US research labs collaborate to develop low-impact drilling

HARC will lead the alliance

Wendy Natt, Feb 19, 09.

The Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) and the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University are leading a collaborative research program to develop oil and gas drilling technologies with reduced environmental impacts. The program will allow several major research laboratories to share their findings on low-impact technologies, according to a recent story in the Houston Business Journal.

The collaboration, known as the University/National Laboratories Alliance, was established as part of the Environmentally Friendly Drilling Program and is intended to spur development of domestic oil and gas reserves in environmentally fragile or sensitive areas that are currently off limits to drilling and production.

In addition to HARC and Texas A&M, other founding members of the alliance include University of Wyoming, University of Colorado, Utah State University, Sam Houston State University, University of Arkansas, West Virginia University, Argonne National Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Rich Haut, a senior research scientist at HARC, is managing the alliance.

Environment News Service also wrote about the story.

Photo: Alaska National Wildlife Refuge
(Photo credit: madpai)