The make-up of the oil and gas industry in the United States today is different than it was 25 years ago. The domestic oil and gas sector is no longer dominated by large oil and gas companies. Currently, 65 percent of the natural gas and 40 percent of the oil produced in the United States is produced by small independent oil and gas companies which typically employ no more than 10 full-time employees (DOE, 2006 and API, 2006). This core of independent producers might not have the financial aptitude to conduct the research required to make the technological advances necessary to continue to economically produce domestic energy resources, but the domestic oil and gas industry cannot sustain itself without the critical development of new technologies. This is a major concern that is addressed by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) through research grants targeted to fill this void.