Release Date: November 1, 2000

TULSA, OK - The U.S. Department of Energy's primary field office for petroleum technology in Tulsa, Oklahoma, will become part of the agency's national laboratory complex as an arm of the recently created National Energy Technology Laboratory, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson announced today.

Richardson said he was taking the action to "elevate the status of department's petroleum research program."

"The future of our domestic petroleum industry will be determined largely by technology, and it is important that we streamline the coordination throughout our research complex in developing advances that can benefit our domestic producers," Richardson said.

"This action creates a much tighter linkage between our petroleum technology program and our laboratory research structure. It will strengthen collaboration in several important research areas. For example, it will provide for better technology exchanges between the oil exploration and production efforts we coordinate out of our Tulsa office and our natural gas researchers at the National Energy Technology Laboratory," Richardson said.

Previously, the Tulsa office - the National Petroleum Technology Office - operated as a separate part of the Energy Department's Fossil Energy organization. With the new change in reporting relationships, the office will report to the National Energy Technology Laboratory located in Morgantown, WV, and Pittsburgh, PA. The laboratory was designated last December by Richardson as the nation's 15th national laboratory and is the Energy Department's primary fossil fuel research center. Part of its organization includes a new Strategic Center for Natural Gas which will oversee a wide range of natural gas related activities.

The 26-employee petroleum office will remain in Tulsa and will continue to be the lead site for coordinating the Energy Department's oil technology program.

The office will be a separately identifiable group within the National Energy Technology Laboratory's organization, comparable to the natural gas center. The director of the Tulsa office will report directly to the director of the National Energy Technology Laboratory.

Integrating the petroleum office into the National Energy Technology Laboratory also will give petroleum specialists in Tulsa more immediate access to the Laboratory's onsite research facilities and its research support capabilities.