Energy Resources Initiative
Who we are
Dan Soeder, Director
Daniel J. Soeder is the Energy Resources Initiative director at the South Dakota
School of Mines & Technology (SD Mines). He holds BS and MS degrees
in geology, and brings 25 years of experience to SD Mines as a former government
research scientist, hydrologist and geologist with the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Geological Survey, along with an additional decade of
experience at the Gas Technology Institute in Chicago, IL. His research
includes shale gas, tight oil, geothermal energy, water resources, groundwater
contamination, nuclear waste isolation, and the geological sequestration of
carbon dioxide.
Contact:
Dan.Soeder@sdsmt.edu;
Phone: 605-394-2802
Personal Website
Graduate Research Assistants
The ERI maintains
multiple opportunities for graduate students to participate on a variety of
relevant energy research projects. The
exact focus areas depend on current project support and funding, but studies are
typically in areas related to oil and gas, geothermal, and energy and the environment.
ERI graduate research assistantships
that pay a monthly stipend and offer tuition remission are awarded to a few
outstanding student applicants each year. Graduate students are expected to act as
mentors to undergraduates, assisting those with an interest in energy to carry
out laboratory studies, field work and other investigations for senior research
projects or related studies. ERI research typically focuses on North Dakota,
Wyoming and Colorado production areas, but it can be nationwide, and indeed,
worldwide.
Petroleum Systems Minor/Certificate
The petroleum
industry employs a variety of engineering and scientific disciplines in a wide
range of areas including exploration, production, transmission, refining,
product development, and environmental monitoring. This interdisciplinary minor is available to
any student on campus interested in expanding their portfolio of coursework to
include content relevant to the fossil energy sector. Science and engineering majors may pursue a
Minor in Petroleum Systems by completing eighteen (18) credit hours of courses.
A minimum of six credits must be for
courses outside of those that are required or elective in their major. Required courses include GEOE 412 Science and
Engineering Field Applications (Petroleum Field Camp), GEOE 461 Petroleum
Drilling and Production Engineering, and either CBE 218 Chemical Engineering
Fluid Mechanics or ME 331 Thermo Fluid Dynamics. Nine credits of elective courses can be selected
from CBE 217 Chemical Engineering Material Balances, CBE 222 Chemical
Engineering Process Thermodynamics, CBE 321 Chemical Engineering Equilibrium
Thermodynamics, CBE 417 Chemical Engineering Equilibrium Separations, CBE
444/544 Reactor Design, CBE/MET 445/545 Oxidation and Corrosion of Metals, CBE
482 Upstream Oil and Gas Processing, CBE 483 Petroleum Refining, CBE 485/585
Renewable and Sustainable Energy, CBE 485L/585L Renewable and Sustainable
Energy Lab, CEE 326 Environmental Engineering I, CEE 428 Oil and Gas
Development and the Environment, GEOE 324/324L Engineering Geophysics I Lab,
GEOL 476/576 Petroleum Geology, ME 269/269L Energy Systems Production
Development/Design, ME 402/502 Gas Dynamics, and ME 492 Topics (Sustainable
Energy section only). For more information
on the program, please contact Dr. Laurie Anderson, Department of Geology and
Geological Engineering, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, MI-303,
(605) 394-2461, E-mail: Laurie.Anderson@sdsmt.edu

Petroleum geology field camp visiting Teapot Dome, Wyoming
History and mission
The Energy Resources
Initiative (ERI) was created at SD Mines as a multidisciplinary effort to
advance knowledge and better serve the upstream, midstream, and downstream oil
and gas industry. SD Mines is centrally located in an energy-rich area of the
country within 300 miles of the highly oil and gas-productive Williston, Denver
and Powder River basins, and in recent years nearly 20 percent of SD Mines graduates
have pursued careers in the oil and gas industry.

