PETROLERN LLC Receives $1.15 MM DOE Grant to Develop Advanced Technology for Characterization of Subsurface In-Situ Stresses Without Well Logs
Petrolern LLC has been awarded a $1.15 million grant from the United States Department of Energy (DOE) to further develop and commercialize its state-of-the-art artificial intelligence-based technology for estimation of earth stresses without requirement for costly well logging. Failure to construct reasonably accurate in-situ stress models costs the industry billions of dollars annually due to wellbores failure, poor performance of reservoirs, induced seismicity, cap-rock integrity issues, inability to monitor fluid movement as well as inappropriate well placement and completion design. A good understanding of the stress field can lead to substantial improvement in subsurface operations such as drilling, completions, fracturing, production, EOR and CO2 sequestration. However, the required wireline logs for stress estimations are very costly to acquire, typically only available in pay zones (not the overburden), and mostly not available in horizontal wells.
Developed by Petrolern’s domain experts and data scientists, this value-added technology addresses this grand challenge using readily available data and has the potential to save substantial amounts of cost and non-productive time (NPT) for different subsurface operations, while significantly improving safety and reducing environmental impacts. Although developed for carbon storage applications, this novel technology can add significant value to geothermal energy, and both conventional and unconventional oil and gas resources development.
Dr. Salah Faroughi, Petrolern’s R&D Director says, “This low-cost technology, born through advanced data intelligence bounded by physical principles, can drastically increase safety and project profitability and has already attracted the attention of several oil and gas operators. This technology along with other innovative solutions we are developing at Petrolern pave the way for delivering sustainable, affordable, and secure energy resources.”
Petrolern’s CEO, Dr. Hamed Soroush, says, “Successful storage of CO2 in geological formations rely on accurate knowledge of the subsurface state of stress and its evolution during and after injection to guarantee safe and permanent storage of CO2. Cost effective but accurate estimation of in-situ stresses independent from scarcely available logs is a true gamechanger for geomechanical modeling for not only carbon storage, but also oil and gas, and geothermal applications. This is the sixth such contract we have been awarded in the past three years from government and industry with the objective to make energy extraction as clean, safe and low-cost as possible. We continue to be at the forefront of clean energy technology development.”
PETROLERN LLC is a leading-edge service and technology company working on subsurface solutions for carbon storage, geothermal and oil and gas projects. Our green energy initiative begins with making the oil and gas industry greener by providing energy transition solutions. Petrolern’s mission is to apply 160 years of knowledge and learnings from the oil and gas industry to accelerate movement toward cleaner energy sources. For further information on our technology and partnership opportunities contact Dr. Alan Cohen at alan.cohen@petrolern.com.
