Remembering The Good Doctor

“Always Do Your Best and Do Not Ever Quit” – Judson S. Swearingen, PhD

As a volunteer mentor, I am continually reminded of being grateful to specific mentors and coaches who graciously provided me with a once in a lifetime chance and opportunity, and they did not ever turn their head and looked the other way.  Judson S. Swearingen, PhD (in Memoriam) or better known as the “Doctor” was truly the Good Doctor and I will always cherish his memory. 

Source: https://www.nae.edu/28480.aspx

Globally, the Doctor’s remarkable achievements are widely known whether it is in academia at the University of Texas, Austin, service to the U.S. Government/public sector, commercial industry, numerous recognitions and awards of distinction from various heads-of-state, leaders, policymakers, industry, and academia.  Moreover, both the Doctor along with Mrs. Luta K. Swearingen were always dedicated to continual charity and social service – especially in assisting and supporting minorities. 

The Doctor was widely recognized as a renowned theoretician at the highest level, extensively involved in advanced research, development, and demonstration (RD&D), a remarkable inventor with numerous worldwide/U.S. patents, a successful business manager, and a highly motivated entrepreneur who made significant contributions to ultra-low temperature cryogenics, the technology, design, and manufacturing of radial-axis turboexpanders, centrifugal compressors, and state-of-the-art high-pressure shaft seals for high-speed turbomachinery.  In addition, the Doctor’s advanced turbomachinery was / is / will always be an integral part of highly complex process systems in numerous industries, supply/value chains, and market segments such as cryogenic air separation, atmospheric gases, cryogenic fluids (e.g., hydrogen, helium, and oxygen, etc.), liquefied natural gas (LNG), gas processing, refining, petrochemicals, geothermal energy, and so many other industries.  Additionally, Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook (A McGraw Hill Publication), lists the Doctor as a key contributor to the section related to “Process Machinery Drives”.  Perry’s Chemical Engineers' Handbook, often referred to as simply "Perry's," is a comprehensive reference book for all chemical engineers.  It is a worldwide established standard resource for wide range of students (from undergraduate, graduate, to doctorate degrees), faculty, and industry professionals, providing a vast amount of data, information, and guidance across various aspects of chemical engineering. 

It was truly the experience of a lifetime for me to just be in the Doctor’s daily presence, to interact with him, and constantly absorb the immense knowledge, experience, maturity, and wisdom – as well as witness his inherent altruism.  Some key highlights are provided:

§  Sitting and listening to the Doctor’s memories and recollection of Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, Edward Teller, Carl Von Linde, Pyotr Kapitsa – and so many countless others.

§  Listening to the lessons the Doctor learned while he grew up on a Texas farm where he got up at 5 am in the morning to milk the cows, feed the hens and other farm animals, and do household chores, and then get ready to go to a full-day at school, studies, and homework – lessons of self-reliance, resiliency, no short cuts to hard work, and so on.  The Doctor had a very large wall poster at the manufacturing facility – “Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first and the lesson afterwards."

§  During lunchtime at the manufacturing facility, I often had the privilege to sit with the Doctor, as he took blank sheets of paper and pencils as he simply explained the fundamental underlying principles of the Joule-Thomson effect, the Ideal Gas Law, gas dynamics at the atomic and molecular level, behavior of non-Newtonian fluids. approaches and methodologies to realistically reach the “proximity” of zero degrees Kelvin (0^oK), isentropic expansion, aerodynamics, centrifugal and centripetal forces in a radial-axis turboexpander impeller, lateral torsional analysis, analysis of dynamic forces for radial bearings and thrust bearings, oil-film stiffness and damping coefficients, vibration analysis and monitoring, and surge phenomena in a centrifugal compressor due to aerodynamic instability characterized by flow reversal and oscillations – the list of technical insights goes on and on.

