After consiserding a wide range of possible research areas and business challenges for the Center for Interactive Smart Oil Technologies (CiSoft), ChevronTexaco and the USC Viterbi School have decided to focus on seven. 

 

They are:

 

•  Integrated Asset Management

• Well Productivity Improvement

• Robotics and Artificial Intelligence

• Embedded and Networked Systems

• Reservoir Management

• Data Management Tools

•  Immersive Visualization . 

  

"It was a two-sided effort," said Mike Hauser, CiSoft’s co-executive director and the i-field ("integrated field") Program Manager for CiSoft sponsor ChevronTexaco. "From the CVX [Chevron Texaco] side, the question was 'what are our needs?'  From the USC side, it was 'what is our expertise?'"

 

Hauser, spoke at a conference expected to be the first of an annual series, in which 19 Viterbi School faculty now involved with CiSoft projects met with engineers and technologists from ChevronTexaco and other corporate sponsors.

 

CiSoft was established in December 2003 and work on projects started six months ago following an intense period of what Hauser called "organized brainstorming."  He and the other co-executive director, Iraj Ershaghi, professor of petroleum engineering at the Viterbi School, led the joint effort to define the research agenda.

 

There are currently two to four Viterbi School faculty for every representative of

ChevronTexaco or another sponsor working on each of the research projects.  Other sponsors include Schlumberger, SAIC, and Microsoft. 

 

In addition to Ershaghi, USC Viterbi researchers Joseph Bannister of

the Information Sciences Institute Networks Division and Ulrich Neumann of the

Integrated Media Systems Center sit on the six-member decision review board

overseeing CiSoft projects. The other members are Alan G. Nunn Global

Technology and Strategy, General Manager at ChevronTexaco, and  Warner M .

Williams of the ChevronTexaco's San Joaquin Valley Business Unit.

 

 Hauser said that some of the problems chosen were those where it seemed reasonable to expect usable results within a one to two-year time frame.

 

"This means, yes, we do expect to have this technology in use by 2006, either in pilot or full-scale application. Other projects will target opportunities  three- to five-year  out,” he said.

 

Participants from all seven research areas presented reports for discussion during the two-day event, which also included a keynote speech: "Technology Unlocking New Barrels" by ChevronTexaco Vice President Melody Meyer.

 

Ershaghi said that the research effort was taking place in tandem with the development of an educational curriculum to teach the emerging techniques to engineers.  Four new graduate courses on smart oil production, PTE 586, 587,588, and 589, are now in the curriculum.

 

Hauser was enthusiastic about his experience so far working with the USC Viterbi School.  "It's been a refreshing change from our short-term production world to be able to interact in a venue where we can think more innovatively. USC has so far more than met our expectations.