A training program conducted in Bartlesville by BDM-Oklahoma technical staff, which included geologists, geophysicists, exploration and drilling specialists, and environmental policy experts. The proposed training schedule offered four courses per year and included those coursed identified by the tribes in the survey. The training program was outlined for members of Native American Tribes whose lands have oil and gas resources. The proposed program contributed to meeting the goals of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Domestic Oil and Gas Initiative to help Native American tribes become more self-sufficient in developing and managing their resources through training in cost-effective, improved technologies for hydrocarbon production that will meet environmental regulations. The training program outlined was for adult tribal representatives who are responsible for managing tribal mineral holdings or setting policy, or who work in the oil and gas industry. The course content is in response to a survey that was developed by BDM-Oklahoma and sent in the Spring of 1995 to 26 tribal agencies identified through previous contact with DOE. Tribes were asked to indicate course content needs, levels, preferred time of year, and location. Six tribes responded with specific recommendations and needs. These tribes, were the Creek, Pueblo, Cherokee, St. Regis …

Infill drilling of wells on a uniform spacing, without regard to reservoir performance and characterization, does not optimize reservoir development because it fails to account for the complex nature of reservoir heterogeneities present in many low permeability reservoirs, and carbonate reservoirs in particular. New and emerging technologies, such as geostatistical modeling, rigorous decline curve analysis, reservoir rock typing, and special core analysis can be used to develop a 3-D simulation model for prediction of infill locations. Other technologies, such as inter-well injection tracers and magnetic flow conditioners, can also aid in the efficient evaluation and operation of both injection and producing wells. The purpose of this project was to demonstrate useful and cost effective methods of exploitation of the shallow shelf carbonate reservoirs of the Permian Basin located in West Texas.

The rates of heat generation of DWPF glass canisters due to radioactive decay have been estimated for the remaining nine macro-batches of sludge feed. The estimated decay heat ranged from 177.5 Watts for each Macro-batch 1B canister to 498.4 Watts for each Macro-batch 8 canister. These projections are based on the HLW radionuclide inventory data available as of 4/1/98, and do not reflect further decay since then. It was assumed that each DWPF glass canister would also contain a nominal quantity of salt waste based on the reference coupled feed flowsheet. Issue of this report successfully closes a recent technical assistance request (HLW/DWPF-TAR-990003).

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on whether controls are in place to ensure that block grant programs' objectives are being achieved and that funds are being managed appropriately, focusing on whether: (1) the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) on-site monitoring of grantees under the Grants Management System is adequate; and (2) the Integrated Disbursement and Information System provides the data HUD needs to accurately assess grantees' performance."

As part of the demonstration testing of the Purge Water Management System (PWMS) technology at the Savannah River Site (SRS), four wells were equipped with PWMS units in 1997 and a series of sampling events were conducted at each during 1997-1998. Three of the wells were located in A/M Area while the fourth was located at the Old Radioactive Waste Burial Ground in the General Separations Area.The PWMS is a ''closed-loop'', non-contact, system used to collect and return purge water to the originating aquifer after a sampling event without having significantly altered the water quality. One of the primary concerns as to its applicability at SRS, and elsewhere, is whether the PWMS might resample groundwater that is returned to the aquifer during the previous sampling event. The purpose of the present investigation was to compare groundwater chemical analysis data collected at the four test wells using the PWMS vs. historical data collected using the standard monitoring program methodology to determine if the PWMS provides representative monitoring samples.The analysis of the groundwater chemical concentrations indicates that the PWMS sampling methodology acquired representative groundwater samples at monitoring wells ABP-1A, ABP-4, ARP-3 and BGO-33C. Representative groundwater samples are achieved if the PWMS does …

To determine current acquisition procedures and costs and to further the goals of the President's Initiative for Native Tribes, a seismic-survey project is to be conducted on Osage tribal lands. The goals of the program are to demonstrate the capabilities, costs, and effectiveness of 3-D seismic work in a small-operator setting and to determine the economics of such a survey. For these purposes, typical small-scale independent-operator practices are being followed and a shallow target chose in an area with a high concentration of independent operators. The results will be analyzed in detail to determine if there are improvements and/or innovations which can be easily introduced in field-acquisition procedures, in processing, or in data manipulation and interpretation to further reduce operating costs and to make the system still more active to the small-scale operator.