§  Sitting with Mrs. Swearingen (with a Juris Doctor (JD) degree from Pepperdine University, Malibu, California) as she taught me; how to support the Doctor’s legal team in negotiating international contracts, assessing and mitigating counter-party risks and downside risks, sacrosanctity of contracts, back-to-back security and counter guarantee mechanisms, reviewing commercial terms and conditions of sale, opening an irrevocable letter of credit with international commercial banks, basics of bank guarantees, reviewing key clauses related to performance guarantees, warranties, liquidated damages, consequential damages, and force majeure, etc. etc. – the list of commercial insights goes on and on.

§  Providing me the opportunity to drive the Doctor’s and Mrs. Swearingen’s black (and later silver) Cadillac to literally go, help, support, and assist the minority community of Los Angeles with food, clothing, and essentials to make their life better.  In addition, attending charity events at the Swearingen’s home in Malibu, California to greet and meet a “list of Who’s Who” dignitaries and donors in raising much needed funding to help support survivors and victims of various major natural disasters in the Caribbean and Latin America region.  Also, empowering me to drive the Swearingen’s Cadillac and chauffer the then visiting Consulate General of India for the entire duration of his trip to Los Angeles.  Also, hosting a wide range of visiting international dignitaries, ambassadors, and customers on visits to Disneyland, Universal Studios, Hollywood, and other sight-seeing and tourist venues.

Lastly, even after my departure from employment, both the Doctor and Mrs. Swearingen were ever so gracious that they also met my entire family including my grandfather (a former student of Lord Ernest Rutherford in London, U.K.) who was visiting from India and spent total quality time out of their very hectic schedule and routine. Each and every ounce of the Doctor’s (and Mrs. Swearingen’s) priceless knowledge, experience, maturity, wisdom, helped, supported, and assisted me as I transitioned to other career pathways in due course – to this very day.  It is sometimes hard to express in words what the heart can only express – heartfelt gratitude to the Good Doctor.

Reference Links:

§  https://prabook.com/web/judson_sterling.swearingen/168081

§  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judson_S._Swearingen

§  https://patents.justia.com/inventor/judson-s-swearingen

§  https://www.rotoflow.com/about-us

§  https://www.nae.edu/28480.aspx

The purpose of any and all mentoring, focusing on holistic wellness, health, sports, fitness, nutrition, yoga, ayurveda and related is to promote healthy lifestyles and balance between Spirit-Mind-Body.  This includes any and all associated proven processes, methods, techniques, therapies which may also include educational purposes with the goal of creating awareness and disseminating information.  All information on the Blog in no way precludes the mandatory need for seeking definitive prior advice, diagnosis and/or treatment from a qualified medical physician and/or specialist related to Spirit-Mind-Body fitness and/or training program(s).  Prior to starting any Spirit-Mind-Body fitness and/or training program(s), it is mandatory to get a thorough examination by a qualified medical physician and/or specialist.  In addition, a medical physician and/or specialist’s approval must be obtained prior to undertaking any Spirit-Mind-Body fitness and/or training program and as well as continual examination(s) by a medical physician and/or specialist during the entire duration and course of undertaking any Spirit-Mind-Body fitness and/or training program(s).

Happy New Year 2025!

Wishing a very Happy New Year 2025!

Looking forward!

A Key Role for Sustainability

The global economy is undergoing different possible and potential scenarios with respect to monetary policy, currencies, fiscal/trade/investment/financial/regulatory framework as well as subsequent resulting impact on macroeconomics and microeconomics. In this context, it is important to better understand and appreciate a key role for Sustainability.

In conventional or traditional commercial market dynamics and segmentation, typical components for various sectors, industries, products, and services includes, but not limited to, Supply, Demand, Unmet Gap (demand minus supply), Elasticity (in demand and income levels), Infrastructure (existing and planned), Influencing Factors (political, bureaucratic, and legislative), Competition (existing and emerging), and Alternative Market Scenarios (mercantile system vs. structured project finance).

