For Projects to Improve Efficiency of Oil and Gas DrillingWhile Reducing Environmental Impact
Bay City, TX – May 18, 2009 – Gulf Coast Green Energy (GCGE), which offers Earth-friendly solutions for affordable clean energy through ElectraTherm Waste Heat Generators, has been selected by the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA) for funding of two projects that help reduce the environmental impact of oil and gas drilling.
Under the first project, titled “Electrical Power Generation from Produced Water: Field Demonstration of Ways to Reduce Operating Costs of Small Producers,” GCGE will conduct a three-year demonstration project that generates electricity by capturing the heat from water used in oil drilling, reducing the amount of energy needed without burning additional fossil fuels. In the process, GCGE will provide a prime example of how small oil drilling operations can cut costs and carbon dioxide emissions while increasing access to previously hard-to-produce oil resources, “This technology will not only reduce emissions by producing ‘green’ electricity on-site that can be used in drilling operations but also reduce costs to small oil producers, making them more competitive in the marketplace,” GCGE President/CEO Loy Sneary said. “It will successfully demonstrate how to generate emission-free electricity from the hot water produced by gas wells that is typically a waste byproduct of natural gas production”.
RPSEA, as well as GCGE and Denbury Resources, will fund the project as part of the 2008 Small Producer Program, which focuses on the challenges faced by small oil and gas producers. Technical support and evaluation will be provided by the SMU Geothermal Lab, and Texas A&M University and its Global Petroleum Research Institute. GCGE also is a participant in a project led by the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) that seeks to reduce the environmental footprint associated with operations for all natural gas drilling while providing greater access to energy resources.
The Environmentally Friendly Drilling Systems (EFDS) Program is one of nine projects selected out of 69 for funding by RPSEA’s 2008 Unconventional Resources Program, which supports projects that help meet U.S. energy demands, create jobs and lower costs to the consumers “The EFDS is part of an effort to identify, develop and demonstrate cost-effective technologies that reduce environmental threats and could allow operations in environmentally sensitive areas that are currently off limits should these areas be opened for development,” Sneary said.
Project participants will introduce new low-impact technologies, such as lightweight drilling rigs with reduced emissions, which the industry can use to increase production in sensitive areas while at the same time safeguarding the environment. GCGE will supply equipment to generate power from the waste heat from the drilling rigs Internal Combustion engines. In addition to RPSEA funding, financial support has been obtained from the following: BP America, Devon Energy, Gulf Coast Green Energy, MI Swaco LLC, Newpark Mats, Huisman Equipment, and KatchKan LTD.
The EFDS project’s public participants include Texas A&M University and its Global Petroleum Research Institute; Sam Houston State University; University of Arkansas; University of Colorado; Utah State University; University of Wyoming, West Virginia University; Argonne National Laboratory; Los Alamos National Laboratory; Terra Platforms, L.L.C; the Environmentally Friendly Drilling Joint Industry Partnership; The Nature Conservancy; the Natural Resources Defense Council and the New York State Energy Research Development Authority.
Under a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy, RPSEA serves as administrator of the Small Producer and Unconventional Resources programs, which are authorized under the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
About Gulf Coast Green Energy
Gulf Coast Green Energy (GCGE) is committed to its customers, by adding to their bottom lines and providing the means for economical electrical generation. It also is committed to providing equipment that is environmentally sound and takes great pride in providing an electrical generating technology that is part of the solution to the global environment by providing cost-efficient electricity that is emissions free. The company was the first to embrace the visionary technology offered by ElectraTherm, Inc. by becoming the distributor of ElectraTherm’s Waste Heat Generator technology in Texas and other states.
