Texas Tech Petroleum Engineering Receives Gift to Fund Pressure Volume Temperature Laboratory
January 16, 2014
Laboratory in new building will be named for donor, Pioneer Natural Resources.
Texas Tech University today (Jan. 16) announced a $900,000 gift from Pioneer Natural Resources that will name the Pioneer Natural Resources Pressure Volume Temperature (PVT) Laboratory in the new Petroleum Engineering Research Building and provide research funds to benefit the petroleum industry.
“Pioneer Natural Resources is a great corporate partner, and Texas Tech is thankful for its generous contribution,” said Chancellor Kent Hance. “This gift will help provide state-of-the-art facilities and equipment for our students and faculty to learn, research and enhance industry operations.”
The Pioneer PVT Laboratory will provide cutting-edge facilities for students and faculty to review the properties of fluids that are found in petroleum reservoirs, such as black oil, volatile oil, natural gas and water. This laboratory will have the latest equipment and tools to provide a complete analysis of any oil or hydrocarbon sample, a critical aspect of the study of oil and gas reservoirs. Clear PVT data gathered in the field helps with the management of the reservoir, leading to maximum recovery of the resources.
“Pioneer Natural Resources is proud to partner with Texas Tech University in providing first rate facilities for petroleum engineering students,” said Denny Bullard, vice president operations services, Pioneer Natural Resources. “Well educated engineers ready to make an immediate contribution are an important part of our business. We are pleased to do our part in providing those engineers with a quality education.”
The Bob L. Herd Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas Tech is one of the largest petroleum departments in the world and is staffed with industry-experienced faculty. The curriculum of the department is focused on production, operations and completion. This educational niche is critical, as Tech Tech is a major supplier of petroleum engineers to the Permian Basin and the energy industry worldwide.
The new Petroleum Engineering Research Building is a $22.8 million facility with approximately 42,000 square feet of modern classroom and research space. The primary goal of the construction of the new building is to provide a facility that will integrate formal teaching environments with hands-on practical applications using cutting-edge research facilities and techniques. It will set the national benchmark for petroleum educational facilities.
“The science of petroleum engineering requires a thorough understanding of the complexities of the physics and the chemistry of down hole operations,” said Al Sacco Jr., dean of the Whitacre College of Engineering. “The Pioneer PVT laboratory will provide our students with the opportunity to learn – by hands-on experimentation – the complexity of typical petroleum operations.”
Pioneer Natural Resources is a large independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company with headquarters in Dallas. Pioneer is one of the most active operators/drillers in the Spraberry/Wolfcamp oil field in West Texas and in the South Texas Eagle Ford Shale play. It also has operations in the Barnett Shale Combo play, Texas Panhandle, Kansas and Colorado. Pioneer’s advanced technology, strategic practices and integrated services model make it an industry leader in developing new resource plays.
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CONTACT: Jeff Sammons, director of marketing, Whitacre College of Engineering, Texas Tech University, (806) 742-3451, or jeff.sammons@ttu.edu.
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