SEG 2011: Statoil, UT formalize R&D partnership

Sept. 22, 2011
Timed to come during the Society of Exploration Geophysicists annual meeting, Statoil has signed to fund $1 million per year for five years in an energy partnership agreement with the University of Texas.

Offshore staff

AUSTIN, Texas – Timed to come during the Society of Exploration Geophysicists annual meeting, Statoil has signed to fund $1 million per year for five years in an energy partnership agreement with the University of Texas.

Geology and geophysics are at the core of the research projects to be targeted by the partnership.

In the largest such agreement outside of Norway, UT serves Statoil as its pilot university in the United States for such partnerships.

“We are very pleased to enter into this agreement with UT, a world-class academic institution, renowned for its leading research and education within several important areas for us,” says Bill Maloney, executive vice president for Statoil in North America.

“Statoil wants to further develop its position in the market for talented women and men to join us. We plan to significantly grow our activities in the United States and Canada. Universities and academic institutions in North America represent important arenas for Statoil in research and competence development, both on a regional and global level.”

“This agreement is vital for Statoil’s long-term ambitions in the US,” says Helge Haldorsen, vice president for strategy in Statoil North America. “We are in a growth mode, and this agreement will allow us to access world-class research and long-term recruitment opportunities. By extending and formalizing our collaboration with UT, we aim at stimulating research and competence development within strategic important areas both for UT and Statoil.”

Four strategic areas are identified in the new agreement:
 1. Integration of geological, geophysical, and petrophysical data in earth models
 2. Trap integrity in salt basins – Subsalt imaging and seal versus pore pressure challenges
 3. Drainage of deep marine reservoirs – Static and dynamic reservoir models and drainage methods
 4. Unconventionals – Improved development and drainage of shale plays.

09/22/2011