The Reservoir Class Field Demonstration Program was initiated in FY92 in response to rapidly declining domestic production and the realization that huge volumes of oil are being abandoned in reservoirs because of uneconomic production techniques. This program is just one of the critical elements of the National Oil Program necessary to move Improved Oil Recovery (lOR) technology from the conceptual stage through research, pilot scale field experiments, and full-scale field demonstrations to industry acceptance and commercialization. Both the successful results and failures of the field demonstrations will provide focus to concurrent research programs. Elements of the field demonstrations that are suitable for broad industry application are being communicated to the industry through the oil program's technology transfer effort. Significant events in the oil industry during 1998-1999, including company repositioning, mergers, sale of fields, and personnel layoffs, have effected important changes in DOE's Class projects. Several projects have moved field locations and transferred the technology developed in Phase I to other nearby fields in Phase II. Mergers have caused several fields to be sold, and a few projects have terminated early because of these changes. The value of the research remains high, and publications and technology transfer presentations by project personnel continue to contribute a significant body of knowledge on the solution of problems in producing oil from mature domestic oil fields.
- PDFDOE-BC-01-2-SP-DOE-FIELD-DEMO.-2-01.pdf