July 2002

On July 24, 2002, the Bureau hosted Dr. William F. Lawson and Roy C. Long of the National Petroleum Technology Office of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 07/25/02 left to right, are Eric Potter, Roy Long, Bill Lawson, and Scott Tinker.

Scientists Ulises Hernández Romano, Mario Aranda García, and Ramón Cardenas Hernández from PEMEX Exploration and Production in Poza Rica, Mexico, are visiting to work with Bureau researchers on the collaborative Laguna Madre-Tuxpan project. This research is defining the Neogene structural and stratigraphic framework from the present shoreline out to the 500-meter isobath, from near Veracruz northward to about 60 miles south of the Rio Grande. 07/25/02 left to right: Bureau scientist Khaled Fouad, PEMEX scientists Ulises Hernández Romano, Mario Aranda García, and Ramón Cardenas Hernández.

A BEG team of researchers, including Dr. Charlie Kerans, Jerry Bellian, and Ted Playton, just returned from the Sierra Diablo area of West Texas where they are at work mapping the three-dimensional architecture of carbonate-slope apron and basin-floor fan carbonate-reservoir analogs. This is one of the first projects where the BEG is employing the new laser mapping technologies for building 3-D reservoir models. Click here to see larger views of the pictures. 07/22/02

On July 8 and 9 a team of researchers met at the Bureau to design the first U.S. experiment aimed specifically at greenhouse gas reduction through CO2 injection. Researchers from Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, and Oak Ridge National Laboratories  have been using the GEOSEQ project numerical modeling capabilities to predict the behavior of a CO2-brine system in the subsurface. They met with Bureau researchers, injection well designers from Sandia Technologies, and an independent operator, Texas American Resources Company, who is developing a two-well experiment site in the Houston area. This CO2 sequestration experiment differs from injection of CO2 for enhanced oil recovery in that injection will occur in a non-hydrocarbon-bearing high-permeability sandstone. An unperturbed, physically and chemically simple system was chosen as the optimal site to allow for code validation. A full-scale geologic sequestration plan for greenhouse gas reduction would most likely use this type of reservoir for part of the system because of the large volume of material it can hold. 07/10/02

The Bureau welcomes new employee Tatiana Fomel to its growing list of staff. Tatiana, who holds a Master's degree in Library Science from Russia's St. Petersburg State Academy of Culture, will work with Amanda Masterson to help organize the Bureau's extensive collection of maps. 07/02/02