The University of Texas at Austin and Rice University will work with oil companies to research injecting tiny sensors into old oil wells to understand how to extract more petroleum.

The University’s Bureau of Economic Geology said in a press release Tuesday it will manage the Advanced Energy Consortium in Houston to fund research projects on using nanotechnology to boost oil and natural gas production.

Private companies will fund the research projects.

Typically, a well only pumps out about 60 percent of the oil underground, even if a company has tried three separate times to boost production. The idea is to develop intelligent micro and nanosensors that can be injected into oil and gas reservoirs to offer information about the underground space and the hydrocarbon reserves.

The consortium will scout for university projects to fund.

Rice’s Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology will be a collaborative technical partner.

Members of the privately funded consortium include BP America Inc., Baker Hughes Incorporated, ConocoPhillips, Halliburton Energy Services Inc., Marathon Oil Corp., Occidental Oil and Gas, and Schlumberger.

The consortium will hold a series of forums this year on oil and gas exploration and production.