What do you need to extract oil? How oil is produced - field development, well drilling and production management

Perhaps you are used to not reading the entire text to the end or in the middle, but do not be lazy and take a few minutes for this article. Now you will learn about all the most interesting things related to oil production, starting with how oil is produced, when people learned to use oil in general, and how many years oil has been produced in Russia. It will also talk about what promising methods of oil production now exist and how you can get oil yourself.

How oil is produced - interesting and short

To explain how oil is produced ( briefly), first of all, you need to pay attention to the fact that in the modern practice of oil production there are many technologies, but all of them were based on the simplest method known since ancient times to obtain water from wells or wells. These are the so-called artesian wells.

Water, being at the lower point (part) of the soil layer, under pressure created due to the fact that it is located between two mountains, in a gorge, lowland, comes to the surface at high speed.

But before you make such a well and extract the first liter of water or oil, you need to find the place of their greatest accumulation.

If in the case of water this was done in a rather simple way, using, for example, a vine ( there is such a profession - dowsers), then special geophysical methods are used to search for oil reservoirs at a fairly significant depth (up to 2-3 km).

Primary exploration of oil fields is carried out by geologists who, by a combination of signs, determine the presence of oil in a particular area. These can be oily spots on the surface of water bodies, in swampy lowlands, groundwater pollution, gas emissions.

Geophysical methods include sounding of formations using artificial explosions, acoustic or ultrasonic scanning. For this, very complex and expensive geophysical equipment is used.

The average cost of geological exploration, even in the conditions of Russia and regions of the Far North, rarely exceeds $3 in the total cost per ton of oil produced.

After oil is found, the boundary or areas of the oil-bearing area are established, approximately its volume or thickness is calculated, and the so-called volume or reserves of explored oil are also determined. Already on the basis of these data, it is determined how profitable or cost-effective it will be to produce oil in this area, what engineering work will be necessary to produce, store and transport oil.

This is very important point, since, having such an economic passport, the field becomes an asset that is sold by the state at special auctions or tenders, where very solid oil companies.

Watch a useful video on how oil is produced:

As for the methods of oil production, there are several of them, of which the main ones are the following:

1. Mechanical mining method. The essence of this process is that a well or several wells are drilled in the place where oil occurs, and under its own pressure, oil comes to the surface, where it is transported and stored. The pressure in such wells can reach 200 atm at the first stage. and more. But as the reservoir thickness decreases, this pressure decreases. Then they use special pumps - submersible, pumps - rocking chairs. With the help of this pumping equipment, oil is pumped to the surface. About 85% of all oil in the world is extracted in this way, especially in the countries of the Persian Gulf, where the depth of oil reservoirs is only a few tens of meters, and there is no need to drill wells. Moreover, the cost of such production in the Arab countries, as well as in Venezuela (South America) is no more than 1-2 dollars per barrel.
2. fountain method. In the process of using this method, the presence of high pressure in the well also plays an important role, allowing oil to come to the surface on its own. This method is used not only for mining on the continents, but also on the sea shelves. This method includes three sequential processes.

• Primary- as soon as a reservoir of oil is opened, it is fed up the well pipe at high speed. Together with oil, a large mass of accompanying gas also comes to the surface, which has only recently been learned to be used, and before that it was simply burned in flares. ORF is the oil recovery factor, i.e. Efficiency - wells of this method is low and reaches only 3-5%.
• Secondary method or gas lift. After the primary pressure in the well has decreased and it is no longer enough for production, then artificial pressure is injected in order to raise the oil to the surface. For this, either fresh water is used, or gas is pumped under high pressure. In this case, the oil recovery factor already rises to 30 - 40%. But still more than half of the oil remains forever in the reservoir.
• Tertiary Method. When a large part of the well is depleted, high-pressure steam injection technology is used to extract residual oil from it. The task is to reduce its viscosity by heating the oil and thus facilitate its rise to the surface. This method is energy-consuming and is usually used in already old, depleted wells in which oil periodically begins to accumulate.

The application of each of the above methods is rarely used alone. At the fields, oil companies use cyclical methods, when primary oil production is replaced by a more complex method, thus allowing to increase the oil recovery factor, the return from each well to 70 - 80% or more.

You can watch an entertaining video of how oil is produced:

In what year was the first oil produced?

No one knows the exact date when exactly people began to use and how they began to extract oil. There are first mentions of the extraction and use of oil in the ancient Sumerian chronicles. For example, in Dr. Babylon is already 4000 years old. oil was used to make asphalt and paving city streets. In no less ancient Egypt, oil was part of the balm for the burial of rulers in their tombs and pyramids. And the ancient Greeks used oil to create incendiary mixtures to repel the attacks of the troops of the Persian king Darius 1st.

On the territory of ancient Persia or, for example, modern Azerbaijan, oil was extracted for medicinal purposes (mainly skin diseases, including leprosy). It is known that in his travel notes, the famous traveler of the Arab East, Abd ar-Rashid al-Bakuvi, mentioned in the 14th century that 200 caravans of camels loaded with leather furs with oil departed from Baku every day.

In fact, until the beginning of the 19th century, oil was mainly used in its natural, natural form - for lighting housing, kindling hearths.

