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 Kurz, a hydrogeologist, is part of a team, which looks at using
carbon dioxide to coax more oil out of wells that have already been
hydraulically fractured, or fracked, in the process of extracting
oil from shale rocks.
"No one is sure just yet how this process can work in the Bakken,"
said Kurz. "We're hoping to crack that riddle."
While energy firms around the world slash spending and cut jobs in
response to crashing oil prices, research institutions and companies
across North America are not letting up in their efforts to make
production more efficient.
In fact, demand for money-saving solutions is greater than ever and
research centers, helped by multi-year budgets and grants, are
doubling down - hiring more staff, building new laboratories and
launching new studies.
The University of North Dakota's Energy and Environmental Research
Center (EERC) where Kurz works has hired 20 more researchers and lab
assistants over the past year, a 10 percent increase.
 "At $100 per barrel oil, you just produce as much as you can, with
cost as a secondary concern," said Tom Erickson, the Center's head.
"But at $30 oil, you need to innovate, or else you're just losing
money."
The center, which has an annual budget of more than $30 million
funded by the federal government and industry partners, including
Marathon Oil Corp <MRO.N> and Continental Resources <CLR.N>, also
works on alternative fuel and coal technologies, but the CO2 project
is among the biggest.
While carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants has been used for
years to extract oil from older, conventional wells, it has yet to
be applied commercially in shale drilling. Unlike spongy
conventional oil reserves, shale is a rock and the scientists are
now trying to find the best way for CO2 to flow through it and help
bring oil to the surface.
Elsewhere, efforts range from aggregating reams of data from field
sensors to using medical scanning equipment or reducing the amount
of water used for fracking.
NEW URGENCY
"We think this slowdown will actually be a plus for technology
research and development," Jon Olson, head of the Petroleum and
Geosystems Engineering Department at the University of Texas-Austin,
told Reuters.
Whether any breakthroughs can come soon enough for scores of
companies that are losing money and fighting for survival is
anyone's guess. But if successful, new technologies could help
restore profitability to the industry battered by more than 70
percent crude price <CLc1> plunge since mid-2014.
(Graphic:http://tmsnrt.rs/1mT1RpC)
The use of CO2 in fracking, for example, could cut production costs
in North Dakota's largest oil-producing county by about 10 percent.
That, according to Reuters calculations, would bring costs to around
$24.30 per barrel, below current market prices.
So far, the process has worked in laboratory conditions, but not yet
in field trials, so it is unclear how quickly it could be
commercially deployed.
Oscar Abbink, an oilfield technology expert at IHS Energy Insight,
which is not involved in the North Dakota research, called the study
promising and noted how the industry's interest in innovation has
soared during the downturn.
"A few years ago, it was all about pulling more oil out of the
ground. Now, the cost is much more important."
Scientists at privately held WellDog Inc and Blackbird Energy Inc
<BBI.V> are also looking into the carbon dioxide use.
[to top of second column]
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WellDog, which markets spectroscopy technology to shale clients to
help them distinguish between types of natural gas, last December
launched a new service that helps customers measure CO2 levels in
older oil wells and could also serve to control volumes pumped into
new ones.
"This is a growth area," said John Pope, WellDog's president.
PUMPS, SCANNERS AND SUPERCOMPUTERS
So far, ConocoPhillips <COP.N> is the only large oil producer to cut
research spending. Others could follow suit as cheap crude keeps
exerting pressure on budgets, but for now several continue with
their own research.
Hess Corp <HES.N>, North Dakota's third-largest oil producer, is
studying how it can lengthen the horizontal wells and use cheaper
materials in fracking.
Services giant Schlumberger NV <SLB.N>, licensed a new process last
fall that slashes the number of pumps needed to frack a well.
Rival Halliburton Co <HAL.N> is also marketing its expertise in
helping customers become more efficient, for instance, by using
machines with fewer moving parts.
At Penn State University, petroleum and natural gas engineering
professor Zuleima Karpyn is using medical CT scanners to analyze how
fluid flows through shale samples to help producers better control
the process.
John England, U.S. oil and gas specialist at consulting firm
Deloitte said he was confident there were more efficiency gains
ahead. "As we apply more technology, there's still a long way to go
in terms of cost reduction."
Data is one area where some major players expect the fastest
progress and the highest rewards.
Petroleum Geo Services ASA <PGS.OL> says demand for services of its
Houston supercomputer from oil companies crunching seismic data to
locate underground reserves has been rising in the past 18 months
even as the oil downturn continues.
General Electric Co <GE.N> is on track to open a $125 million global
oil and gas research center in Oklahoma City this year. The company
employs about 80 employees at a temporary site now and plans to hire
45 more.
The conglomerate is hoping it can aggregate data on temperature,
pressure and other features from thousands of oil wells to help
producers pick best locations, limiting costly misses. GE scientists
are also looking into waterless fracking and other methods.
"There is a technology lever in the oil and gas industry that hasn't
been pulled as strongly as it could have been in the past," Mike
Ming, general manager of GE's new Oklahoma City center, told
Reuters.
(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
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