As global convergence has been underway since the early 1990s between various developed and emerging economies, there has been considerable emphasis by various stakeholders (Governments, Corporates, Academia, Non-Profits, and Individuals) on the important relevance and roles for Sustainability, Innovation, Social Responsibility and Empowerment.

An essential ingredient and definitive driver which requires increased focus is Sustainability. For the last 2-3 decades, there have been multiple definitions which include; “Energy-Economy-Environment (E³)” and “People-Profits-Planet (P³)”. In due course of time, there may be many more.

During the next 2-3+ decades, for various stakeholders, Sustainability will also play a critical role in determining the interrelationship between Purchasing Power vs. Standard of Living. Inherently, the “Capacity-Ability-Affordability-Willingness-To Pay” of different wholesale and retail customers/consumers (B2B/B2C) as well as Direct-To-Customer (D2C) may be further impacted.

In addition, current global Supply-Demand chain(s) for various products and/or services may also be further impacted due to the key role played by Sustainability along with Innovation, Social Responsibility, and Empowerment.

 Accordingly, it will be important to monitor and further evaluate any potential transformative shifts and/or changes in conventional and traditional commercial market dynamics, segmentation and lifestyle demographics.

Factors Influencing U.S. Shale Gas

The U.S. shale gas industry has made significant progress over the last decade. Major shale gas resources have been coming into commercial production as a result of various exploration & production (E&P) companies leveraging innovative directional drilling technologies as well as utilization of hydraulic fracturing to unlock trapped gas reserves.

Major producing regions include Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and North Dakota. Additional resource potential exists in California and Colorado as well as other states.

Source: www.thebreakthrough.org

At any particular shale gas development project site, the primary shale gas resource annual average throughput production is subject to the number of vertical wells and corresponding multiple horizontal wells drilled at each specific wellhead location.

Overall production output from each vertical well is directly dependent upon each corresponding horizontal well(s) production output in terms of estimated ultimate recovery (EUR), initial gas production rates and actual decline rates over the economic life cycle of each particular well. In order to maintain sustainable shale gas production profile on a continual basis, periodic hydraulic fracturing may be required for steady-state volumetric throughput regeneration while unlocking trapped gas reserves from various geologic formations.

The wellhead gas composition consists of various fractions, mainly methane or "natural gas" as well as smaller percentages of ethane, propane, and traces of other of heavier alkanes such as butane and pentane. Typically, separation of methane from the heavier alkanes is achieved through the use of pre-engineered and packaged cryogenic expansion turbine equipment systems. The heavier components from the "cryo-plant" are stored on-site and subsequently exported as by-product natural gas liquids (NGLs) via truck, rail or pipeline depending on the specific location and accessibility to commercial petrochemical markets.

The entire shale gas value chain consists of production-transmission and distribution. The above-ground infrastructure covers gas gathering and processing facilities and pipelines systems interconnecting various production wellheads.

The produced gas must be further separated, dehydrated, treated, processed, compressed, and metered prior to being sent-out through a intra-state and interstate pipeline transmission system to either wholesale and/or retail consumers. Along the value chain of production-transmission-distribution, significant capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operating expenditure (OPEX) is required covering various capital equipment, products and services as well as equity / debt financing and working capital requirements.

The multitude of market influencing factors impacting U.S. shale gas include, but not limited to, technical feasibility, federal / state regulatory policy and framework, permits & clearances, environmental advocacy, demand elasticity (subject to wellhead / burner-tip price, commodity indexation, and consumer credit-worthiness), competing alternate fuels (coal, crude oil, nuclear, imported LNG, hydroelectric, and alternative / renewable energy), capital formation, structured project financing and associated technical-commercial risks.

In coming years, it will be important to closely monitor and evaluate the various factors influencing the outlook for the U.S. shale gas industry. In addition, it remains to be seen whether the bipartisan "Natural Gas Act" or "NATGAS Act", pending legislation in the U.S. Congress for several years, will ever be formally enacted. There are also some natural gas industry proponents actively promoting the conversion of the existing LNG import terminals into possible export LNG terminals for sale of U.S. shale gas production to overseas customers.

