Unlocking New Levels of Output and Capacity for Key Subsurface Resources SBIR/STTR (UNLOCK SBIR/STTR)
ARPA-E funds small business research and development of technologies to improve recovery, flow pathways, and water management for oil, gas, geothermal, and other subsurface resources.
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Funder: Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy
Due Dates: November 10, 2026, 5 PM ET (Concept paper questions) | November 20, 2026, 9:30 AM ET (Concept papers)
Funding Amounts: $323,090–$4,630,944 per award; anticipated performance period July 2027–July 2030; no cost sharing required
Summary: Supports small-business-led technologies that double subsurface resource recovery while maintaining or reducing per-unit costs and wastewater burdens.
Key Information: Projects must include laboratory validation, a realistic well-scale field trial, and site-operator participation throughout.
Description
UNLOCK SBIR/STTR is an ARPA-E program within the U.S. Department of Energy supporting transformative applied research and development for resource extraction from low-permeability subsurface formations. It addresses oil, natural gas, geothermal energy, minerals, coalbed methane, and other subsurface resources. The goal is to double per-well recovery efficiency while maintaining or reducing per-unit production costs and wastewater burdens relative to state-of-the-art methods.
Projects combine stimulation and enhanced recovery with sensing, numerical modeling, and laboratory experiments, culminating in field validation. Technologies of interest include low-water or waterless stimulation, advanced recovery fluids, engineered proppants, and advanced diagnostics and modeling. ARPA-E seeks disruptive rather than incremental improvements, with a practical path to deployment.
