August 21, 1998

The grant was announced by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Petroleum Technology Office as part of continuing research being conducted in its Fundamental Geoscience for Reservoir Characterization Program.

In a letter announcing the grant, Patricia Godley, Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy, said, 'As domestic crude oil becomes harder to produce, the likelihood that the nation will have to rely more on foreign imports increases. The Office of Fossil Energy’s research and development program includes a major effort to assist U.S. producers develop advanced technologies that can slow, or perhaps reverse, the decline in domestic oil production. The selection of the Utah Geological Survey is a key step in that program." She also noted that oil reservoirs commonly leave behind more than half of their original deposits. A similar project recently completed in the Monument Butte area "increased production dramatically," she said.

The UGS proposal, entitled "Reservoir Characterization of the Lower Green River Formation, Southwest Uinta Basin," is a 3-year investigation of the subsurface and surface geology of the Green River Formation in the Monument Butte and Roan Cliff areas of the Uinta Basin. The study should help increase the knowledge of the Green River oil reservoir and help locate areas for further development.

Partners in the study are Dr. Milind Deo, University of Utah, Department of Chemical and Fuels Engineering; S. Robert Bereskin, Tesseract Corp.; TerraTek Inc., Salt Lake City; Inland Resources Inc., Denver; and Halliburton Energy Services, Denver. Barrett Resources Corporation, Celsius Energy Company, Inland Resources Inc., McCullis Resources Company, Petroglyph Operating Company, and Sego Resources have agreed to serve on a Technical Advisory Board to help guide the investigation. The project manager is Craig D. Morgan, a senior geologist with the UGS.