As technologies for oil distillation, its distillation and separation of light fractions began to appear, they learned how to make lighting kerosene, which began to illuminate the streets of European cities and widely used in everyday life (kerosene lamps and stoves)

In the 19th century and until the beginning of the 20th century, oil production was mainly used in the open way - from small wells or wells. There is more accurate information about the year in which the first oil was produced using a real drilled well. According to Wikipedia, such a well was put into operation in 1848 at the Bibi-Heybat field, which is located in Baku (Azerbaijan).

From that moment began the era of industrial oil production around the world. And, by the way, it was Alfred Nobel (the founder of the scientific and literary award of the same name) who was one of the first developers and entrepreneurs of oil fields in the Caspian Sea.

How oil is produced in Russia

The first information about where and how oil is produced in Russia for the first time dates back to 1823, when the first distillation still was built in the Russian North Caucasus, in the city of Mozdok, by the Dubinin brothers. However, officially industrial production began in 1857, when wells were drilled and the oil refinery of the industrialist Kokorev in Baku was put into operation.

The rate of extraction grew at an unprecedented pace. Already at the turn of the 20th century, more than 100 million poods of oil (16 million tons of oil) were produced in Russia.

Countries with the largest oil reserves (billion barrels) according to BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2016

The country	Stocks	% of world reserves	Mining	Resource availability (years)
Venezuela	300,9	17,7	2 626	314
Saudi Arabia	266,6	15,7	12 014	61
Canada	172,2	10,1	4 385	108
Iran	157,8	9,3	3 920	110
Iraq	143,1	8,4	4 031	97
Russia	102,4	6,0	10 980	26
Kuwait	101,5	6,0	3 096	90
UAE	97,8	5,8	3 902	69
USA	55,3	3,2	12 704	12
Libya	48,4	2,8	432	307
Nigeria	37,1	2,2	2 352	43
Kazakhstan	30,0	1,8	1 669	49
Qatar	25,7	1,5	1 898	37
China	18,5	1,1	4 309	12
Brazil	13,0	0,8	2 527	14
OPEC members	1211,6	71,4	38 226	87
The whole world	1697,6	100,0	91 670	51

Currently, Russia occupies the 5th place in the world in terms of oil reserves and production. Moreover, oil makes up more than 35% of all exports (in physical terms) and its annual volume is about 200-250 million tons. In addition to oil, gas fields are being intensively developed. The largest companies engaged in oil production in Russia are PJSC Gazprom, Rosneft, Surgutneftegaz, Bashneft, Tatneft, Lukoil.

Oil production in Russia is concentrated in the West Siberian and Volga-Ural oil and gas provinces (OGP). Mining is also underway in the Timan-Pechora and North Caucasian oil and gas fields. Large-scale development of resources and reserves of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk (Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-3 projects) and Leno-Tunguska provinces has begun. The main center of the Russian oil industry- Western Siberia, which produces about 117 million tons of oil.

How shale oil is produced

Shale oil gets its name from the fact that it is not found in concentrated form - oil lakes under the surface of the earth, but because it is mixed with limestone or sandy soils. In fact, this is oil that no one has tried to extract before, since there were no technologies for separating oil from sandy impurities.

Since the beginning of 2010, technology has been used in North America to separate oil from sandy impurities and obtain virtually the same oil as from a conventional well. The principle of operation of how shale oil is produced is that the oil reservoir,containing oil in a distributed state is subjected to extremely powerful pressure. This is the so-called hydraulic fracturing. Under this pressure, oil, as it were, is squeezed out of a sandy sponge, after which it is collected by wells in a concentrated form.

Despite the fact that while the cost of producing a barrel of such oil is at the level of 30-40 dollars, but the production technologies are being improved and this can reduce the cost to the level of 20 dollars or less. This allows shale oil producers to compete with most oil-producing countries in the world. About 4-5 million tons of shale oil are supplied to the world market annually, which allows, for example, the United States and Canada to completely close their energy balance (to fully supply their domestic market) and even send part of the oil for export, which America has not done for more than 40 years .

How oil is extracted from the sea

How oil is extracted from the sea

Offshore oil production technologies, i.e. to depths of 200 m, appeared in the world in the 70s. last century in the Caribbean and Alaska.

The essence of the method of how oil is extracted in the sea is that the bottom of the world's oceans is much lower than the land surface, which means that oil is more concentrated in the near-bottom areas of the seabed. However, it must be admitted that such “light oil” also requires high costs.

For example, the cost of just one offshore drilling platform is at least 2-3 million dollars, equipment can cost more than 30 million. And it also needs pipeline laying, supply delivery, security control, tankers and onshore terminals for storage assembly. Nevertheless, offshore drilling in the world is intensive. The main areas for offshore drilling are the Caribbean Sea (Gulf of Mexico), the North Sea shelf, Indonesia and Vietnam, the Arctic shelf, the Sea of ​​Okhotsk (Sakhalin Island shelf). The total volume of world oil produced on the shelves is about 2 million barrels per day, and by 2020 it will reach 3-4 million barrels per day.

