Efficient recovery of our nation’s fossil fuel resources in an environmentally safe manner requires the development and application of new technologies that address the unique nature and challenging locations of many of our remaining oil and natural gas accumulations. The National Energy Technology Laboratory's (NETL) research projects are designed to help catalyze the development of these new technologies, provide objective data to help quantify the environmental and safety risks of oil and gas development, and characterize emerging energy resources like methane hydrates.
Natural Gas & Oil Program Research Portfolio Reports
The Office of Fossil Energy (FE)/National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is releasing a series of nine Research Portfolio Reports to provide a snapshot of results and accomplishments completed to-date for active and completed projects under three focus areas: Unconventional Oil & Gas Resources; Ultra-Deepwater; and Small Producers. The reports capture research conducted over the last ten years under FE’s Natural Gas and Oil Program. Each report discusses the research challenges, accomplishments, and lessons learned as well as providing a 1-2 page summary for each project.
NETL research focuses on technologies that reduce the cost, increase the efficiency, and minimize the environmental risk of finding and producing natural gas in unconventional reservoirs, most importantly in fractured shale.
Unconventional Resources
NETL research supports development of technologies that can help offshore Gulf of Mexico discoveries progress to production quickly and safely, and to maximize recovery from fields that are currently at the edge of industry capabilities.
Offshore Architecture | Environmental | Other Deepwater Technology
NETL research supports the development, demonstration, and application of enhanced oil recovery technologies to tap large deposits of crude oil trapped in mature U.S. oil fields. Additional research focuses on oil resources that are difficult to produce because of the character of the hydrocarbons or the rock in which they are found.
CO2 EOR | Other EOR & Oil Resources | Environmental
Methane hydrates are a mixture of methane and water molecules that form an ice-like material within Arctic onshore or deepwater offshore sediments. NETL research focuses on understanding how methane hydrates form and behave, their potential as an energy resource, and their role in the Earth’s carbon cycle.
DOE/NETL Projects | A Global Outlook on Methane Hydrates