PRESS RELEASE:

Deep Gas Research

The US Department of Energy awarded five cost-shared research projects to help meet America's growing demand for natural gas. The new project will develop advanced diagnostic tool and technologies to reduce exploration and development risk for deeper gas and tight fractured reservoirs. These new projects are supported by $4.2 million in Energy Department funding:

• 3DGeo Inc. will use wave-equation migration and wave-equation illumination and amplitude compensation technology to improve image resolution and reservoir characterization of ultra-deep geologic structures
• Paulsson Geophysical Services, Inc. will develop and test a robust multi-component sensor that combines fiber optic and micro-electro mechanical systems technology for use in a borehole seismic array
• RDSP I LP will improve deep gas reservoir characterization using inelastic rock properties that result in frequency-dependant wave velocities and intrinsic wave attenuation to discriminate pore fluids and lithology
• Technology International Inc. will develop an integrated seismic-while-drilling system to provide real-time pore pressure and seismic imaging ahead of the drill bit
• The University of Texas at Austin will evaluate a new marine seismic technology able to image gas resources at depths not possible with previous marine seismic data.