Shale gas and tight oil plays in the western United States with
respect to the location of SD Mines in Rapid City, SD (base map from U.S.
Energy Information Administration)
The mission of the ERI is threefold: 1) to provide the oil and gas
industry with relevant scientific and engineering research to help address
resource assessments, materials engineering, recovery efficiency, and
environmental problems related to the development of oil and gas, 2) engage SD
Mines students in this research to provide exposure to fossil fuel and other
energy resources as a potential career field while gaining experience solving
practical problems of interest to potential future employers, and 3) expand SD
Mines energy research beyond the region into national and international
projects, and also into related areas, such as high and low temperature
geothermal energy, radioactive waste isolation, energy storage, carbon dioxide
sequestration, and environmental monitoring.
Research
In
2012, ERI began a study to assess the development of natural gas from the
Niobrara Formation on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. The study
engaged tribal students from Sinte Gleska University, undergraduate and
graduate students from SD Mines, and post-graduate interns from the U.S. Department
of Energy. The study concluded that
there is a reasonable prospect for natural gas development in this location,
with the benefits to the tribe to include tribal education, resource assessment
and possible access to inexpensive energy. Benefits to SD Mines included
realistic problem-solving exercises for students and the benefits to the DOE
include access to shale gas production and environmental monitoring data for
the Onshore Unconventional research portfolio.
(Soeder, D. J., Wonnell, C. S., Cross-Najafi, I., Marzolf, K., Freye,
A., and Sawyer, J. F., 2017, Assessment of Gas Potential in the Niobrara
Formation, Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota: NETL-TRS-1-2017; NETL Technical
Report Series, U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology
Laboratory: Morgantown, WV, 2017, 152 p.)
Exploring the
contact between the Niobrara Formation and the overlying Pierre Shale.
Research activities in
progress or under development in the ERI are summarized below:
- Potential for direct-use geothermal energy and shallow natural
gas to meet the secure energy needs of Ellsworth AFB in cooperation with
DOE-NETL.
- Potential for geothermal energy to heat a community greenhouse
and resilient emergency shelters on the Pine Ridge Reservation in cooperation
with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE).
- An assessment of new drilling and completion technologies to
improve the efficiency of geothermal well installation in cooperation with
Colorado School of Mines.
- Development and field testing of an electronic groundwater
methane sensor for environmental monitoring near shale gas wells.
- Acquisition of a focused ion beam scanning electron microscope
(FIB-SEM) through the National Science Foundation Major Research
Instrumentation program in cooperation with the Engineering and Mining
Experiment Station (EMES), Department of Geology & Geological Engineering
(GGE), Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering (MME), and the
Nanoscience and Nanoengineering Program.
- Acquisition of precision permeability and other petrophysical
lab equipment for shale core analysis through the National Science Foundation
Earth Sciences Instrumentation and Facilities Program.
- Assembly of an industry coalition to fund construction of an
electronic and mechanical drilling simulator on the campus of SD Mines for both
company training and student use.
- An investigation of shallow petroleum potential in the Pierre
Shale.
- Poroelastic modeling of subsurface stress changes and potential
seismic triggers from underground injection of oil & gas wastewater for the
U.S. Geological Survey.
Vision and goals
Oil and gas production
is essentially an empirical activity, where successful operators know what
works, but they often don’t know why it works. Engaging students to
participate with faculty members in hands-on projects to solve some of these
research issues provides the students with an opportunity to better understand
the practical, day-to-day concerns faced by industry. Such work on “real
world” problems gives students experience that enables them to become more
marketable as potential job candidates.
SD Mines students visit Bakken Shale frack location with Halliburton in 2017, Williston, ND
Increased communication
on energy-related topics within and across departments on campus will build
collaboration that strengthens the results. The ERI also seeks to improve
interaction with the greater scientific community outside of the university,
and with the public. National and
international ERI projects support the vision of the university to consider the
entire world as a classroom, and go wherever the situation demands to collect
data or observations. New technologies to improve the recovery
efficiencies of tight oil and shale gas are being eagerly awaited by the rest
of the world. It is important to remember
that the shale gas research begun in the early 1980s did not lead to
significant shale gas production until after the turn of the millennium.
To be successful, the ERI needs both short-term and long-term vision.

Bakken Shale production
pad with gas flare, 2017, Dunn County, ND

Pierre Shale outcrop, 2018,
Redbird, WY
Updated 1/23/19 DJS All photographs by Dan Soeder