sponsored Beaufort Sea Expedition Studies Methane's Role in Global Climate Cycle Increased understanding of methane's role in the global climate cycle and the potential of methane hydrate as a future energy resource could result from a recent joint research expedition off the coast of northeastern Alaska involving the NETL. Read More on the Expedition. New Online Database of Oil and Natural Gas Research Results Now Available By providing easy access to the results of nearly four decades of research supported by the Office of Fossil Energy’s Oil and Natural Gas Program, the Knowledge Management Database could ultimately help boost recovery of the nation’s oil and gas resources. Access the KMD Announcements Archive >

While domestic resources remain plentiful, increasingly, these resources are concentrated in geologically challenging and operationally complex settings such as deep formations, deepwater offshore, and lower permeability formations. Their recovery requires innovative exploration and production technologies, along with sustained attention to environmental protection.

Through NETL, scientists and engineers in government and industry are focusing on innovative solutions to these challenges. NETL supports research, development, and field demonstrations of advanced technologies to enhance near-term and mid-term supplies through the efficient use of the nation's existing resources. NETL also performs analyses of natural gas and petroleum issues to support policy decisions and to ensure a balanced R&D portfolio.

• To help industry increase supplies of oil and gas in the near term, NETL focuses on developing low-cost technologies to expand the economic life expectancy of individual wells, spurring innovations to find and tap missed or bypassed reservoirs in the field, and transferring new technology to the thousands of small and independent operators that account for the lion’s share of the U.S. industry.
• Over the mid term, NETL’s E&P efforts target critical emerging resources -- such as tight gas, deep gas, and heavy oil -- that are currently poorly understood and underutilized. These unconventional and emerging resources require the application of new technologies to make recovery economic. Such efforts have borne fruit in the past. Earlier DOE-funded research has catalyzed an unconventional natural gas industry that currently accounts for 30 percent of the Nation’s gas supply—a share expected to grow.
• Sustaining natural gas and oil supplies over the long term will require adding fundamental new sources to the nation's resource base. As a result, NETL is leading a national R&D effort to evaluate methane hydrates and other potential future resources that may one day contribute to our nation’s supply demands.

• Secure and reliable energy supplies
  The United States is home to an abundant supply of both natural gas and oil, yet there exists a supply and demand gap because much of the conventional resource base has been harvested. Future sources of supply will come from more remote locations, increasingly complex and deeper reservoirs, and more environmentally sensitive areas. New technologies will certainly be needed to develop these resources in an environmentally and economically acceptable manner. With advanced technologies, our Nation can continue producing these valuable domestic resources while also meeting environmental protection goals.
  

  	America's demand for natural gas is expected to grow as much as 50% by 2025. Unconventional gas resources, much of which currently are not economically recoverable, are expected to bear much of the burden of meeting this demand.

• Clean power generation
  The clean-burning properties of natural gas make it a preferred fuel for power generation. Indeed, natural gas consumption in the power generation sector is projected to increase from 5.0 trillion cubic feet in 2003 to 9.4 trillion cubic feet in 2025. Cost-effective production, processing, transmission, and storage technologies will enable natural gas to fulfill this central role in meeting our Nation’s growing electricity needs.