Draft2:Stripper Well Consortium
The Stripper Well Consortium (SWC) was an industry-driven consortium focused on the development, demonstration and deployment of new technologies needed to improve the production performance of natural gas and petroleum stripper wells.
It sought to enhance the ability of the domestic production industry to keep stripper wells producing at economic production rates in an environmentally safe manner, maximizing the recovery of domestic hydrocarbon resources.
The partnership was with National Energy Technology Laboratory and Pennsylvania State University.
DOE's role
DOE funded the Stripper Well Consortium (SWC) in an agreement with The Pennsylvania State University. The SWC was a national, industry-driven consortium focused on developing low cost technologies for both natural gas and oil stripper wells. The SWC has funded 49 projects since 2001, with resulting products now being offered commercially.
Stripper wells
The term stripper well denotes a well producing no more than 10 barrels of oil per day or 60,000 cubic feet of gas per day. One out of every six barrels of crude produced today comes from a stripper well. Over 85 percent of the total number of U.S. oil wells are now classified as stripper wells. Together, these nearly 400,000 wells produce around 800,000 barrels of oil per day or nearly 10 percent of lower-48 production. Many of these wells are marginally economic and at risk of being prematurely abandoned, leaving significant amounts of oil unrecovered. In addition, there are some 320,000 natural gas stripper wells in the U.S., accounting for over 1.7 trillion cubic feet of annual production, or 9 percent of the natural gas produced in the lower 48.
Focus areas
The research funded focuses on three areas:
- reservoir remediation
- wellbore clean-up
- surface system optimization
Background
To ensure the nation’s energy supply, and to forestall premature abandonment of stripper wells, SWC was established on September 30, 2000 through a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State). The initial agreement provided approximately $3 million of base funding over a three year period to develop technologies for America’s stripper wells. The agreement has been continued with additional funding. It provides Penn State with overarching management responsibilities for the consortium. SWC is comprised of natural gas and petroleum producers, service companies, industry consultants, universities and industrial trade organizations. The Strategic Center for Natural Gas and Oil (a division of the National Energy Technology Laboratory of DOE), the National Petroleum Technology Office and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority provide base funding and guidance to the consortium. By pooling financial and human resources, the SWC membership can economically develop technologies that will extend the life and production of the nation’s stripper wells. Research with the SWC is conducted in three, broad areas: reservoir remediation, wellbore clean-up and surface system optimization. Research outside these three areas may be considered pending approval of the program sponsors. Specific research proposals are developed by SWC members and require a minimum of 30 percent cost share from project participants. The SWC currently has 97 members. The membership includes companies and organizations from 23 a states, plus the District of Columbia and Canada, with operations in many other states. An Executive Council, appointed by the SWC membership, selects research projects from those proposed. The process of having industry develop, review and select projects for funding ensures that the SWC conducts research that is relevant and timely to the oil and gas industry. For the period 2001 through September 2010, the SWC committed over $9.7 million to co-fund 92 projects. This includes five proposals, totaling about $650,000 that were selected for co-funding by the SWC for the October 2009 to September 30, 2010 funding cycle. Related projects undertaken by DOE support technology development and technology transfer projects within the SWC.
Related links
External links
- https://www.netl.doe.gov/sites/default/files/2018-02/EPNews2010Spring.pdf
- Advanced Stripper Gas Well Produced Water Remediation
- Advanced Technologies for Stripper Gas Well Improvement
- https://www.netl.doe.gov/node/2361
References
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