How to extract oil yourself

In the previous sections of the article, a lot of attention was devoted to how industrialists, "big uncles" with money, use natural resources and modern technologies to become even richer. But what if we put the question on a slightly different plane - for example, can an ordinary person make money on oil, not having money not only to buy an oil refinery, but also to buy an oil plot for himself, even if it is the size of a summer cottage 6 acres . As it turns out, there are such options as to extract oil yourself.

Buying oil on the exchange

Absolutely anyone can buy oil on the stock exchange. You can earn on exchange oil with the help of:

• Oil futures (delivery and settlement)
• Oil Options
• The cost of a barrel of Brent oil against the dollar (USD/BRO)
• CFD on oil futures
• Shares of oil companies

Deliverable futures can only be afforded by oil companies that are engaged in oil production and refining. Everything else is available to anyone.

You can become a shareholder of oil companies that are engaged in the extraction, processing and sale of "black gold". You can start with 400 - 500 dollars. By buying such shares, there are two ways to make a profit.

1. The first one is the easiest and reliable as an ax is to receive dividends. Then, from every liter of gasoline and diesel fuel sold in the country, a shareholder's pocket will receive, albeit a meager, but legitimate share of the country's oil wealth. The more such shares, the more income in the form of dividends. And in last years Russian oil companies pay generous dividends to their shareholders. For example, Gazprom does not skimp on paying dividends of 20 rubles. per share, although its shares are now on the market for only 130 - 150 rubles.
2. Second method It is buying shares at a low price and selling them at a higher price. This is a speculative approach to making money on stocks and is quite profitable.

Another option is buying and selling (trading). In this case, you are trading the price of oil. Other options are also based only on the price of oil itself. This option does not differ in any way from trading in shares of the same oil companies, since in most cases the prices of shares of oil companies are highly dependent on the price of oil on the market.

The advantage of trading is that you can earn not only on the growth, but also on the fall of the price by opening a deal for a decrease (Sell).

The best brokers for oil trading

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Offshore oil production, along with the development of shale and hard-to-recover hydrocarbon reserves, will eventually supplant the development of traditional “black gold” deposits on land due to the depletion of the latter. At the same time, obtaining raw materials in offshore areas is carried out mainly using expensive and labor-intensive methods, while the most complex technical complexes are involved - oil platforms

Specificity of offshore oil production

The declining reserves of traditional onshore oil fields have forced the industry's leading companies to devote their energies to the development of rich offshore blocks. Pronedra wrote earlier that the impetus for the development of this production segment was given in the seventies, after the OPEC countries imposed an oil embargo.

According to agreed estimates of experts, the estimated geological oil reserves located in the sedimentary layers of the seas and oceans reach 70% of the total world volume and can amount to hundreds of billions of tons. About 60% of this volume falls on shelf areas.

To date, half of the four hundred oil and gas basins of the world cover not only the continents on land, but also extend on the shelf. Now about 350 fields are being developed in different zones of the World Ocean. All of them are located within the shelf areas, and production is carried out, as a rule, at a depth of up to 200 meters.

At the current stage of technology development, oil production in offshore areas is associated with high costs and technical difficulties, as well as with a number of external adverse factors. High seismicity, icebergs, ice fields, tsunamis, hurricanes and tornadoes, permafrost, strong currents and great depths often serve as obstacles to effective work at sea.

The rapid development of offshore oil production is also hampered by the high cost of equipment and field development works. The amount of operating costs increases as the depth of production, rock hardness and thickness increase, as well as the remoteness of the field from the coast and the complexity of the bottom topography between the extraction zone and the coast where the pipelines are laid. Serious costs are also associated with the implementation of measures to prevent oil leaks.

The cost of a drilling platform alone, designed to operate at depths up to 45 meters, is $2 million. Equipment that is designed for a depth of up to 320 meters can cost as much as $30 million. at $113 million

Shipment of produced oil to a tanker

The operation of a mobile drilling platform at a depth of fifteen meters is estimated at $16 thousand per day, 40 meters - $21 thousand, a self-propelled platform when used at depths of 30–180 meters - $1.5–7 million. only in cases where large reserves oil.

It should also be taken into account that the cost of oil production in different regions will be different. The work associated with the discovery of a field in the Persian Gulf is estimated at $4 million, in the seas of Indonesia - $5 million, and in the North Sea prices rise to $11 million. for permission to develop land.

Types and arrangement of oil platforms

When extracting oil from the fields of the World Ocean, operating companies, as a rule, use special offshore platforms. The latter are engineering complexes with the help of which both drilling and direct extraction of hydrocarbon raw materials from under the seabed is carried out. The first offshore oil platform was launched in the US state of Louisiana in 1938. The world's first directly offshore platform called "Oil Rocks" was put into operation in 1949 in the Azerbaijani Caspian.

Main types of platforms:

• stationary;
• freely fixed;
• semi-submersible (exploration, drilling and production);
• jack-up drilling rigs;
• with extended supports;
• floating oil storages.

Floating drilling rig with retractable legs "Arctic"

Different types of platforms can be found both in pure and in combined forms. The choice of one or another type of platform is associated with specific tasks and conditions for the development of deposits. Usage different types platforms in the process of applying the main technologies of offshore production, we will consider below.

