Chevron Corp. and UT announced an alliance Monday to develop enhanced oil recovery techniques that could double the amount of oil extracted from fields more than 50 years old.

The contract was signed on June 21, with Chevron pledging to donate $5 million to the University over the next five years. The partnership is the first of its kind, due to its duration and the large amount of money and information that will be shared, said Gary Pope, a petroleum and geosystems engineering professor who researches enhanced oil recovery techniques. It will allow the University to expand its oil recovery research and help meet global energy needs, he said.

Enhanced oil recovery methods, Pope said, include anything beyond the primary or secondary techniques typically used to extract oil. These techniques are usually more complicated and expensive, but can yield up to two times as much oil as was originally extracted from the well.

The joint research will focus on developing surfactants, a specialized detergent, and polymers that can target trapped oil bypassed by conventional recovery techniques.

In addition to the funding, Chevron will share large amounts of data with UT researchers, giving them a chance to work with technologies that might otherwise be limited.

"Maybe most importantly, this is a tremendous advantage for our students," Pope said.

Hourshad Mohammadi, a petroleum engineering graduate student, said she is excited to hear about the partnership. She has been researching, in conjunction with Chevron, how to create simulations of chemicals flooding into oil reservoirs.

"Being involved with Chevron has been really beneficial," she said. "Chevron has helped me a lot. When you have the opportunity to apply your knowledge to real-world situations, it makes a lot more sense, and I can better understand everything that I am doing."

Jairam Kamath, team leader of well performance and recovery mechanisms at Chevron, helped conceptualize the partnership with UT's project leads more than a year ago.

"We have a unique opportunity to build on the rich relationship between the University of Texas at Austin and Chevron by providing long-term research and development funding, increasing the University's access to economically important challenges and expanding the nation's future work force," Kamath said.

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