Office: Resource Sustainability
FOA number: DE-FOA-0003017
Download the full funding opportunity: FedConnect
Funding Amount: $30 million
Background Information
On May 16, 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) announced four research and development projects selected to receive nearly $32 million to advance technologies that will help reduce natural gas flaring at oil production sites, a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, by transforming gas into valuable products that would otherwise be wasted by those operations. These projects support President Biden’s U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan, which launched a whole-of-government initiative to redouble efforts to significantly reduce methane emissions while protecting workers and communities, growing jobs, and promoting U.S. technology innovation. Aligned with this action is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new rule tackling wasteful methane emissions and the Administration’s pledge that the United States will work with global partners to reduce the world’s methane emissions 30% from 2020 levels by 2030.
The United States relies heavily on domestic natural gas for residential, commercial, and industrial energy use. Yet each year billions of cubic feet of natural gas are wasted through routine flaring, which is the process of burning unused natural gas at the production well using a dedicated flare to ignite the methane and other components in the gas. Methane emissions are caused by incomplete burning of natural gas in flares, which are particularly prevalent in U.S. onshore oil production on private lands, where producers have often been allowed to flare the associated gas produced with oil in the absence of adequate available natural gas transportation via local pipeline.
Selectees
The selected projects will focus on pilot-scale field deployment and validation of efficient, cost-effective solutions that aim to eliminate routine flaring of natural gas at the well site and will be ready for pre-commercialization in real world applications.
Selectees include:
- M2X Energy Inc.
- Pioneer Energy
- Prabhu Energy Labs
- University of North Dakota, Energy & Environmental Research Center
A detailed list of the selected projects can be found here.
Additional Information
- Download the full funding opportunity on FedConnect.
- All applicants must register and apply on Grants.gov and submit questions through FedConnect
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Last Updated: May 20, 2024