Structurally, the oil platform consists of four elements - the hull, the anchor system, the deck and the drilling rig. The hull is a triangular or quadrangular pontoon mounted on six columns. The structure is kept afloat due to the fact that the pontoon is filled with air. The deck accommodates drill pipes, cranes and Helipad. The tower directly lowers the drill to the seabed and raises it as needed.

1 - drilling rig; 2 - helipad; 3 - anchor system; 4 - body; 5 - deck

The complex is held in place by an anchor system, which includes nine winches along the sides of the platform and steel cables. The weight of each anchor reaches 13 tons. Modern platforms are stabilized at a given point not only with the help of anchors and piles, but also with advanced technologies, including positioning systems. The platform can be moored in the same place for several years, regardless of the weather conditions at sea.

The drill, which is controlled by underwater robots, is assembled in sections. The length of one section, consisting of steel pipes, is 28 meters. Drills are produced with a fairly wide range of capabilities. For example, the drill of the EVA-4000 platform can include up to three hundred sections, which makes it possible to go deeper by 9.5 kilometers.

Oil platform drilling rig

The construction of drilling platforms is carried out by delivering to the production area and flooding the base of the structure. Already on the received "foundation" the rest of the components are built on. The first oil platforms were created by welding from profiles and pipes lattice towers in the form of a truncated pyramid, which were firmly nailed to the seabed with piles. Drilling equipment was installed on such structures.

Construction of the Troll oil platform

The need to develop deposits in the northern latitudes, where ice-resistant platforms are required, led engineers to come up with a project to build coffered foundations, which actually were artificial islands. The caisson is filled with ballast, usually sand. With its weight, the foundation is pressed against the bottom of the sea.

Stationary platform "Prirazlomnaya" with a caisson base

The gradual increase in the size of the platforms led to the need to revise their design, so the developers from Kerr-McGee (USA) created a project of a floating object with the shape of a navigation milestone. The design is a cylinder, in the lower part of which a ballast is placed. The bottom of the cylinder is attached to the bottom anchors. This decision made it possible to build relatively reliable platforms of truly cyclopean dimensions, designed for work at super-great depths.

Floating semi-submersible drilling rig "Polyarnaya Zvezda"

However, it should be noted that there is no big difference between offshore and onshore drilling rigs directly in the procedures for extracting and shipping oil. For example, the main components of a fixed type offshore platform are identical to those of an onshore oil rig.

Offshore drilling rigs are characterized primarily by autonomy of operation. To achieve this quality, the plants are equipped with powerful electric generators and water desalination plants. Replenishment of stocks of platforms is carried out with the help of service vessels. In addition, maritime transport is also used to move structures to work points, in rescue and firefighting activities. Naturally, the transportation of the received raw materials is carried out using pipelines, tankers or floating storage facilities.

Offshore technology

On the present stage development of the industry at short distances from the place of production to the coast, inclined wells are drilled. At the same time, an advanced development is sometimes used - remote-type control of the processes of drilling a horizontal well, which ensures high control accuracy and allows you to give commands to drilling equipment at a distance of several kilometers.

Depths at the sea boundary of the shelf are usually about two hundred meters, but sometimes reach up to half a kilometer. Depending on the depths and distance from the coast, different technologies are used for drilling and extracting oil. Fortified foundations, a kind of artificial islands, are being built in shallow areas. They serve as the basis for the installation of drilling equipment. In a number of cases, the operator companies encircle the work site with dams, after which water is pumped out of the resulting pit.

If the distance to the coast is hundreds of kilometers, then in this case a decision is made to build an oil platform. Stationary platforms, the simplest in design, can only be used at depths of several tens of meters; shallow water makes it possible to fix the structure with concrete blocks or piles.

Stationary platform LSP-1

At depths of about 80 meters, floating platforms with supports are used. Companies in deeper areas (up to 200 meters), where fixing the platform is problematic, use semi-submersible drilling rigs. The holding of such complexes in place is carried out using a positioning system consisting of underwater propulsion systems and anchors. If we are talking about super-great depths, then in this case drilling ships are involved.

Drilling ship Maersk Valiant

Wells are equipped with both single and cluster methods. Recently, mobile drilling bases have begun to be used. Direct drilling in the sea is carried out using risers - columns of large diameter pipes that sink to the bottom. After completion of drilling, a multi-ton preventer (blowout preventer) and wellhead fittings are installed at the bottom, which makes it possible to avoid oil leakage from a new well. The equipment for monitoring the state of the well is also launched. After the start of production, oil is pumped to the surface through flexible pipelines.

Application different systems offshore production: 1 - inclined wells; 2 - stationary platforms; 3 - floating platforms with supports; 4 - semi-submersible platforms; 5 - drilling ships

The complexity and high technology of offshore development processes are obvious, even without going into technical details. Is it advisable to develop this production segment, given the considerable associated difficulties? The answer is unequivocal - yes. Despite the obstacles in the development of offshore blocks and the high costs in comparison with work on land, nevertheless, oil produced in the waters of the World Ocean is in demand in the conditions of an ongoing excess of demand over supply.

