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May 10, 2012
Natural Gas Compression Technology Improves Transport and Efficiencies, Lowers Operating Costs
An award-winning compressor design that decreases the energy required to compress and transport natural gas, lowers operating costs, improves efficiencies and reduces the environmental footprint of well site operations has been developed by a Massachusetts-based company with support from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

May 9, 2012
DOE-Sponsored IGCC Project Could Lead to Lower-Cost Carbon Capture Technologies
Changes in operating conditions coupled with changes in commercially manufactured catalysts can produce both power generation increases and significant cost savings at Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plants, according to new research from a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-sponsored project.

May 8, 2012
Stent Technology Saves Lives, Creates Jobs
When people think of benefits from energy research, they usually don’t envision saving lives. But thanks to an innovative alloy jointly developed by Boston Scientific Corporation (BSCI) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) metallurgists, that’s what is happening.

May 3, 2012
DOE-Sponsored Drilling Projects Demonstrate Significant CO₂ Storage at Three Sites
Evaluation-related test drilling at geologic sites in three states that could store a combined 64 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions – an important component of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology development – has been completed in projects supported by the U.S. Department of Energy.

May 2, 2012
Energy Department Announces New Mapping Initiative to Advance North American Carbon Storage Efforts
Today, the Energy Department joined with partners from Canada and Mexico to release the first-ever atlas mapping the potential carbon dioxide storage capacity in North America. According to the newly released North American Carbon Storage Atlas (NACSA), there is at least 500 years of geologic storage for carbon dioxide emissions in North America. These areas could be used for storing carbon from industrial sources or power plants. Identifying and deploying ways to cleanly, safely and sustainably develop America’s fossil fuel resources, including coal, is an important part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy.

May 2, 2012
U.S. and Japan Complete Successful Field Trial of Methane Hydrate Production Technologies
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today the completion of a successful, unprecedented test of technology in the North Slope of Alaska that was able to safely extract a steady flow of natural gas from methane hydrates – a vast, entirely untapped resource that holds enormous potential for U.S. economic and energy security. Building upon this initial, small-scale test, the Department is launching a new research effort to conduct a long-term production test in the Arctic as well as research to test additional technologies that could be used to locate, characterize and safely extract methane hydrates on a larger scale in the U.S. Gulf Coast.

May 2, 2012
Novel Surfactant Formulation May Bring New Life to Mature Oilfields
A new generation of high-performance surfactants has proven successful in mobilizing residual oil in two mature fields in Oklahoma through a project supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL).

April 25, 2012
Innovative DOE Technology Demonstrates Potential for Significant Increases in Safe and Responsible Production from Depleted U.S. Oil Fields
The U.S. Department of Energy announced today that an innovative technology has successfully improved oil recovery at a 106-year old Illinois field by more than 300 percent. This method of extraction could help pull as many as 130 million additional barrels of oil from the depleted field, which is past peak production using traditional drilling.

April 19, 2012
DOE Continues Long-Running Minority Educational Research Program
Four projects that will strengthen and promote U.S. energy security, scientific discovery and economic competitiveness while producing a diverse next generation of scientists and engineers have been selected as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) long running minority educational research program.

April 13, 2012
Obama Administration Announces New Partnership on Unconventional Natural Gas and Oil Research
Today, three federal agencies announced a formal partnership to coordinate and align all research associated with development of our nation’s abundant unconventional natural gas and oil resources. The partnership exemplifies the cross-government coordination required under President Obama’s Executive Order released earlier today, which created a new Interagency Working Group to Support Safe and Responsible Development of Unconventional Domestic Natural Gas Resources.

April 10, 2012
Opening New Avenues for High-Efficiency, Low-Emission Coal Gasification
Gasification. It’s a versatile technology that uses coal to produce power, chemicals, and fuels. Inherently low in air emissions, solid byproducts, and wastewater, commercial gasification plants have proven capable of exceeding the most stringent regulations for air- and solids-emissions. However, capital and operational costs have prohibited the widespread adoption of gasification, especially for power production—a major source of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.

April 5, 2012
NETL-RUA Scans for Improved Enhanced Oil Recovery Technique
Researchers participating in the National Energy Technology Laboratory Regional University Alliance (NETL-RUA) are using a familiar piece of medical equipment – a CT scanner – to evaluate cutting-edge improvements to enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques. Results from these studies could be used to help increase domestic oil supplies from EOR while helping to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitted to the atmosphere.

March 29, 2012
NETL Shares Computing Speed, Efficiency to Tackle Energy Technology Barriers
One of the world’s fastest supercomputers will be installed at the Office of Fossil Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) this summer to help develop solutions to carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology barriers.

March 26, 2012
"Research Experience in Carbon Sequestration" Training Program Now Accepting Applications
A Department of Energy (DOE) program that helps graduate students and early career professionals gain hands-on field research experience in areas related to carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is accepting applications until April 15.

February 14, 2012
President Requests $650.8 Million for Fossil Energy Programs
President Obama’s FY 2013 budget seeks $650.8 million for the Office of Fossil Energy (FE) to support improved energy security and rapid development of climate-oriented technology. The request includes $420.6 million for Fossil Energy Research and Development, $195.6 million for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, $10.1 million for the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve (and includes a $6 million rescission of prior year funds), $14.9 million for the Naval Petroleum Reserves and $15.6 million for the Elk Hills School Land Fund.

February 10, 2012
Chu in Pittsburgh: "We Need an All-Out, All-of-the-Above Strategy that Develops Every Available Source of American Energy"
Today, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu joined Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl to tour a range of research facilities at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), meet with local business leaders and stakeholders in the natural gas industry, and highlight local investments in cutting-edge energy innovations that are laying the building blocks for an American economy built to last.

February 10, 2012
Remote Gas Well Monitoring Technology Applied to Marcellus Shale Site
A technology to remotely monitor conditions at energy-rich Marcellus Shale gas wells to help insure compliance with environmental requirements has been developed through a research partnership funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

February 9, 2012
Fossil Energy Know-How Helps Heart Patients
For their work developing a new metal alloy that has dramatically improved coronary stents used in patients with heart problems, three scientists at the Office of Fossil Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) are set to receive the Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer.

February 7, 2012
New Models Help Optimize Development of Bakken Shale Resources
Exploration and field development in the largest continuous oil play in the lower 48 states, located in North Dakota and eastern Montana, will be guided by new geo-models developed with funding from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE).

February 2, 2012
Follow the Progress of DOE's Alaska Gas Hydrate Field Test
FE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory and its project partners are testing innovative technologies for producing methane gas from hydrate deposits on the Alaska North Slope.

January 17, 2012
Utility to Purchase Electricity from Innovative DOE-Supported Clean Coal Project
An innovative clean coal technology project in Texas will supply electricity to the largest municipally owned utility in the United States under a recently signed Power Purchase Agreement, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced today.

January 4, 2012
DOE-Sponsored Online Mapping Portal Helps Oil and Gas Producers Comply with New Mexico Compliance Rules
An online mapping portal to help oil and natural gas operators comply with a revised New Mexico waste pit rule has been developed by a team of New Mexico Tech researchers.