1. Drilling and Production
6/29/16

2. What do we know
We have covered what happens up until we drill the well
Geoscience behind finding traps and reservoirs
Confirm with seismic data that there is a possible trap
Find the OOIP/OGIP using quantities like porosity and water saturation
Now we ask how do we drill the best well?

3. Drilling
Drilling engineering begins once a company decides that the possible reserves are worth extracting

4. Drill Site Housing for workers Derrick Separators Transport Truck
Fracking/Drilling Fluid
Storage Tanks

5. How to drill if it is offshore?
Offshore Floating Drill Rig
Offshore Drill Ship

6. Lets Look in closer
We drill down to a high pressured reservoir and the high pressure pushes oil out of the pores and into the borehole
This is called “Primary Recovery” and is how the first oil wells were productive
To do this, rising oil and possible chemicals from drilling rise up thousands of feet
To prevent these fluids from going back into other layers, and possible water aquifers, we protect our well with a casing
Concrete layer that won’t allow flow of oil and gas into the wrong area

7. Casing
How do we get a layer of concrete 6000ft below the surface of the earth?
We drill down with a large bit, then put in a smaller inner tube, then fill the void space with concrete
We do several steps of this getting smaller and smaller until we get to our target zone
This casing is what keeps us from leaking possible chemicals into other rocks, isolating contact between reservoir and surface

8. Casing

9. How do we know how big?
Wee look at the flow rate that we are expecting to see, and the pressures that the fluids will be
Have to calculate the exact best diameter and thickness of pipe that we want to put from very top to the bottom

10. What do we do after we drill?
Primary Production
Let the big pressure difference bewteen the reservoir and the surface “push” the fluid up
Secondary Production
If the pressure differential is not as big as we want, we can increase it by pulling up and pumping
Think of it like using a straw to bring liquids out of a cup

11. Pumping Methods
There are several pumping methods, but the most common is Rod Pumping, seen below… and here...

12. After Secondary Production
If we still are not getting out what we want from secondary production, in pumping, we can move to tertiary production methods
There are hundreds of tertiary production methods (EOR)
Enhanced Oil Recovery
Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking)
Water/Gas Flooding
Polymer Flooding
Surfactant Flooding (What I do!)
Plasma Pulse
Fire Flooding
Cryogenic Fracturing

13. Hydraulic Fracturing
Hydraulic Fracturing is when we pump water and chemicals into our reservoir, to cause such high pressure that the reservoir rock will “break”
When these cracks occur, oil and gas that is trapped in low permeability areas can escape through the large cracks
These cracks all begin at the point of our well, so the fluid will come back and be pumped out
Fracking really increases the permeability of the reservoir, helping production

14. Natural Hydraulic Fracturing
Hydraulic fracturing was not created by engineers
It has been happening for millions of years naturally, whenever pressure is allowed to build above the breaking point
Fractures will propagate in the direction of lowest stress
Often will begin to go upwards

15. Why is ‘Fracking’ a topic of debate?
There are hundreds of myths about hydraulic fracturing
Many people have incorrect scientific facts that spread fear of fracking
It has not always had a great past
Early on companies made huge mistakes, like not using proper casing, fracking incorrect areas, and allowing frack fluid to flow into local streams/watersheds