* Next Chevron Technology * Deep Seething Sea Unlocking oil that lies beneath menacing forces of nature * Contents Welcome * Departments Features ur industry and the world’s energy O consumers face unprecedented demands. Global energy consumption 2 Here and Now 0 Pioneers in Solar Technology 22 Chevron’s Computer Chief Says: continues to rise. International energy Chevron advancements improve efficiencies Chevron offers solar solutions to help Click Here for Energy companies have extremely limited access to and recovery rates. institutions meet their energy goals. In this Q&A, Chevron CIO Louie Ehrlich talks easily produced resources. Global markets about how information technology is integral and consumers are struggling to absorb 32 Next Generation 2 Fossils Fuel the Search to all aspects of the energy business. sustained higher energy prices, and societal Innovations in technology accelerate The remains of plants and animals that lived expectations for our industry are increasing the search for fuel from traditional and millions of years ago lead today’s explorers 24 Exploration’s Secret Weapon in number and complexity. And there is grow- nontraditional sources. to oil. With the company’s global database, Chevron ing momentum toward carbon management scientists are improving the odds in the in some form. Looking to the future, we can 6 Deep Seething Sea search for oil and gas. be certain of one thing: the world will need all Offshore operations withstand the unseen the energy that can be produced from every but treacherous forces that lie beneath the 26 In It for the Long Haul potential source. But producing that energy surface. A century-old oil field just keeps on producing. has never been more challenging. People everywhere depend on a vast 20 On the Road to Chuandongbei 30 Managing Technology global energy infrastructure that both Chevron’s prowess in handling sour gas for 21st-Century Energy Security interconnects and powers the world. results in a sweet partnership. Melody Meyer, president of Chevron Energy Resources and markets are separated by Technology Co., discusses the company’s great distances. Hydrocarbon molecules are integrated approach to managing technology. recovered from ever-more-difficult environ- ments—deeper, more remote and increasingly On the Cover complex fields and underground reservoirs Within this third issue of Next*, we offer explorationists are drilling, increasing our As the search for oil and gas expands into more challenging environments, Chevron must build with more challenging characteristics, such examples of the diverse solutions that will be success rate. facilities that withstand the forces of nature. Beneath the ocean’s surface, currents as powerful as hurricanes pound and batter pipelines and platform installations. But Chevron’s talented people can as extreme pressures, extreme temperatures critical to meeting the world’s future needs. In a century-old field in California’s face any challenge—whether it’s above or below the earth’s surface. and high concentrations of toxic gasses. This issue includes examples of Chevron’s Central Valley that has already produced Overcoming these challenges will depend innovative approach to technology applied 2 billion barrels of crude oil, three-dimensional on collaboration, innovative partnerships and around the world. From a challenging natural reservoir models and sophisticated heat man- technology breakthroughs. Though many gas field with high levels of toxic hydrogen agement tools are helping us recover the next Next* Tell Us What You Think— Each company affiliated with Articles in Next*TM are for consider Chevron to be an oil company, we sulfide in China’s Sichuan basin to the mas- billion barrels. Issue 3, September 2008 and Join Us! Chevron Corporation is a sepa- informational purposes only. We are pleased to mail this rate entity that manages and In publishing them, and in using think of ourselves as an energy company; sive, hurricane-strength underwater waves I hope you enjoy learning more about John McDonald publication free of charge to controls its own affairs. The use terms of convenience such as Chief Technology Officer our valued external stakehold- of such terms as “company,” “stakeholder(s),” “partner(s)” it may be more accurate to say we are a threatening oil production platforms in the all of the ways the people of Chevron are Chevron Corporation ers. To receive future issues, “Chevron,” “organization,” and “partnership,” Chevron simply fill in the postage-paid “it(s),” “our(s),” “their(s),” “we” does not bestow any legal right technology company that produces energy, Gulf of Mexico’s ultra-deep waters, Chevron developing and deploying technology to help IMAGES Lara Campbell Sweeney reply card in this issue. Also and “us” and of