RMOTC Partnership Successfully Tests New, Less Expensive Drilling Technology
November 30 2006 - 4:44PM
PR Newswire (US)
CASPER, Wyo., Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The Rocky Mountain Oilfield
Testing Center (RMOTC) and its partner Blast Energy Services Inc.
(OTC Bulletin Boards: BESV) have successfully tested an innovative
new oil and gas drilling technology that when commercialized should
facilitate lower production costs and increased access to reserves.
"It's our mission to partner with industry to help bring new ideas
to the marketplace that can ensure clean, reliable and affordable
supplies of oil and natural gas for American consumers," said
Clarke Turner, RMOTC director. The new technology is expected to
provide oil and gas producers with an alternative to existing well
stimulation services at a lower cost, while having the ability to
access previously uneconomical reserves. Blast's prototype unit,
primarily a modified coil tubing unit with an abrasive mixing
module, combines water and fine abrasive sand and pumps this
mixture through a nozzle at up to 17,500 pounds per square inch. It
is designed to cut holes, slots and windows in existing well
casing. Down-hole video cameras, available at RMOTC, proved
especially useful in this project. The camera's primary use was to
verify the results of operations in the down-hole environment and
to diagnose any problems that may occur. In this case, the camera
verified that Blast's new technology was able to cut holes, slots
and windows in the well casing and confirmed further penetration
into the rock formations beyond the well casing. "The use of the
down-hole camera was an invaluable resource for this stage of our
development," said David Adams, Blast president and co-CEO. "We
were able to visually validate the technical success of the AFJ
technology and verified that the surface program was exactly
synchronized with the actual down-hole nozzle position." Blast
signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the
U.S. Department of Energy in October. This agreement provided for
Blast to test in up to five wells to evaluate its new technology.
The parties plan to continue this project at the RMOTC site in the
spring of 2007. "We are extremely pleased with the test of the
abrasive cutting tool and are looking forward to additional testing
at our facility next spring," said Matt Slezak, RMOTC project
manager. Blast achieved about 80 percent of the testing planned
before the winter weather caused them to suspend operations. RMOTC
is a Department of Energy field test site for emerging and
developing technologies to address critical energy industry issues.
The field test site is a 10,000-acre operating oil field offering a
full complement of associated facilities and equipment on site.
There are approximately 1,200 well bores and approximately 600
producing wells ranging in depth from 500 to 5,000 feet. Blast is a
Houston-based company whose mission is to substantially improve the
economics of existing oil and gas operations through the
application of worldwide licensed and proprietary technologies.
DATASOURCE: Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center; Blast Energy
Services Inc. CONTACT: Doug Tunison of Rocky Mountain Oilfield
Testing Center, +1-307-233-4836, or ; or John MacDonald of Blast
Energy Services Inc., +1-281-453-2888, or +1-713-725-9244, or Web
site: http://www.blastenergyservices.com/
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