Abstract 557 Surdam Knowledge Transfer to Stimulate Exploration for Wyoming Natural Gas The program is designed to be the first stage in a major long- term effort to forge mutually beneficial linkages between the University of Wyoming and Industry, an effort given high priority by the State of Wyoming. The program is focused on knowledge transfer in the natural gas industry in Wyoming as representing the best available opportunity to model University-Industry interaction. Wyoming's immense natural gas resource occurs in accumulations unconventional in form, emplacement, and history. Exploration techniques designed to locate conventional stratigraphic and structural traps are blind to these unconventional, subtle traps. Personnel at the Institute for Energy Research (IER) are developing techniques to identify, delineate, and predict the productivity of hydrocarbons in subtle traps, and these techniques have been applied successfully in several hydrocarbon- producing areas, resulting in significant reduced risk and increased profitability for industry. These areas have extensive databases to work with and company research staff with whom to interact. The petroleum industry in Wyoming is sparse and dispersed, and is composed generally of small operators without research staff. It is vital at this time that the IER communicate the knowledge necessary for finding and developing natural gas accumulations in subtle traps in Wyoming basins. This will require that a means of crating linkages and transferring knowledge be developed that takes into account the particular conditions of exploration and production in Wyoming: the industry is dispersed; and knowledge transfer must be careful and direct, truly understandable and applicable in the field, and truly interactive so that optimum research benefits are derived. An interactive program of knowledge transfer is proposed, in which the IER strategy will be demonstrated in developing the Jonah gas field and a series of workshops will be implemented through collaboration between the IER, the Wyoming Geological Association, and McMurry Oil Company. Research at the IER is ongoing; and the accelerated development of Wyoming's natural gas resource brought about by the knowledge transfer made possible by this initiative will increase the capacity of the IER to guide its research on the basis of feedback from Industry and to compete successfully for federal R&D funding. At the same time, this program will be the model for establishing and nurturing University-Industry linkages that will be extended to other industries in Wyoming as the importance of these linkages is recognized and actively supported.
