UTPB receives $1M for training

The University of Texas of the Permian Basin’s geology department has received a total of about $1 million in grants, most of which came from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Recovery Act, according to a statement released this week by the university.
   For the most part, according to the release, the grants will go toward carbon-dioxide training as a element of efficient oilfield extraction techniques.
   Altogether, the grants comprise about one-eighth of UTPB’s external funding.
   In the statement, UTPB’s Center for Energy and Economic Diversification Director Bob Trentham said a shortage of young people with training in this area has led to an industry scramble to prepare a new generation of workers with the ability to utilize CO2 for tertiary oil extraction.
   “Already we’ve produced over 1 billion barrels in the Permian Basin with tertiary recovery, and we’re only getting started,” he said in the release. “Many of our fields are in line to become tertiary recovery projects, so our students will be learning the geology of tertiary recovery, the engineering of CO2 flooding, and land and legal issues involved. The grants make all of these opportunities available.”