Microhole Technology

n estimated 407 billion barrels of A onshore discovered oil in the U.S. is non-recoverable with current drilling and production technolo- gies. Of that total, 218 billion bar- rels can be found at the relatively shallow depths of 5,000 feet or less. Even at today°Os high oil prices industry-sponsored research remains on the decline, and operators tend to use familiar technologies rather than risk failure with advanced technolo- gy. To bridge this technology gap, DOE partners with industry to develop and demonstrate new tech- nologies to access domestic petrole- um resources.