Hess Corporation President Greg Hill joined Gov. Matt Mead at The University of Wyoming Thursday to announce the company’s plan to donate $4.3 million more to help build UW’s new energy and engineering research complex.
Hess has now committed a total of $10 million to the university, $8.7 million of which will be matched by state funds.
The gifts support the High Bay Research Facility, which will be used for large-scale experiments and research aimed at tapping ‘unconventional reservoirs.’
Hill says there are tens of billions of barrels of oil in these hard-to-tap reservoirs, but current technology can only get at 10 percent of that. He says more research will benefit both Hess and Wyoming.
“It is going to help us unlock perhaps another five percent, another ten percent in those reservoirs,” Hess said. “Now that has a huge impact on our company, but it is also going to have a huge impact on the state of Wyoming, because the state of Wyoming is also blessed with a lot of unconventional resources in the state.”
Governor Mead said public-private partnerships like this one will help Wyoming remain an innovative leader in the energy industry.
“We are in the smallest state, but we will roar,” said Mead. “People around the world are going to hear about what we’re doing here.”
The new facility is expected to be completed in 2016. The University also has plans to upgrade its existing Engineering Building, a project that’s expected to cost as much as $100 million.