The alliance will provide for the development of multiple research projects with an investment target by ChevronTexaco of up to AUD $5 million per annum. The alliance will be known as the Western Australian Alliance for Advanced Energy Solutions.

The strategic alliance is expected to benefit ChevronTexaco's Australian and worldwide operations and enhance Australian energy industry research and development capabilities, the partners said.

The agreement is to be signed later today by ChevronTexaco Australia managing director Jay Johnson and representatives of WAERA at a ceremony in Perth, Western Australia.

The alliance plans to coordinate research and development and leverage more effectively the capabilities of WAERA's three joint-venture research institutions: CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific Industry and Research Organisation, Australia's federal government research and development agency), the University of Western Australia and Curtin University of Technology.

Johnson said short- and long-term projects initially would focus on oil and gas exploration and development; hydrocarbon processing; industry-related health, safety and environmental issues; and education and training initiatives. Future research also could support the development of emerging technologies, such as those associated with the hydrogen economy.

"The new technologies and new applications of existing technologies that we hope to develop and deploy are expected to further improve our business in areas of particular relevance to our interests in Australia, such as deepwater seismic acquisition and interpretation; the drilling and production of high volume large bore wells; remote subsea production systems; and carbon dioxide capture and long-term containment," Johnson said.

Meanwhile in the US, ChevronTexaco has formed another research alliance with Total SA and Schlumberger to research and develop thermal simulation technology for improving recovery efficiencies in heavy oil reservoirs.

The two-year collaborative project will use next-generation reservoir simulation technology currently being developed by ChevronTexaco and Schlumberger under their 'Intersect' research project.

“At the heart of this technology are a parallel architecture and simulation algorithms, built to capitalize on advances in software and hardware technologies, parallel computing, advanced gridding and modern software engineering techniques,” the partneers said in a statement.

“The results of the joint research and development will be commercialised by Schlumberger and subsequently made available to exploration and production operators as a part of its suite of simulation software products.”