Research

Three field laboratories and six research projects across the United States will be hard at work over the next few years to develop technology that minimizes environmental impacts of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) resource development, while maximizing economic and national security benefits.

The University of Texas at Austin (UT) is leading a research consortium that is getting $58 million to study methane hydrate under the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

Texas A&M University (TAMU) has launched a multidisciplinary research approach at home and abroad to support shale gas and natural gas exploration, production and monetization activities.

A “breathalyzer,” similar to systems used to check alcohol levels in drivers, is one of the breakthrough methane detection technologies selected Thursday to advance in a collaboration between seven U.S. natural gas and oil producers and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).

General Electric Co. (GE) continues to make inroads into the U.S. energy industry, announcing Thursday a partnership with the University of Notre Dame and four public entities to build a research and test facility in Indiana for natural gas turbine engines used by commercial and military aircraft, power plants, and the oil and gas industry.

Critical natural gas challenges, including flaring of associated gas and waterless hydraulic fracturing (fracking) are among the research endeavors that General Electric Corp. (GE) plans to address with a $10 billion research program through 2020.

The University of Tennessee’s Institute of Agriculture (UTIA), which had spent three months in search of an industry partner to investigate the impacts of natural gas and oil exploration, as well as development from shale formations, has put the project on hold after receiving no bids for the proposed research project.

After a 32-year run, Royal Dutch Shell’s U.S. operations are pulling the plug on oil shale research in Colorado, noting that the company has spent tens of millions of dollars and learned a lot. The closing of the operations will be a careful, phased exit to maximize environmental and safety considerations in the Piceance Basin in northwest Colorado, Shell said.

As drilling increases in the Marcellus and Utica shales, researchers from the Battelle Memorial Institute are studying the geology and operations of wastewater injection wells in four states, with the hope that the data collected will ensure that future wells are drilled in safe locations.