References:
1. http://www.eia.gov/energy_in_brief/article/about_shale_gas.cfm
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shale_gas_in_the_United_States
3. http://www.api.org/policy-and-issues/policy-items/exploration/facts_about_shale_gas
4. http://www.pwc.com/us/en/industrial-products/publications/shale-gas.jhtml

Development of Major Capital Projects

The main objective of the Development phase is facilitating investment decisions for major capital projects. The Development phase is critical for major capital projects as it serves as the final gate for obtaining any corporate management’s Approval For Expenditure (AFE) or otherwise via “Go”/”No-Go” Decision.

The Development phase or “pre-FEED” (Front-End-Engineering-Design) covers specific activities such as strategy, evaluation, planning and definition from “Concept-To-Operations” with emphasis on capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operating expenditure (OPEX) with prime goal to improve asset performance, increase value, reducing costs and lowering risks.

This methodology and approach, covering entire life cycle and value chain, is applicable to multiple sectors including, but not limited to, natural resources (conventional, alternate, renewable energy, mining & metals etc.) and infrastructure sectors.

Most of these major capital projects typically undergo structured project finance (non-recourse, limited recourse, total recourse) and the important pre-Financing phase specifically covers; Feasibility, Permits & Clearances and Contracts. Project developers undertake a considerable number of studies, reports and analysis during the Feasibility phase covering technical, economic, financial, commercial, regulatory, environmental and social aspects. These activities, in turn, have a direct impact on securing Permits & Clearances as well as various transactional Contracts which are “sacro-sanct” with “back-to-back” arrangements.

In summary, the Development phase is vital to enhancing “bankability” of major capital projects while ensuring syndication of equity and debt leading to successful Financial Closure.

Natural Resources Asset Monetization & Commoditization

Though the global natural resources sector is highly sophisticated, integrated and complex, key drivers still continue to prevail based on various intrinsic commercial market fundamentals, business fundamentals and business-revenue models. Asset monetization and commoditization of the traditional and conventional natural resources value chain is based on, including but not limited to, exploration, development, production, generation, processing, refining, transmission, and distribution to wholesale and retail consumers. This broadly covers; conventional energy (hydrocarbons, nuclear, large hydro etc.), renewable energy (solar, wind, biomass, etc.), mining & metals (precious metals, base metals, rare earths), water, and related areas.

In the current macroeconomic scenario of massive public and private sector debts and deficits, structured project finance based on non-recourse, limited recourse and total recourse financing coupled with “bankable” contracts and agreements play a vital role in natural resources asset monetization and commoditization. In recent years, various sources of global capital have focused on specifically targeted investments in natural resources assets wherein timely monetization and commoditization delivers definitive higher current income, yielding higher profitability margins, positive net cashflow, and long-term capital appreciation.

In the last two (2) decades, various viable and sustainable investment and business structures have been effectively deployed along the entire natural resources asset value chain. Special purpose investment vehicles and business models include, but not limited to, Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs), proven “tolling” structures, Strategic Alliances/Partnerships (SAPs), Special Joint Ventures (S-JVs), and Acquisition & Divestiture (A&D) strategies.

It is very important to understand and appreciate that “bankability” of secured investment is subject to “credit-worthiness” of all parties in ensuring actual return of capital to investors along the entire natural resources asset value chain. Contractual control with securitization of all Assets Under Management (AUM) via non-recourse, limited recourse and total recourse financing is mandatory for proper asset monetization. In addition, non-recourse financing coupled with commodity risk mitigation, guarantees (“take or pay”, “take and pay” etc.) as well as basket of hedging mechanisms are critical for proper asset commoditization.

There are a multitude of success stories which have slowly restored investor’s confidence in the last decade since the demise of Enron. It is important for continual commitment in always adhering to fundamentals and hopefully the current macroeconomic scenario will be overcome in due course of time.

