AUSTIN, TexasBP, a global oil and gas production and refining company, has given its drilling core research facility in Houston and a valuable collection of earth core samples from oil and gas wells valued at $7.5 million to the Bureau of Economic Geology at The University of Texas at Austin. The gift includes $2.4 million for operating expenses for the research facility.
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The BP research facility donated to The University of Texas at Austin is located in west Houston. |
“The impact of BP’s gift goes far beyond its dollar value,” said Larry R. Faulkner, president of The University of Texas at Austin. “This extraordinary core sample collection, together with our existing holdings, is certain to make The University of Texas at Austin the premier archivist of subsurface rock material in the United States. We offer our deepest thanks to BP for its tremendous generosity.”
The gift includes more than 12 acres of land, 108,000 square feet of warehouse and office space, machinery, equipment, furnishings, more than 200,000 boxes of core samples and 200,000 boxes of rock cuttings. The core data alone represent more than one million feet of continuous rock.
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Example from the valuable earth core sample collection included in the gift to the Bureau of Economic Geology. |
The core samples are cylindrical in shape and range in size from four to six inches in diameter. The cuttings samples are ground up rock chips captured every 10 feet while a well is drilling. The core and cuttings samples, which are taken from as deep as 20,000 feet, are used by scientists to understand the geology at great depths and increase the potential for discovering oil and natural gas.
“This gift is the largest of its kind to date in the United States,” said Dr. Scott Tinker, director of the Bureau of Economic Geology. “BP’s generous donation to a public research university will not only advance the study of energy in Texas and the nation, but also will significantly impact basic university studies in areas such as climate change, hydrology, landscape evolution, paleobiology, engineering and geohazards, and environmental issues.”
Scientists and students who are conducting various forms of research will use the stored core and cuttings samples.
“These geological specimens were collected over many decades as BP and its predecessor companies conducted exploration activity in this region of the United States,” said a BP spokesman. “We are very happy to join with The University of Texas to share the knowledge contained in this collection with the next generation of earth scientists.”
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The 108,000 square-foot core sample warehouse at the BP facility has more than 200,000 boxes of core samples and 200,000 boxes of rock cuttings. |
The Houston Core Research Center, built in 1986 in west Houston, joins the bureau’s other core repositories in Midland and at the university’s J.J. Pickle Research Campus in Austin. The Austin and Midland facilities, which are near capacity, have combined holdings of more than 1.2 million boxes of cores and cuttings.
BP is an international company involved in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas; refining, marketing, supply and transportation of hydrocarbons; and manufacturing and marketing of petrochemicals, and solar and gas-fired power generation. The company recently was listed as the number four company on Fortune’s Global 500 list of the world’s largest companies. BP has nearly half of its assets, resources and people in the United States.
For more information contact: Scott Tinker, Bureau of Economic Geology, 512-471-0209; Jim Kunetka, Office of Resource Development, 512-475-9641; or Robert D. Meckel, Office of Public Affairs, 512-475-7847. For information from BP, contact Hugh Depland, 381-366-4092.
