NASA and Chevron Partner to Benefit the Energy Industry

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 PHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Priscilla Vega 818-354-1357
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Priscilla.r.vega@jpl.nasa.gov

Morgan Crinklaw 925-842-5649
Chevron Corporation, San Ramon, Calif.
mkwz@chevron.com

News release: 2011-226 July 25, 2011

NASA and Chevron Partner to Benefit the Energy Industry

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-226&cid=release_2011-226

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and Chevron
Corporation in San Ramon, Calif., have announced a partnership to develop a range of advanced
technologies that can be used in harsh environments, both on Earth and in space.

"We are proud that the same pool of talent that sends rovers to Mars, explores our universe and
studies Earth's environment will help contribute advanced technology towards our energy future
here on Earth," said JPL Director Charles Elachi.

Elachi and Paul Siegele, president of Chevron Energy Technology Company, met at JPL to kick
off a partnership for Advanced Energy Technology Development. Under this partnership, JPL
will assist in the demonstration, development and commercial deployment of a range of
technologies that benefit from JPL's unique heritage in space exploration. These technologies
include: valves to selectively control oil and gas flow from different geological formations in a
well; single-phase pumping motors for continuous operation at the bottom of deep wells; sensors
and electronics for downhole deployment; and integrated management systems for monitoring
temperature, pressure and flow rates in deep wells and assessing the health of drilling operations.

This new collaboration will benefit NASA by further advancing technologies that could one day
be used for exploring other planets, and will also promote commercialization of technologies
developed for space exploration. The partnership will help Chevron develop its energy resources
to enable a better energy future for all of us.

"NASA and JPL are highly acclaimed national treasures, and Chevron is proud to collaborate
with them to unlock new energy potential," said John McDonald, Chevron's corporate vice
president and chief technology officer. "This alliance is an opportunity to bridge public- and
private-sector technology and research to discover oil and natural gas volumes that are found in
deep remote reservoirs. In many ways, the research is akin to deep space exploration, making the
missions of our two organizations highly complementary."

As NASA's lead center for robotic exploration of the solar system, JPL has a wide-ranging
charter that also includes active programs in Earth science, astronomy and physics, and
technology development. The demands of space missions provide the impetus to JPL scientists
and engineers to push the boundaries of design and technology to achieve smaller size, better
performance, and less power consumption in a cost-constrained environment. Many technologies
developed at JPL, from hardware and software to materials, have direct applications right here on
Earth.

The National Space Technology Applications Office (NSTA) has been established to develop a
sustaining business base through expanded relations with non-NASA sponsors. NSTA develops
collaborations with elements of the four national space sectors: military, intelligence, civil and
commercial. Each of these sectors is responsible for specific development of partnerships that
expand and enhance the NASA/JPL-Caltech technology base. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

Chevron is one of the world's leading integrated energy companies, with subsidiaries that
conduct business worldwide. Chevron explores for, produces and transports crude oil and natural
gas; refines, markets and distributes transportation fuels and lubricants; manufactures and sells
petrochemical products; generates power and produces geothermal energy; provides energy
efficiency solutions; and develops the energy resources of the future, including biofuels.

The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and NASA's Office of the Chief
Technologist seek to transfer technology developed for space into the commercial marketplace,
yielding economic benefits and quality of life improvements for people here on Earth.

More information about NASA is online at http://www.nasa.gov. More information about
NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist is online at http://www.nasa.gov/oct .

More information about JPL's Technology Transfer office is available at:
http://www.ott.caltech.edu/ .

More information about Chevron is available at www.chevron.com .

-end-

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