Fundamentals Always Prevail for Developing Natural Resources Assets

The global natural resources sector and industry is a very complex, highly integrated and sophisticated industry. Whether it is hydrocarbons, mining & metals, rare earths, renewable sources of energy (solar, wind, biomass etc.), water, or other sources, commercial market fundamentals, business fundamentals, and business-revenue models prevail. Major natural resources projects and assets, largely infrastructure based, are highly capital intensive. In many cases, these projects and/or assets have an economic and operating life of multiple decades and must undergo various critical phases as follows:

Project Development (from 12 up to 36 months)

·         Conceptual Engineering

·         Project Feasibility

·         Permits & Clearances

·         Transactional Contracts

·         Financing & Financial Closure

Project Execution (from 12 up to 36 months)

·         Engineering-Procurement-Construction

·         Start-up & Commissioning

·         Commercial Operations

Project Operations (from 10 up to 30 years)

·         Operations & Asset Management

·         Maintenance/Retrofits/Revamps

·         Renovation & Modernization

Based on above, major natural resources projects and/or assets also have an intricate interrelationship between Techno-Economic-Financial viability as well as transactional contracts coupled with Assets Under Management (AUM), operations and maintenance which form the critical basis of an asset’s long-term sustainability.

Major natural resources projects and/or assets also cover a very broad “end-to-end asset value chain” starting with the resource to supplying wholesale and retail end-consumers which includes, but not limited to, Exploration-Production-Processing-Transmission-Distribution.

All such projects and/or assets follow some very basic and key commercial market fundamentals which must be adhered to in order to assure and enhance their inherent viability and sustainability. Typically, project developers, asset owners, investors and lenders undertake a very detailed commercial market assessment during the early stages of the project development phase to ensure “bankability” thereby providing high comfort levels to both equity investors as well as lenders. Primary emphasis is on; higher current income, higher EBITDA and net profit margins, long-term capital appreciation, pre-defined returns on investment as well as a firm exit plan.

Along these lines, conventional structured project finance coupled transactional framework based on “sacro-sanct” and “back-to-back” arrangements are critical to ensuring “bankability” via non-recourse, limited recourse, and possibly total recourse financing. End-of-the-day, the saying “if a project cannot be financed; forget it” still holds true.

Broadly, the major elements of a typical commercial market assessment cover; Supply Scenario, Demand Scenario; Unmet Gap; Influencing Factors; Alternative Scenarios; Infrastructure Aspects, Cost of Production and Techno-Economic-Financial Viability.

The required commercial market assessment must be based on quantitative analysis and sound modeling which is undertaken with various key assumptions, influencing factors and indices as well as graphical representation resulting in determination of combinations and permutations of optimistic, most likely, and worst case scenarios. The results of a high quality commercial market assessment serve as a basis and critical input into a major natural resources project’s Techno-Economic-Financial analysis to satisfactorily demonstrate various investment objectives, project viability and likeliness of the project to succeed.

In summary, any successful major natural resources project and/or asset is critically based on a high quality market assessment which is inherently based on quantitative analysis and modeling of key market fundamentals which serve as a critical input to determining a mining and metals project’s viability, sustainability and “bankability”.

Strategy for India’s Optimal Energy Mix

Since the onset of economic liberalization in the early 1990’s coupled with fundamental electricity regulatory reforms in the late 1990’s, India has emerged as one of the most promising and dynamic economic powers next only to China. Today, India’s policymakers have been and continue to target economic growth in excess of 7-8% GDP annually. Based on India’s Integrated Energy Policy, considering energy security and independence, this can translate to increase in primary energy supply of 3-4 times and electric power demand of 5-6 times current estimates.

The country’s real GDP has grown by over 6.5% in the last five years, however, electricity generation has grown only 3.8%, resulting in large-scale power shortages for wholesale, retail, rural and remote consumers.