Recall that Russia and Asian countries are planning to actively increase the capacity involved in offshore production. Such a position can be safely considered practical - as the reserves of "black gold" onshore are depleted, work at sea will become one of the main ways to obtain oil raw materials. Even taking into account technological problems, the cost and labor intensity of offshore production, the oil extracted in this way has not only become competitive, but has long and firmly occupied its niche in the industry market.

First started in the second half of the nineteenth century, for centuries oil has been extracted by people who lived in different parts of the world where oil seeped to the surface. IN Russian Federation the first written mention of obtaining black gold appeared in the sixteenth century.

Travelers described how the tribes living along the banks of the Ukhta River in the north of the Timan-Pechora region collected oil from the surface of the river and used it for medical purposes and as oils and lubricants. Oil collected from the Ukhta River was first brought to Moscow in 1597.

In 1702, Tsar Peter the Great issued a decree establishing the first regular Russian newspaper, Vedomosti. The first newspaper published an article about how oil was discovered on the Sok River in the Volga region, and in later money issues there was an article about oil manifestations in other regions of the Russian Federation.

In 1745, Fyodor Pryadunov received permission to start oil production from the bottom of the Ukhta River. Pryadunov also built a primitive oil refinery and supplied some products to Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Oil manifestations were also observed by numerous travelers in the North Caucasus. Local residents even collected oil using buckets, scooping it out of wells up to one and a half meters deep.

In 1823, the Dubinin brothers opened in Mozdok for oil refining, collected from the nearby Voznesensky oil field.

First oil industry

Oil and gas shows were recorded in Baku, on the western slope of the Caspian Sea, by an Arab traveler and historian as early as the tenth century.

Marco Polo later described how people in Baku used oil for medical purposes and for worship.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, oil fields were also found in other parts of the country. In 1864, a well drilled in the Krasnodar Territory began to flow for the first time.

Four years later, the first oil platform was drilled on the banks of the Ukhta River, and in 1876 commercial production began on the Cheleken Peninsula in what is now Turkmenistan.

Additional tons of black gold went to meet the needs of new factories that were built in the 1930s to 1950s.

The Omsk refinery was opened in 1955 and later turned into one of the largest oil refineries in the world.

The growth in production allowed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (CCCP) to increase the export of black gold at a significant pace. Moscow sought to maximize foreign exchange earnings from the export of black gold and actively fought to increase its share in the world market.

In the early 1960s, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (CCCP) displaced it from the second largest oil production in the world. The release of large volumes of cheap Soviet black gold to the market has forced many Western oil organizations to lower the price of oil produced on, thus reducing the cost of subsoil use to the governments of the Middle East. This decrease was one of the reasons for the creation of the Black Gold Producers (OPEC) countries.

Production in the Volga-Ural region peaked at 4.5 million barrels per day in 1975, but has since fallen back to two-thirds of that level. Just as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (CCCP) was pondering how it could maintain production levels in the Volga-Urals, the discovery of the first large deposits in Western Siberia.

In the early 1960s, the first reserves of this region were explored, the main of which was the supergiant Samotlor field discovered in 1965 with recoverable reserves of about 14 billion barrels (2 billion tons).

The West Siberian Basin is characterized by difficult natural and climatic conditions in which oil was to be extracted, and a vast territory stretching from the permafrost zone in the Arctic Circle to impenetrable peat bogs in the south.

But, despite these difficulties, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (CCCP) was able to increase production in the region at an astronomical rate. The increase in production in Western Siberia predetermined the growth in production in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (CCCP) from 7.6 million barrels (more than a million tons) per day in 1971 to 9.9 million barrels (about 1.4 million tons) per day in 1975 year. By the mid-1970s, production in the Western Siberia region filled the gap created by the decline in production in the Volga-Ural region.

Decline in oil production

After achieving phenomenal production from the fields of the West Siberian Basin, the Soviet oil industry began to show signs of decline. The West Siberian fields were relatively cheap to develop and gave a significant gain due to their size, while the Soviet planners gave priority to maximizing short-term rather than long-term oil recovery.

In the same year, the level of production in Western Siberia reached 8.3 million barrels per day. But from that moment on, a significant drop in production could no longer be avoided due to poor mining technologies, despite a sharp increase in capital investments, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (CCCP) could only contain the decline in production until the beginning of 1990.

But then there was a dip in production, it was as sharp as its growth - the level of production in the Russian Federation fell steadily for a decade and stopped at a level almost half of the initial peak.

The financial difficulties of the companies provoked a sharp decline in the volume of new exploration work, drilling volumes and even workovers of existing wells. As a result, a situation developed that led to a further inevitable decline in production.

The largest oil companies in the world

Let us consider the main characteristics of the raw material base of the oil industry of the constituent entities of Russia. Due to the specifics of the geological conditions, each of these territories has an individual focus of geological exploration and related technical and economic problems.

Oil company Saudi Aramco of Saudi Arabia (12.5 million b/d)

Saudi Aramco is the national oil company of Saudi Arabia. The largest oil company in the world in terms of oil production and size. Also, according to the newspaper, it is the largest company in the world by business ($781 billion). The headquarters is in Dhahran.

