Oil Watchdog

07-09-07 by Simpson 

Big Oil U is marching on, and the latest extension campus, The University of Texas at Austin funded with $5 million from Chevron, is offering a new "major". Instead of alternative energy, it’s back to the "classics" — getting oil.

In an announcement today Chevron said it has formed a research alliance with The University of Texas at Austin to develop technologies to increase the “amount of oil recovered from mature and challenging reservoirs.” Most of the recent grants, including the huge $500 million proposed deal between BP and UC Berkeley, have centered on developing alternative energy sources.

Even with Chevron’s new major, a return to the classics, there is cause for concern.

Who at the University of Texas at Austin Center for Petroleum and Geosystems will set the research agenda? Will it be university or corporate officials?

Who will benefit from any discoveries made at the public institution? Will they be available for license on a non-exclusive basis to all comers or will Chevron have a leg up with exclusive rights?

Will Chevron’s employees be able to do secret proprietary research on a public campus?

Will the oil giant be able to cash in on the project for its own PR purposes and greenwash its image?

How the University of Texas answers those questions and what safeguards it puts in place to ensure academic integrity and freedom will determine what grade the school’s administrators and faculty deserve — a pass or fail.