Pioneer Energy, a Lakewood provider of technologies aimed at decarbonizing the oil and gas industry, has been awarded a $10 million grant by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The funding is intended to stimulate the advancement of the Emission Control Treater (ECT), a technology developed by Pioneer to eliminate most methane emissions and routine flaring from oil and gas production sites.
The grant, provided by the DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), will be used to upscale the ECT from a pilot project to a commercial scale. The further developed technology will be tested in a six-month field trial with one or more oil producers.
Pioneer Energy has joined forces with Colorado School of Mines to independently assess and validate the effectiveness of the ECT. The evaluations will include comparisons with currently used technologies. Alongside this, Pioneer has also partnered with The Autism Community in Action (TACA) and Easterseals of Colorado. These collaborations aim to employ a neurologically diverse workforce of skilled technicians under the grant’s Community Benefits Plan, supporting the Justice40 Initiative.
“We are thrilled to receive the support of the Department of Energy to help us commercialize this new technology,” said Eyal Aronoff, CEO of Pioneer Energy. “We believe that our Emission Control Treater (ECT) can have a big impact on reducing oil field emissions and flaring. We are looking forward to working with the DOE as well as our partners to deploy this technology and continuing the move toward decarbonization of oil production.”
Aside from the ECT, Pioneer Energy also manufactures a zero-emission oil production system and field gas conditioning systems that reduce emissions and operational costs. The company’s objective is to eliminate oilfield emissions and convert them into resources which help to support domestic energy security.