The Department of Justice has given its stamp of approval for five oil companies along with the Universtiy of Texas at Austin to develop nanotechnology that would explore oil and gas reserves.
According to a press release from the DOJ, the subsurface nanosensors would crawl into oil and gas well bores, where they would explore every nook and cranny of the hydrocarbon reservoirs. The goal is more efficient exploration -- an expensive endeavor that only big oil companies can now afford.
The companies participating in the venture, called the Advanced Energy Consortium, are BP America, ConocoPhillips Company, Marathon Oil Company, Occidental Oil & Gas Corporation, Shell International E & P, Schlumberger Technology Corporation and Halliburton Energy Services. The university will own all inventions that come out of the project. The companies will get "royalty-free, nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide perpetual license to use the invention for noncommercial internal purposes," but they won't license out, produce, market or distribute anything.
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