Source: Govt. of India, Ministry of Power

Increased energy demand is synonymous with economic growth. More energy demand typically translates to more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but converts into increased economic prosperity in terms of manufacturing, services, and employment.

There is a global consensus on India’s promising economic future and this in turn is critically linked to its energy sector. Today, India is the 5th largest energy consumer and its demand is growing. In order to meet its growing power deficit, it is estimated that additional power generation capacity of over 150,000+ MW must be added in the next five years. India’s optimal energy mix to meet future growth is critically dependent on commercial market fundamentals; supply-demand, unmet gap, price, elasticity, as well as other key macro and micro economics factors. A commercial market driven optimal energy mix coupled with comprehensive and integrated policy consists of addressing key fundamentals. In addition, there must be a fair and balanced approach in addressing “all of the above” forms of energy (conventional / alternate / renewable). Assessment of market and business fundamentals ensures there is a level playing field in order to arrive at an optimal energy mix as shown in the below diagram(s).

Source: Pat V. Sonti, Mentor & Author

Monetizing “Waste-To-Watts”

Many power plants and industrial processes generate large amounts of waste energy that simply passes out of plant stacks and into the atmosphere or are otherwise lost. Most industrial waste energy streams are liquid, gaseous, or a combination of the two as well as pressure drops. Stack exhaust losses are inherent in all fossil fuel-fired processes and increase with the exhaust temperature and the amount of excess air the exhaust contains can control emissions. It is likely to be the single biggest loss in the process and can approach at least half of the total fuel input to the process. Yet, the energy that is recovered from waste streams could displace part or all of the energy input needs for a unit operation within a plant. A wide variety of advanced market ready Combined Heat and Power (CHP) technologies and systems generate electricity and meet thermal energy needs (direct heat, hot water, steam, process heating and/or cooling) simultaneously, at the point of use. By contrast, conventional generation of electric power discards much of the heat generated during energy production, and conventional thermal energy generation often misses the opportunity to generate power.

Waste Energy Recovery offers a great and underutilized opportunity to productively use this energy, reducing overall plant energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This is the “waste-to-watts” business opportunity. The production of efficient electric power, steam and cooling from low, medium and high temperature heat generated from the combustion of fossil fuels as well as heat from renewable energy sources such as solar and geothermal hear, or waste heat sources. Waste heat sources can be in the form of exhaust stack flue gases or waste heat from vented steam or steam discharged from steam turbines as well as hot water, hot oil or combined waste hear source. With Waste Energy Recovery, this “recycled energy” works to lower energy costs, and generate additional electricity, provide pre-heat, heating, or even air-conditioning. Fortunately, both profits and environmental quality can be improved by more carefully using energy. Energy has always been a significant component of industrial operations, but only rarely has efficient energy use been a priority when factories were being expanded. In today's business climate of higher energy prices and associated costs, maximizing energy use and minimizing pollution are more important than ever. A more focused approach to energy usage not only adds profits to the bottom line, but it also draws positive attention to the environmentally friendly policies of today's best businesses.

Discharging any heated fluid (air, water, etc.) into the environment is like floating dollars up your smoke stack or out your waste water pipe. Hot waste streams have been paid for with money that could have been profit. Most industrial processes currently in use were built during times when efficient energy use was not a priority. Today, it is a different scenario. The production of electric power from waste heat and renewable energy sources is a very viable opportunity to increase efficiency, provide energy security and reduce emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels. In reality, today’s fossil fuel plants are highly inefficient, and over 1000 coal-fired plants need to be retired or retrofitted due to their emissions footprint as a U.S. and global climate change regime comes into being. The name of the new energy game is efficiency. By recovering waste heat, which is essentially “found” energy, a power station or industrial facility not only reduces its emissions but also produces power without consuming any additional fuel. Additionally, the power plant or industrial facility does not consume any additional water resources. Waste Energy Recovery can increase overall plant efficiency and simultaneously reducing nearly all pollutants from the flue gas without the need to install multiple pollution reduction systems.

