Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Kansas Geological Survey will soon begin testing new ways of getting oil of out of Kansas ground.
The KGS received a $248,000 contract from the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America last week.
Lynn Watney, senior scientific fellow with the KGS, said the goal of the new research and testing was to revitalize older, depleted oil sources in Kansas.
David Newell, assistant scientist with the KGS, said most oil wells in Kansas drilled straight down into the earth. The new procedure the KGS will test would involve a spider-like series of tubes extending from a single oil drill. The tubes would allow for more contact with the ground and more contact with potential oil.
Watney said research would be conducted primarily at the Hillsboro oil well in western Kansas. The well currently produces about 10 barrels of oil a day, far above the state average of three. He said he hoped to increase the number to 40 barrels per day with new pumps and tubing technologies.
“It isn’t bad right now — we’re just trying to make it a lot better,” Watney said.
Ben Ramaker, Allegan, Mich., graduate research assistant, has been involved with other oil energy research at the University in the past, and said he had high hopes for this research project.
“For every barrel of oil produced here it gives revenue generated from taxes to the state,” Ramaker said. “Local companies like trucking move the oil to pipelines, so they can also make money. It’s good for the state of Kansas.”
Newell said about 95 percent of the fluid drawn out of the ground was water, with a small amount of oil mixed in.
“These new pumps will pull a lot more fluid,” Watney said. “When you pull more fluid, you pull more oil. The efficiency is what we’re testing.”
Newell said the spider-like tubes would be several thousand feet under the ground, and he said there would be less of an environmental impact with the new pump and tubing system.
“Instead of drilling eight different wells, it’s just a single well with perhaps seven or eight laterals extending out from it,” Newell said. “There will be less of a footprint on the earth.”
Watney said the new pump design would stand only a couple of feet off the ground.
“It doesn’t leave a footprint — there’s no big hole, no pits,” Watney said. “It’s low-impact in terms of working the well over, and extending the reach of the well eliminates the need for another well. Your profile is lessened.”
Watney said there were a few hundred thousand oil wells like the well in Hillsboro that produced a marginal amount of oil, 10 barrels or less per day. Watney said about 18 percent of national oil production came from wells such as those.
“Potentially our technology could be extended to these other wells in addition,” Watney said. “The idea of going with domestic energy production could help us reach our goal of being energy independent and in this case helping rural Kansas economy.”
— — Edited by Chris Horn
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