Waste handling and disposal from hydrocarbon exploration, drilling, and production are regulated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through federal and state regulations and/or through implementation of federal regulations. Some wastes generated in these operations are exempt under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) but are not exempt under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), and other federal environmental laws. Exempt wastes remain exempt only if they are not mixed with hazardous wastes or hazardous substances. Once mixture occurs, the waste must be disposed as a hazardous material in an approved hazardous waste disposal facility. Before the Clean Air Act as amended in 1990, air emissions from production, storage, steam generation, and compression facilities associated with hydrocarbon exploration, drilling, and production industry were not regulated. A critical proposed regulatory change which will significantly effect Class II injection wells for disposal of produced brine and injection for enhanced oil recovery is imminent. Federal regulations affecting hydrocarbon exploration, drilling and production, proposed EPA regulatory changes, and a recent significant US Court of Appeals decision are covered in this report. It appears that this industry will, in the future, fall under more …

Microsoft EXCEL and Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheets have been programmed to perform calculations as reservoir data is entered. These program were developed by BDM-Oklahoma, Inc. personnel for use in the Field Laboratory in the Osage Reservation project. This spreadsheet will also assist Native American Tribe members in evaluation of the petroleum resource on the Osage Mineral Estate, Osage County, Oklahoma and independent operators to evaluate petroleum reservoirs on and off of the Osage Mineral Estate.

Procedures and protocols were developed for the determination of the status of oil, gas, and other mineral operations on the Osage Mineral Reservation Estate. The strategy for surveying Osage County, Oklahoma, was developed and then tested in the field. Two Osage Tribal Council members and two Native American college students (who are members of the Osage Tribe) were trained in the field as a test of the procedures and protocols developed in Task 1. Active and inactive surface mining operations, industrial sites, and hydrocarbon-producing fields were located on maps of the county, which was divided into four more or less equal areas for future investigation. Field testing of the procedures, protocols, and training was successful. No significant damage was found at petroleum production operations in a relatively new production operation and in a mature waterflood operation.

There has been a substantial decline in both exploratory drilling and seismic field crew activity in the United States over the last 10 years, due primarily to the declining price of oil. To reverse this trend and to preserve the entrepreneurial independent operator, the U.S. DOE is attempting to encourage hydrocarbon exploration activities in some of the under exploited regions of the United States. This goal is being accomplished by conducting broad regional reviews of potentially prospective areas within the lower 48 states. Data are being collected on selected areas, and studies are being done on a regional scale generally unavailable to the smaller independent. The results of this work will be made available to the public to encourage the undertaking of operations in areas which have been overlooked until this project. Fifteen criteria have been developed for the selection of study areas. Eight regions have been identified where regional geologic analysis will be performed. This report discusses preliminary findings concerning the geology, early tectonic history, structure and potential unconventional source rocks for the Black Mesa basin and South Central states region, the two highest priority study areas.