abbreviated upon or assume any legal duty Editor tell us what you think of Next*. job titles is only for conve- to any person, entity or group including oil, gas and renewables. We use solves problems across the energy spectrum. produce the world’s energy from an increas- Your views will help us shape nience and is not intended as beyond those already existing Eileen Ostrow Feldman this publication to meet our an accurate description of by operation of governing law a business-driven strategy to manage our In the ultra-deep waters that cover some ingly challenging slate of resources. Assistant Editor readers’ needs. For a download- individual status and corporate or regulation. Chevron speci- able version of Next* and more relationship. fically reserves its full legal technology portfolio and sourcing. This is a of the world’s most promising resource areas, Contributors information about Chevron rights, including the right to powerful competitive advantage for Chevron. a unique collaboration with earth scientists Sincerely, Nancy Boas technology, please visit Copyright © 2008 Chevron assert all appropriate legal NAGELMANN/GETTY Jim Hendon www.chevron.com/technology. Corporation. All rights reserved. defenses, and no articles should According to the International Energy is bringing greater accuracy to our industry- Karen Luethke Material in this issue may be be interpreted as a waiver, legal David Mays reprinted with permission. admission or acceptance of Agency, “There is no single technology leading exploration program. Paleontologists Melody Meyer Next* legal responsibility. ANTHONY Greg Vitiello Chevron Corporation solution that can lead to a sustainable and geologists are examining microfossils KARAGEORGE A-2 P.O. Box 6078 Design by DCP JIM energy future—all energy technologies must from well cuttings to paint a more accurate John W. McDonald, Chevron Corporation PHOTO: San Ramon, CA 94583-0778 contribute.” picture of the formations into which our Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Email: [email protected] PHOTO: COVER Next* | * Here and Now “Most of the constituents of many everyday substances, from gasoline to a Research Excellence plastic bottle, have seen the inside of a A university partnership nets results zeolite catalyst and experienced the effect of As John Dewey, an American philosopher and educator, once said, “Every great advance shape selectivity,” write Maesen and Smit in in science has been issued from a new audacity of imagination.” The business of science is the science journal Nature. “Yet despite the to resolve the great challenges of the future—such as supplying energy to meet the rapidly enormous economic importance of shape increasing demand, developing production technology for hard-to-reach locations and selectivity, we have only recently gained cultivating industry talent for the future. the insights needed to fully understand the Chevron has been building alliances with some of the finest institutions in the world to molecular mechanisms that give rise to it.” meet these challenges. One such alliance is with the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma. Here’s how zeolite catalysts work: Large Called the TU Center of Research Excellence (TUCoRE), this partnership is cultivating hydrocarbons adsorb onto the catalyst, talent by training scientists and engineers to tackle energy challenges. One specialty of bonding with certain sites. These sites add or the TUCoRE research program is dispersions. Common dispersions are mists, emulsions, subtract hydrogen. This causes large mol- foams, sands, and anything added to oil and gas streams that may hinder production. ecules to be susceptible to bond-breaking At TUCoRE, researchers use a customized dispersion characterization rig to study attacks by zeolites. The relationship between these production interferences. They have an engineering flow loop that enables them the fate of the large molecules under attack to study the separation of oil, gas, water and solids mixed together. The results of these and the details of the zeolite structure has studies benefit Chevron because dispersions interfere with production processes and long been shrouded in mystery. solids in pipelines sometimes hinder the flow of oil and gas. Maesen and Smit’s simulations effectively “This research has widespread application within the energy industry,” explains turn a zeolite’s three-dimensional structure Melody Meyer, president of Chevron Energy Technology Co. into a free-energy landscape. Much like pour- For example, in the design of pipelines coming from deep seabeds to shallower water, ing water on a landscape to see how the water modeling of sand transportation is an essential factor. At the Greater Gorgon Area off runs and pools, this thermodynamic