Cong. Cuellar Announces New $100,000 Grant to TAMIU from Department of Energy
Congressman Henry Cuellar announced a $100,000 grant to Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) from the Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management through the Capacity Building for Repurposing Energy Assets initiative at a Monday morning press conference at TAMIU’s Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library Colonnade.
The grant is focused on repurposing oil and gas wells in the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale for geothermal and CO2 storage applications. While both have been major oil and gas-producing regions for several decades, production has continuously declined.
Congressman Cuellar said the project has potential to be a model for others confronting the same challenges of retired energy assets.
“This project stands to generate jobs in clean energy development, contribute to energy security, and help meet environmental goals while also strengthening Texas’s position as a leader in energy innovation,” said Dr. Cuellar, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, “The research conducted here could be a model for other regions in the country facing similar challenges with retired energy assets. I would like to thank TAMIU president Dr. Pablo Arenaz, provost and vice president Dr. Claudia San Miguel, Dr. Khaled Enab, principal Investigator and assistant professor of Petroleum Engineering in the School of Engineering, and Laredo Mayor Dr. Victor Trevino for their leadership in securing these federal dollars,” Congressman Cuellar said.
Dr. San Miguel concurred and said the grant’s capacity to catalyze energy transition provides promising research and study opportunities for TAMIU students.
“We greatly appreciate the guidance and partnership provided by Cong. Cuellar and his staff in successfully securing this grant, “Repurposing Oil and Gas Wells in Eagle Ford Shale and Permian Basin of Texas and Promotion of Workforce Development of South Texas.” As a researcher myself I have often said that the most important research is research that actually makes a difference. The grant directed by TAMIU’s Dr. Enab is visionary and will help create a future that benefits communities as economic engine for energy transition. I’m especially proud that the research and study opportunities it provides our students will continue to advance the dynamic growth of our Petroleum Engineering program and our School of Engineering,” Dr. San Miguel said.
Enab’s project team will include student researchers focused on collecting information from available public data records for local oil and gas wells in the Laredo area through collaboration with oil and gas operators. This data will be analyzed to categorize the wells according to their potential for either geothermal uses or CO2 storage purposes. The research team will develop a compositional reservoir model for strong candidate wells for each option to evaluate the capacity of geothermal energy based on modeling heat transfer phenomena and the CO2 capacity based on formation characteristics.
Finally, the research will include a techno-economical analysis to evaluate the feasibility of repurposing the selected wells for geothermal or CO2 sequestration for decarbonization. The techno-economical analysis will honor the 45Q tax credit for CO2 storage.
The Permian Basin is a large sedimentary basin in West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico. The Eagle Ford Shale is a hydrocarbon-producing geological formation that stretches over 26 Texas counties from Laredo and Eagle Pass through counties east of Temple and Waco.
For additional information, contact Dr. Enab at khaled.enab@tamiu.edu
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