Hello friends and followers of STEM content, in this opportunity I want to bring you this content related to the generalities existing in the extraction of petroleum, especially oriented to practices that are governed by petroleum engineering.
It is important to consider that the oil that can be extracted from the subsoil is only a part of all the existing oil, of all that extractable oil only a part is usable, since everything will depend on the quality and quantity of the oil to be extracted. I mention all this because the extraction of oil is a complex issue, as a consequence of the oil that can be extracted from the subsoil with some commercial use.
The other first important thing is to assume that oil extraction is a complex process that needs to be studied in stages, which is why I will establish as a primary objective to explain each of the stages involved in oil extraction, among these stages are:
- Location of the oil field.
- Drilling.
- Oil extraction and recovery.
- Health and safety.
Before drilling we must have some sense of precision when deciding to drill an oil well, there are geological reasons that make us think about the possibility that there is oil in a certain area, however seismic studies must be carried out and in this way we can detect if there is the presence of geological structures in the subsoil as geological traps that can give us the indication that there are oil deposits in the subsoil in the area that we intend to drill.
To give us an idea of what a seismograph reading would look like, here is an image of a seismograph measurement:
Seismography is one of many examples of techniques to be used in the search for oil, but it is not until drilling an exploratory well where the presence of geologists who monitor all the subsurface cuttings that it is possible to predict whether or not oil is found in that location.
Once the location of the oil deposits is correct, a set of wells is drilled, which between all the wells drilled will give an approximate of the total production of a given oil field.
How is the oil well generated?
It is drilled to generate a hole that later will be the production well, this drilling is done with a drilling rig as shown below:
While drilling, a drilling fluid is pumped to the bottom of the well, which among other things helps to manage and maintain the pressures at the bottom, once the different sections of the well are drilled, a casing is lowered which is then cemented by a cement slurry that covers the space between the pipe and the well, this cement serves to protect the walls of the well.
Once the well is built with all its phases, it is completed with equipment that helps to extract oil, and on the surface a set of valves called Christmas tree is installed.
These valves serve the function that any operator can control the flow of oil on the surface as a result of its pressure and flow rate.
Once the well is producing oil, it can do it by itself, through the energy of the oil reservoir itself, however once the energy declines, it is necessary to apply oil recovery mechanisms, among which primary recovery, secondary recovery and enhanced oil recovery stand out, the latter being the application of more advanced techniques.
For example, once the reservoir exhausts its energy so that a set of wells can extract oil naturally, then it is necessary to apply an enhanced oil extraction, which may exist in a combination where there is a steam injector well that heats the producing formation and lowers the viscosity of the oil and at the same time there is a second producing well that will extract that oil.
During the entire process the safety and health of workers is paramount, engineers and supervisors are responsible for monitoring the operational activities in search of corrections to avoid accidents that occur in the oil industry.
The health of all those involved also depends on the way in which the operational activities are carried out, for this reason it is important that industrial hygiene and safety courses are given to all the actors involved, from engineers and supervisors to the workers that operate in the oil industry.
References consulted and recommended