Research in the SBIR Phase 2 grant number 95 ER 81944 centered on creating interactive multimedia software for teaching basic concepts in particle physics on fundamental particles and forces. The work was undertaken from February 1997 through July 1998. Overall the project has produced some very encouraging results in terms of product development, interest from the general public and interest from potential Phase 3 funders. Although the original Phase 3 publisher, McGraw Hill Home Interactive, was dissolved by its parent company, and other changes in the CD-ROM industry forced them to change their focus from CD-ROM to the Internet, there has been substantial interest from software publishers and online content providers in the content developed in the course of the Phase 2 research. Results are summarized.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has instituted a basin-analysis study program to encourage drilling in underexplored and unexplored areas and increase discovery rates for hydrocarbons by independent oil companies within the continental United States. The work is being performed at the DOE's National Institute for Petroleum and Energy Research (NIPER) in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, by the Exploration and Drilling Group within BDM-Oklahoma (BDM), the manager of the facility for DOE. Several low-activity areas in the Mid-Continent, west, and southwest were considered for the initial study area (Reeves and Carroll 1994a). The Black Mesa region in northwestern Arizona is shown on the U.S. Geological Survey 1995 oil and gas map of the United States as an undrilled area, adapted from Takahashi and Gautier 1995. This basin was selected by DOE s the site for the initial NIPER-BDM survey to develop prospects within the Lower-48 states (Reeves and Carroll 1994b).

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on managed care plans' decisions to leave the Medicare program or to reduce the geographic areas that they serve, focusing on: (1) plans that receive capitated payments; (2) the patterns of plan and beneficiary participation in managed care; (3) factors associated with plans' decisions to enter or leave the Medicare Choice program; and (4) changes in plans' benefit packages and premiums."

The Osage Mineral Reservation Estate is located in Osage County, Oklahoma. Minerals on the Estate are owned by members of the Osage Tribe who are shareholders in the Estate. The Estate is administered by the Osage Agency, Branch of Minerals, operated by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Oil, natural gas, casinghead gas, and other minerals (sand, gravel, limestone, and dolomite) are exploited by lessors. Operators may obtain from the Branch of Minerals and the Osage Mineral Estate Tribal Council leases to explore and exploit oil, gas, oil and gas, and other minerals on the Estate. Operators pay a royalty on all minerals exploited and sold from the Estate. A mineral Resource Information system was developed for this project to evaluate the remaining hydrocarbon resources located on the Estate. Databases on Microsoft Excel spreadsheets of operators, leases, and production were designed for use in conjunction with an evaluation spreadsheet for estimating the remaining hydrocarbons on the Estate.

Thirty-three Native American tribal members, council members, and other interested parties gathered in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, to attend the Native American Conference on Petroleum Energy on October 16 and 17 1996, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and BDM-Oklahoma, Inc. Tribes represented at the workshop included the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Hopi, Jicarilla Apache, Osage, Seminole, and Ute. Representatives of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the Minerals Management Service (MMS) also attended. BDM-Oklahoma developed and organized the Native American Conference on Petroleum Energy to help meet the goals of the U.S. Department of Energy's Domestic Gas and Oil Initiative to help Native American Tribes become more self-sufficient in developing and managing petroleum resources.

A training program is outlined for members of Native American tribes having an interest in working in the oil and gas industry. Also, the program will assist tribes whose lands have oil and gas resources to become more familiar with the industry and technology necessary to develop their resources. The proposed program will contribute to meeting the goals of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Domestic Oil and Gas Initiative to help Native American tribes become more self-sufficient in developing and managing their resources through training in cost-effective, improved technologies for hydrocarbon production that will meet environmental regulations. The training program outlined is for adult tribal representatives who are responsible for managing tribal mineral holdings or setting policy, or who work in the oil and gas industry. The course content is in response to a survey that was developed by BDM-Oklahoma and sent in the spring of 1995 to 26 tribes or tribal agencies which were identified through previous contact with DOE. Tribes were asked to indicate course content needs, levels, preferred time of year, and location. Six tribes responded with specific recommendations and needs. These tribes include the Osage, Creek, Pueblo, Cherokee, St. Regis Mohawk, Northern Arapaho, and Ute …

This report outlines a comprehensive training program for members of Native American tribes whose lands have oil and gas resources. The program has two components: short courses and internships. Programs are proposed for: (1) adult tribes representatives who are responsible for managing tribal mineral holdings, setting policy, or who work in the oil and gas industry; (2) graduate and undergraduate college students who are tribal members and are studying in the appropriate fields; and (3) high school and middle school teachers, science teachers. Materials and program models already have been developed for some components of the projects. The plan is a coordinated, comprehensive effort to use existing resources to accomplish its goals. Partnerships will be established with the tribes, the BIA, tribal organizations, other government agencies, and the private sector to implement the program.

