Up to $45 million is available to support oil and gas industry research into novel unconventional stimulation and enhanced oil recovery technologies.
The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is accepting applications for up to $45 million in federal funding through its Unlocking New Levels of Output and Capacity for Key Subsurface Resources (UNLOCK) program. The initiative aims to develop breakthrough technologies that increase recovery from shale and other low-permeability oil and gas reservoirs, with potential applications in geothermal energy, critical minerals, and rare earth elements.
ARPA-E Director Conner Prochaska announced the program during SPE’s Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in Houston on 22 October. The deadline for submission of concept papers is 20 November 2026.
“UNLOCK is about combining new fracturing methods with novel enhanced oil recovery technologies to get substantially more oil and gas out of the ground, to double the amount that we get out of the ground. That is the goal. Leaving 80% of a resource downhole is unacceptable, and ARPA-E is excited to work to see what’s beyond hydraulic fracturing and what new technologies can unlock the next level of productivity,” he said.
ARPA-E has a high-risk, high-reward strategy and serves as the DOE’s “moonshot” agency. It chases what Prochaska called the “three U’s”: unexplored, unknown, and unbelievable.
“We explore the things that are unexplored, unknown, and unbelievable. The things that people look at and say, ‘No, that’s settled. You can’t do that,’” he told JPT. Well, that may have been true 20 years ago. That may have been true a decade ago.”
Technologies are moving quickly and opportunity may exist to knock down preconceived notions that haven’t been challenged in years, he added.
ARPA-E doesn’t prescribe how a technology must work to qualify for funding, Jyotsna Sharma, program director at ARPA-E, told JPT. Instead, she said, the agency is looking for disruptive technologies. The industry’s current approach relies heavily on hydraulic fracturing, which requires significant water resources.
“We want to kind of break that and look at waterless or low-water fracturing,” she said.
Making a Difference
It’s not enough for a technology to work. “If they work, they’re going to matter and make an impact and move the needle,” Prochaska said.
The improvement targets can be significant. In one recent ARPA-E program, the goal of reducing consumption of a material was raised by 50% to 90%.
“If 50% is doable in everybody’s mind in a couple years, (that’s) not for us. 90%, if people kind of smirk at it, that’s our sweet spot. Possible, but going to be very tough,” he said.
Any project that gets the nod through the UNLOCK program will have to demonstrate its technology at field scale. ARPA-E also works to identify potential and adopters for the technologies it supports.
