MIT, Total Collaborate on Energy Research

19 December 2008

The MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) and Total, a France-based multinational oil and gas company, have announced a new energy research collaboration that will support MIT’s Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change to further understand and mitigate global climate change.

As a MITEI Sustaining Member, Total will also support several research projects in subsurface imaging to reduce exploration and production costs and reduce environmental surface and sub-surface impacts for oil and gas development. This portfolio of technologies has direct application to heavy oil production, an important oil resource especially in the Western Hemisphere where reserves in Canada and Venezuela alone are roughly double those of Saudi Arabia’s conventional oil reserves.

Subsurface imaging technologies also have broad application beyond oil and gas and could enhance geothermal energy production, carbon sequestration, and, potentially, nuclear waste disposal. Sponsoring of research projects in the field of renewable energies is also under consideration.

As a MITEI Sustaining Member, Total will have a seat on the MITEI governing board. The board provides key input on the direction and success of the Initiative’s research portfolio.