The EFD Program created a partnership between a growing list of top tier Universities, National Laboratories and RPSEA to develop critical new technology to accelerate development of domestic reserves in a safe and environmentally friendly manner. The EFD program provides sponsors with direct access to these organizations and top technical experts.

The objectives of the alliance are:

• To use RPSEA’s information collection, synthesis, and dissemination organization.
• To tap into both University and National Laboratories scientific research capabilities by forging a partnership with operators, services companies, environmental organizations and other laboratories to help meet the overall goals of the RPSEA consortium.
• To bring highest level research capability to bear on the critical gap and basic research in technology needed to increase our energy reserves.
• To provide fundamental research that can be later incorporated into RPSEA projects.
• To serve as a network link among the regional EFD partners and their constituencies.

The University of Arkansas and Argonne National Laboratory, sponsored by the DOE through the Low Impact Natural Gas and Oil (LINGO) Program, developed the Fayetteville Shale Information Website, and the University of Arkansas developed the Fayetteville Shale Infrastructure Placement Decision Support System. The information website describes the natural gas resources available in the Fayetteville Shale formation in Arkansas, describes their development and provides information about the state and federal regulatory requirements that developers must follow. The site also describes some of the technologies that can be used to minimize the environmental impacts of natural gas development and provides current interactive maps showing the locations of active drill sites and permitted sites.

The decision support system is also an online map-based resource but is targeted at producers, regulators and other primary stake holders. The system provides several decision support tools to (1) help reduce the possibility of negative environmental impact from infrastructure (drill pads, gather lines, reserve pits and access roads) placement and, (2) promote more effective communication between regulators and producers to expedite the permitting process.

The system provides unique capabilities including (1) a geographic information system shared by producers and regulators to place infrastructure features interactively and let advanced sediment transport models predict the effect on nearby regulated waterways and a (2) wildlife habitat layer used to better predict the possibility of interaction with threatened or endangered species. The system also supports more common queries such as proximity to existing critical infrastructure, potential water crossings, and soil suitability. The web-enabled decision support tool and the supporting queries are constructed in ArcGIS Server 9.3.

The first task is to collect and provide information in the same manner as the Fayetteville Shale program and provide a framework into which field, specific information (natural resources, regulations, drilling activities, etc.) could be placed. This will enable local stakeholders to more quickly and efficiently “stand-up” up an equivalent informational site. The deliverable for this task will include working with stakeholders from at least one other play to deploy an information site using this framework and document the process so that it could more easily be deployed elsewhere.

The Decision Support System developed for the Fayetteville Shale does not take into account the positional and attribution uncertainties associated with the GIS data layers. The decision support system will be modified to use innovative methods to organize, evaluate and structure the spatial data so that the spatial and attribution uncertainty of the various data (e.g., SSURGO soils from NRCS, streams from USGS, roads from various sources, buildings from county assessors, etc.) is used to provide a more realistic assessment of the risk of a particular infrastructure placement in an approach consistent with recent National Academy of Science recommendations.

University of Wyoming Western Mountain States Studies

The University of Wyoming (UW), in collaboration with the Bureau of Land Management, WyoComposites and major upstream gas production companies, has developed a layered mat, roll-out road system design using composite building materials to minimize the impact of oil field access roads to well pads using the most sustainable approach possible. The concept came from the need to minimize soil disruption and wildlife fragmentation in Jonah Field and Pinedale Anticline Production Area (PAPA) of the upper Green River Valley, Wyoming. UW’s submission won first prize in the TAMU 2008 Disappearing Roads competition. Now the UW and the RPSEA EFD team have collaborated to propose a field test of a scale model of the low impact road concept.

Field trials of the scale model system were conducted at the Pecos Desert Research test Center and will incorporate being planned for the RPSEA project with recycled road materials. Testing procedures and engineering evaluations will be developed in detail along with an expanded economic feasibility study.

Utah State University – Sam Houston State University Collaboration

Oil and gas development is increasing in the State of Utah due to national and worldwide demands for energy, for example the Uinta Basin identified by RPSEA as a top priority tight sands play. It is important to understand the impacts that this growth may have on local and regional air quality, water resources, land use and general quality of life.

The work scope includes:

To establish rapport with members of the general public, community leaders, representatives of oil and gas associations, regulatory agency personnel, non-governmental organization representatives, and other interested individuals who are expected to be affected by energy development in the Uinta Basin of Utah through face-to-face meetings and teleconferencing.

To empirically examine stakeholders’ level of familiarity with environmentally friendly energy exploration and production practices.

To empirically examine stakeholders’ level of agreement that environmentally friendly energy exploration and production practices can be used in environmentally sensitive areas that are currently off-limits or highly restricted should such areas be opened up for development.

Hold a workshop to establish dialogue among members of the general public, community leaders, representatives of oil and gas associations, regulatory agency personnel, non-governmental organization representatives, and other interested individuals in the Uinta Basin of Utah with respect to the acceptance and assimilation of environmentally friendly energy exploration and production practices drawing upon the empirical data collected in steps 2 and 3.

A white paper was developed that summarizes the needs and barriers for the region.

West Virginia University Eastern Mountain States Studies

The Marcellus shale is one of the most promising gas plays in the U.S. There are barriers and challenges in the development of this play, in particular with site locations, logistics and water issues. The first step is to identify and define the issues and problems. The RPSEA EFD Team is collaborating with West Virginia University (WVU) to initiate an environmentally friendly E&P systems program. WVU is the lead organization for the Eastern U.S. Petroleum Technology Transfer Council (PTTC).

The first objective is to identify needs and barriers associated with unconventional natural gas production in the Eastern mountain states. While this area of the U.S. is the oldest oil and gas producing area in the country, new horizontal drilling and massive, multi-stage hydraulic fracturing technology is entirely new and must be adapted to the specific requirements of the area. The need for light weight drilling rigs, access to well sites, and the use of water resources must be addressed before the shale can be developed. 

Water usage and produced water are key issues. For example, as of December 2008, all drilling permits in New York are on hold until water issues are resolved among public, private, and government stakeholders. The barrier to access in New York is not technology but is in getting government agencies and other stakeholders to agree on procedures and practices. (One of the EFD Program’s supporting Agencies is the New York State Energy Research Development Agency.) Management of wastes generated from E&P operations represents a significant cost to those in the industry, costs of treatment. Disposal of produced waters could range from about $0.01 to more than $5 per barrel of produced water, It is necessary that there be cost effective technological solutions that reduce the volume of the waste being disposed.

Various workshops have been held to transfer technology for the Marcellus Shale to appropriate stakeholders.

National Laboratory Technology Partnership

Argonne National Laboratory worked with HARC and Texas A&M University (TAMU) to help coordinate activities in the Alliance among the regional university partners and national laboratories. Argonne also helps to foster regular communication between Alliance members through conference calls, a dedicated Alliance website, and face-to-face meetings. As needed, Argonne visits universities to review Alliance and EFD work, and to recruit new Alliance members. Specifically, Argonne:

Works with the University of Arkansas to ensure that their well-siting software package, developed through a DOE-funded collaborative project with Argonne, is expanded and modified for use in another basin outside of the Fayetteville Shale.

Works with other alliance members to provide targeted analysis of important and topical environmental issues as they arise.  

Works with the other Alliance members to identify various research projects and funding sources for future work.

Attends Alliance and EFD team meetings as necessary.