Russian oil company Gazprom (9.7 million b/d)

Russian company controlled by the state. The main part of the produced hydrocarbons is gas, although Gazprom owns almost 100% of the shares of a large one (the former Sibneft). A few years later, the state owns a little more than 50% of Gazprom's shares. However, the real in the company is a group closely associated with the "St. Petersburg" political and business grouping. Gazprom is served by a private, controlled by "Russia" from St. Petersburg, the so-called "bank of friends of Vladimir Putin", construction contracts are carried out by companies of the same group, the country's largest insurance group SOGAZ, which is part of the "perimeter" of Gazprom, belongs to the Rossiya bank

Iranian oil company National Iranian Oil Co. (6.4 million b/d)

Fully state Iranian. Recently, it has been experiencing sales difficulties due to sanctions imposed on oil exports from Western countries. Nevertheless, Iran successfully cooperates with, and, supplying them with oil in exchange not only for, but also, for example, for gold or.

ExxonMobil (5.3 million b/d)

The largest private oil and gas company in the world with annual revenues of about $500 billion. Unlike most other oil and gas corporations, it is truly global, operating in dozens of countries around the world. One of the most hated corporations in the world, mainly for being internationally tough and not giving a damn about fashion values ​​- from "green" to "blue".

Russian oil producer Rosneft (4.6 million b/d)

Oil company PetroChina (4.4 million b/d) of China

The state-controlled Chinese oil and gas company is the largest of China's three oil giants. It was once the largest public company in the world, but has since fallen in price. In many ways, it is similar to the Russian Rosneft (connections in the country's leadership, political and economic implementation, etc.), adjusted for scale - the Chinese company is several times larger so far.

British oil company BP (4.1 million b/d)

British "special company" to work with unpleasant regimes. At one time, she managed to work in many "hot spots", bringing her country and shareholders. In recent years, he has been concentrating his efforts on oil production in the United States and in Russia. After the deal on TNK-BP, it will become the largest private shareholder in the Open Joint Stock Company Rosneft. The company's controlled oil production will fall by almost a third because of this deal, but cooperation with the Russian oil near-monopoly can bring additional financial income. And there's no need to worry about BP - what's the point of worrying about something that never happened?

Anglo-Dutch global oil corporation Royal Dutch Shell (3.9 million b/d)

Royal Dutch Shell– 3.9 million b/d

The European analogue of ExxonMobil is a completely private Anglo-Dutch global corporation with traditional oil industry ideas about business ethics. Actively works in Africa and in the Russian Federation.

Mexican oil company Pemex (3.6 million b/d)

Pemex(Petróleos Mexicanos) – 3.6 million b/d

Mexican state oil producer with extremely poor management. Despite the presence in the country of one of the largest oil companies in the world, it imports, since the profit from the sale of oil goes not to refining, but to state (including social) programs.

International Oil Corporation Chevron (3.5 million b/d) USA

Malaysian oil company Petronas (1.4 million b/d)

Petronas– 1.4 million b/d

Malaysian state-owned company. Sponsors a lot of motorsports, including Formula 1.

Oil formation

Theories of the origin of oil

First oil production

The date of the first use of oil goes far back to the 70th - 40th century BC. Then oil was used in ancient Egypt, fisheries were carried out on and in the ancient territory. Oil seeped through cracks in the ground, and ancient people collected this interesting, oily substance. It was one of the options for the extraction of "black gold". The other way was more labor intensive. In places where oil seeped in, deep wells were dug, after a while the wells were filled, and people only had to scoop this liquid out there with the help of some kind of container.

To date, this method is not possible. depletion occurred at shallow depths this resource.

The most widely used (more than 100 implementations) are thermal and gas (CO2) tertiary methods. In the first decade of the 21st century, Aramco estimates that about 3 million barrels per day were produced using tertiary methods (of which 2 million were due to thermal methods), which is about 3.5% of the world's oil production.

Oil exploration and production

The familiar silhouette of a pumping unit has become a kind of symbol of the oil industry. But before it's his turn, geologists and oilmen go through a long and difficult journey. And it starts with exploration of deposits.

In nature, oil is located in porous rocks, in which liquid can accumulate and move. Such breeds are called. The most important oil reservoirs are sandstones and fractured rocks. But in order for a fallow to form, the presence of so-called tires is necessary - impermeable rocks that prevent migration. Typically, the reservoir is sloping, so oil and gas seep upwards. If their exit to the surface is prevented by rock folds and other obstacles, traps are formed. The upper part of the trap is sometimes occupied by a layer of gas - a "gas cap".

Thus, in order to discover an oil deposit, it is necessary to find possible traps in which it could accumulate. First, a potentially oil-bearing area was visually examined, having learned to identify the presence of oil by many indirect signs. However, in order for the search to be as successful as possible, it is necessary to be able to “see underground”. This became possible thanks to geophysical research methods. Most effective tool turned out to be, which was designed to register earthquakes. His ability to capture mechanical vibrations came in handy in exploration. Vibrations from explosions of dynamite shells are refracted by underground structures, and by registering them, one can determine the location and shape of underground layers.

