Energy R and D Planning in the U. S. Department of the Interior from the Arab Oil Embargo to the Creation of ERDA
Authors: Timenes Nicolai 
Published: December 2007

American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc.

This paper was prepared for the 45th Annual California Regional Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, to be held in Ventura, Calif., April 2–4, 1975. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made.

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In May, 1973, an Office of Research and Development was created in the Department of the Interior to plan, coordinate, and monitor energy research programs within the Department. The Office was responsible for R and D budgets which had tripled to a half billion dollars annually by the time of the creation of the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) in January, 1975. This paper describes that evolution.

Introduction

Events since the Arab oil embargo have heightened the Nation's awareness of its tenuous control over the security of the energy supplies which are so vital to its economy and way of life. The underlying trends, however, had been developing over a period of years, as a result of administrative, legislative, and regulatory decisions on a variety of matters and of depletion of traditional domestic resources. It is the national recognition of the importance of the factors which has changed.

The post-embargo Project Independence Report, taking into account the new energy economics, still projects massive increases in demand, even with heavy conservation measures and a major shift to electricity. Demands on the liquid and gas sectors in all scenarios, combined with the expected marked decline in production from traditional oil and gas sources, suggest that heavy reliance must be placed on synthetics from coal and shale if dependence on imported hydrocarbons is to be kept at a level which does not imperil our economic security. Preembargo analyses reached similar, though Preembargo analyses reached similar, though perhaps less drastic, conclusions. perhaps less drastic, conclusions. Thus, synthetics from coal and oil shale will be extremely important towards the end of the century. It is clear that technologies not now commercially available must be developed if the Nation is to meet the challenge of providing secure supplies of clean fuels at costs which will not excessively impede economic growth. These fuels must be available in forms required by the consuming sectors, and must be developed and used in a manner consistent with a high quality of life and the environment. Such contributions will not be available without significant research now.

This notion has by now become a national consensus — even the conventional wisdom. It was not always thus. Many pre-embargo analyses, notably that of a cabinet-level task force on oil imports, reached more optimistic appraisals of the Nation's energy future. Absent a consensus, fossil energy research continued at a low level long after conversion technologies had become of more than academic interest.