Key driver for energy industry is to focus on capturing these thermal inefficiencies and turning the waste energy into multiple revenue streams through its “waste-to-watts” business strategy.

Merits of Carbon Capture and EOR

Energy pricing continues to be a volatile variable in the global economy. Oil & natural gas businesses and enterprises face increasing pressure to reduce production costs while meeting rising production targets, all in the face of an uncertain market. Rising commodity prices and increased cost of doing business are also prevalent and hence the need to maximize available resources. There is a shortage of expert personnel, materials and equipment and challenges due to environmental challenges along with complexity of operational processes and the need for updating the oil & natural gas industry to latest regulations. At the same time, organizations must comply with the highest safety, environmental and health standards. There is a major inability to make critical and timely decisions due to lack of a centralized system that holds vital asset and operational data. There is lack of common information format throughout the life cycle of both existing and greenfield oil & natural gas assets covering development-execution-operations value chain.

Typically, exploration and production (E&P) for both onshore and offshore hydrocarbons yields water, crude oil and natural gas. Current E&P utilizes three recovery methods; 1) Primary recovery via natural methods such as reservoir pressure, artificial lift such as pumps, etc. yielding an additional 10% of original oil-in-place; 2) Secondary recovery occurs via re-injection of produced water and natural gas yielding an additional 20-40% of original oil-in-place and; 3) Tertiary recovery consisting of state-of-the-art Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) methods such as thermal/steam, microbes, chemicals, CO₂ and nitrogen, is now recognized as a potential way of improving production and dealing with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions yielding an additional 30-60% of original oil-in-place. It has been noted by the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) that many tertiary EOR methods are subject to prevailing capital costs (CAPEX), operating costs (OPEX), as well as effective recovery yields of original oil-in-place. The capture of CO₂ from combustion in power generation and other industrial uses, supplied via CO₂ gas gathering pipeline infrastructure, is the subject of other research and development programs sponsored thus far by USDOE. As early as 2005, the USDOE acknowledged and judged that next generation CO₂-EOR technologies to be a “game-changer” in oil and natural gas production, one capable of doubling recovery efficiency. And geologic sequestration of industrial CO₂ in declining crude oil and natural gas fields was endorsed back in 2005 as a potential method of reducing greenhouse base emissions by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Current U.S. crude oil reserves are about 21 billion barrels. Based on USDOE Office of Fossil Energy;

“The presence of an oil bearing transition zone beneath the traditionally defined base (oil-water contact) of an oil reservoir is well established. What is now clear, and as recently documented in a series of DOE Office of Fossil Energy reports, is that, under certain geologic and hydrodynamic conditions, an additional residual oil zone (ROZ) exists below this transition zone, and this resource could add another 100 billion barrels of oil resource in place in the United States, and an estimated 20 billion barrels could be recoverable with state-of-the-art CO₂-EOR technologies. Large volumes of technically recoverable domestic oil resources remain undeveloped and are yet to be discovered in the United States, and this potential associated with CO₂-EOR represents just a portion, albeit large, of this potential. Undeveloped domestic oil resources still in the ground (in-place) total 1,124 billion barrels. Of this large in-place resource, 430 billon barrels is estimated to be technically recoverable. This resource includes undiscovered oil, "stranded" light oil amenable to CO₂ enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technologies, unconventional oil (deep heavy oil and tar sands) and new petroleum concepts (residual oil in reservoir transition zones).”

In this era of increased environmental restrictions, there is likely much greater efficiency and expediency in achieving meaningful increased oil & natural gas production utilizing EOR in existing fields than through what has become the regulatory nightmare of new E&P field development. Key driver to move forward for U.S. policymakers and stakeholders is to focus and place greater emphasis on energy independence, energy security, economic stability and jobs creation rather than pure politics. It is time for all sides to accept and jointly promote execution of multiple industry-wide projects for reducing energy prices via carbon capture and EOR.