Of course, key drilling is an important research method. The core obtained from deep wells is carefully studied layer by layer by geophysical, geochemical, hydrogeological and other methods. For this type of research, wells are drilled up to 7 kilometers deep.

As technology has advanced, new methods have been added to the arsenal of geologists. Aerial photography and space photography provides a wider view of the surface. Analysis of fossil remains from different depths helps to more accurately determine the type and age of sedimentary rocks.

The main trend of modern geological exploration is the minimal impact on the environment. As much as possible, they try to assign theoretical predictions and passive modeling. According to indirect signs, today it is possible to trace the entire "kitchen of oil" - where it originated, how it moved, where it is currently located. New methods allow drilling as few exploration wells as possible while improving accuracy.

So, the deposit was found, and it was decided to start its development. Oil drilling is a process during which rocks are broken down and crushed particles are carried to the surface. It can be percussive or rotational. In percussion drilling, the rock is crushed by heavy impacts of the drilling tool, and the crushed particles are carried out of the well with an aqueous solution. In rotary drilling, cut rock fragments are lifted to the surface with the help of a working fluid circulating in the well. A heavy drill string, rotating, puts pressure on the bit, which destroys the rock. The penetration rate in this case depends on the nature of the rock, and on the quality of the equipment, and on the skill of the driller.

A very important role is played by the drilling fluid, which not only brings rock particles to the surface, but also works as a lubricant and coolant for drilling tools. It also contributes to the formation of a clay cake on the walls of the well. The drilling fluid can be made water or even oil based, and various reagents and additives are often added to it.

In parent reservoirs, it is under pressure, and if this pressure is high enough, when the well is opened, oil begins to naturally flow. Usually, this effect is preserved at the initial stage, and then one has to resort to a mechanized production method - using various kinds of pumps or by introducing compressed gas into the well (this method is called gas lift). To increase the pressure in the reservoir, water is pumped into it, where it acts as a kind of piston. Unfortunately, in Soviet times this method was abused, seeking to get the maximum return at the fastest pace. As a result, after the development of wells, there were still oil-rich, but already too heavily water-flooded reservoirs. Today, simultaneous injection of gas and water is also used to increase reservoir pressure.

The lower the pressure, the more sophisticated technologies are used to extract oil. To measure the efficiency of oil production, an indicator such as “oil recovery factor”, or abbreviated oil recovery factor, is used. It shows the ratio of oil produced to the total reserves of the field. Unfortunately, it is impossible to completely pump out everything that is contained in the bowels, and therefore this figure will always be less than 100%.

The development of technologies is also associated with the deterioration of the quality of available oils and difficult access to deposits. Horizontal wells are used for sub-gas zones and offshore fields. Today, with the help of high-precision instruments, it is possible to get into an area of ​​​​several meters from a distance of several kilometers. Modern technologies make it possible to automate the entire procedure as much as possible. With the help of special sensors operating in the wells, the process is constantly monitored.

At one field, from several dozen to several thousand wells are drilled - not only oil wells, but also control and injection wells - for pumping water or gas. To control the movement of liquids and gases, wells are placed in a special way and operated in a special mode - this whole process in the complex is called field development.

After the completion of the exploitation of the field, oil wells are mothballed or liquidated, depending on the degree of use. These measures are necessary in order to ensure the safety of human life and health, as well as to protect the environment.

Everything that comes out of the wells - oil with associated gas, water and other impurities, such as sand - is measured, determining the percentage of water and associated gas. In special gas-oil separators, oil is separated from the gas, and it enters the collection pipeline. From there, the route of oil to the refinery begins.

oil refinery

Geology of oil and gas - the basis of the oil industry, part 1

Geology of oil and gas - the basis of the oil industry, part 2

World oil production

V. N. Shchelkachev, analyzing in his book “Domestic and World Oil Production” historical data on oil production, proposed to divide the development of world oil production into two stages:

The first stage - from the very beginning until 1979, when the first relative maximum of oil production was reached (3235 million tons).

The second stage - from 1979 to the present.

It was noted that from 1920 to 1970, world oil production increased not only almost every new year, but also for decades, production grew almost exponentially (almost doubled every 10 years). Since 1979, there has been a slowdown in the growth of world oil production. In the early 1980s, there was even a short-term decline in oil production. In the future, the growth of oil production resumes, but not at such a rapid pace as in the first stage.

Oil production in the Russian Federation has been growing steadily since the early 2000s, although recently the growth rate has slowed down, and in 2008 there was even a slight decline. Since 2010, oil production in Russia has overcome the bar of 500 million tons per year and has been steadily rising above this level.

In 2013, the upward trend in oil production continued. The Russian Federation produced 531.4 million tons of oil, which is 1.3% higher than in 2012.