Recently, a new constraint on the structure of a wide class of strongly coupled field theories has been proposed. It takes the form of an inequality limiting the number of degrees of freedom in the infrared description of a theory to be no larger than the number of underlying, ultraviolet degrees of freedom. Here we apply this inequality to chiral gauge theories. For some models we find that it is always satisfied, while for others we find that the assumption of the validity of the inequality implies a strong additional restriction on the spectrum of massless composite particles.

This report describes a plan for Native American tribes to assume responsibility for and operation of tribal mineral resources using the Osage Tribe as an example. Under this plan, the tribal council select and employ a qualified Director to assume responsibility for management of their mineral reservations. The procurement process should begin with an application for contracting to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Under this plan, the Director will develop strategies to increase income by money management and increasing exploitation of natural gas, oil, and other minerals.

Petroleum is currently produced on Native American Tribal Lands and has been produced on some of these lands for approximately 100 years. As these properties are abandoned at a production level that is considered the economic limit by the operator, Native American Tribes are considering this an opportunity to assume operator status to keep the properties producing. In addition to operating properties as they are abandoned, Native American Tribes also are assuming liabilities of the former operator(s) and ownership of equipment left upon abandonment. Often, operators are assumed by Native American Tribes without consideration of the liabilities left by the former operators. The purpose of this report is to provide protocols for the appraisal of petroleum producing properties and analysis of the petroleum resource to be produced after assuming operations. The appraisal protocols provide a spreadsheet for analysis of the producing property and a checklist of items to bring along before entering the property for onsite appraisal of the property. The report will provide examples of some environmental flags that may indicate potential liabilities remaining on the property left unaddressed by previous operators. It provides a starting point for appraisal and analysis of a property with a basis to make …

The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 established the executive budget process, which requires the President to prepare and submit a comprehensive federal budget to Congress each year for the fiscal year that begins on October 1. The President sets out his national priorities and proposes policy initiatives in the federal budget submitted to Congress soon after Congress convenes in January. The President's budget submission provides him the opportunity to influence the agenda for the upcoming budget and policy debate in Congress.

Twenty-seven Native American tribal members, council members, and other interested parties gathered in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to attend the Native American Workshop on Petroleum Energy on August 11 and 12, 1997, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and presented by BDM-Oklahoma, Inc, staff. Tribes represented at the workshop included the Jicarilla Apache, Pueblo of Acoma and Ute. Representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and Minerals Management Service (MMS) also attended. BDM-Oklahoma developed and organized the Native American Workshop on Petroleum Energy to help meet the goals of the U.S. Department of Energy's Domestic Gas and Oil Initiative to help Native American tribes become more self-sufficient in developing and managing petroleum resources.

Annual report of the Texas Racing Commission describing goals, activities, and accomplishments during fiscal year 1998

The AdS/CFT correspondence suggests that the Wilson loop of the large N gauge theory with N = 4 supersymmetry in 4 dimensions is described by a minimal surface in AdS{sub 5} x S{sup 5}. The authors examine various aspects of this proposal, comparing gauge theory expectations with computations of minimal surfaces. There is a distinguished class of loops, which the authors call BPS loops, whose expectation values are free from ultra-violet divergence. They formulate the loop equation for such loops. To the extent that they have checked, the minimal surface in AdS{sub 5} x S{sup 5} gives a solution of the equation. The authors also discuss the zig-zag symmetry of the loop operator. In the N = 4 gauge theory, they expect the zig-zag symmetry to hold when the loop does not couple the scalar fields in the supermultiplet. They will show how this is realized for the minimal surface.