Oil production in the Russian Federation

Geography of oil in Russia

Oil production and refining plays a key role in the development of many regions of the Russian Federation. On the territory of our country, there are several territories that have significant reserves of oil and gas, which are called oil and gas provinces (OGP). These include both traditional production regions: Western Siberia, the Volga region, the North Caucasus, and new oil and gas provinces: in the European North (Timan-Pechora region), in Eastern Siberia and the Far East

Western Siberia, Volga region

The fields of the West Siberian oil and gas province began to be developed in 1964. It includes the territories of the Tyumen, Tomsk, Novosibirsk and Omsk regions, the Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets autonomous regions, as well as the adjacent shelf of the Kara Sea. The largest deposits of this province are Samotlor and Fedorovskoye. The main advantages of production in this region are the favorable structure of explored reserves and the predominance of oil with a low sulfur content and other impurities.

Prior to the discovery of deposits in Western Siberia, the Volga region occupied the first place in the Russian Federation in terms of oil production. Due to significant oil reserves, this region was called the "Second Baku". The Volga-Ural oil and gas province includes a number of republics and regions of the Urals, the Middle and Lower Volga regions. Oil has been produced in these regions since the 1920s. Since that time, more than 1,000 fields have been discovered in the territory of the Volga-Ural oil and gas field and more than 6 billion tons of oil have been produced. This is almost half of the total volume produced in the territory of the Russian Federation. The largest deposit in the Volga-Ural province is Romashkinskoye, discovered in 1948

The North Caucasus region is the oldest and most explored oil and gas province of the Russian Federation, with a history of commercial oil production dating back more than 150 years. This province includes deposits located on the territory of the Stavropol and Krasnodar Territories, the Chechen Republic, the Rostov Region, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia and Dagestan. The main fields of this oil and gas province are at a late stage of development, heavily depleted and flooded.

The Republic of Komi and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug are part of the Timan-Pechora oil and gas province. Purposeful oil exploration and production is carried out here after the discovery in 1930 of the first oil field - Chibyu. A distinctive feature of the Timan-Pechora oil and gas field is the significant predominance of oil over gas. This region is considered promising in terms of hydrocarbon production, given the recently discovered large oil and gas fields in the coastal part of the Barents Sea

East Siberian oil and gas province

The East Siberian oil and gas province, which has not yet been developed in the proper volume, is the main reserve for the future growth of reserves and ensuring the production of oil and gas in the Russian Federation. Remoteness, sparseness, lack of necessary infrastructure and harsh weather and climate conditions typical for these regions make it difficult to explore and extract oil. However, as deposits in traditional production areas are depleted, the development of the oil industry in Eastern Siberia is becoming a priority for oilmen. A huge role in its solution is given to the construction of the Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean oil pipeline, which will allow transporting oil produced here to ports. Far East. The East Siberian oil and gas province is formed by the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the Irkutsk Region. The largest deposit is Verkhnechonskoye, discovered in 1978.

The main explored oil and gas reserves of the Far Eastern oil and gas province are concentrated on Sakhalin Island and the adjacent shelf of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. Despite the fact that oil has been produced here since the 20s of the last century, active development began only 70 years later, after the discovery of large deposits on the northeastern shelf of the island within sea depths of up to 50 meters. Compared to onshore deposits, they are distinguished by their large size, more favorable tectonic structure and higher concentration of reserves. Despite the fact that geologists see significant potential in this region, other territories included in the Far Eastern oil and gas province are still poorly studied.

Stages of oil field development

The development of any oil field consists of four main stages: the increasing level of production, the constant level of oil production, the period of falling oil production and the final period of oil production.

Feature the first period - a gradual increase in oil production volumes, due to the continuous commissioning of production wells from drilling. The method of oil production during this period is free-flowing, there is no water cut. The duration of this stage is 4-6 years and depends on many factors, the main of which is the reservoir pressure, the thickness and number of productive horizons, the properties of productive rocks and the oil itself, the availability of funds for field development, etc. 1 ton of oil during this period is relatively high due to the construction of new wells, field development.

The second stage of development is characterized by the constancy of the level of oil production and the minimum initial cost. During this period, flowing wells are transferred to the mechanized method of production due to the progressive watering of the wells. The fall in oil during this period is restrained by the commissioning of new producing wells of the reserve fund. The duration of the second stage depends on the rate of oil withdrawal from the field, the amount of recoverable oil reserves, the water cut of well production and the possibility of connecting other horizons of the field to development. The end of the second stage is characterized by the fact that the increase in the volume of water injected for reservoir pressure maintenance does not have a significant impact on the volume of oil production and its level begins to decline. Oil water cut at the end of this period can reach 50%. The duration of the period is the shortest.

The third period of development is characterized by a drop in oil production and an increase in formation water production. This stage ends when 80-90% water cut is reached. During this period, all wells are working on mechanized methods production, individual wells are taken out of operation due to the maximum water cut. The price without markup of 1 ton of oil during this period begins to increase due to the construction and commissioning of oil dehydration and desalination plants. During this period, the main measures are taken to increase well flow rates. The duration of this period is 4-6 years.

The fourth stage of development is characterized by large volumes of formation water production and small volumes of oil production. The water cut of the products is 90-95% or more. The price without markup of oil production in this period increases to the limits of profitability. This period is the longest and lasts 15-20 years.

In general, it can be concluded that the total duration of the development of any oil field is from the beginning to the final profitability of 40-50 years. The practice of developing oil fields generally confirms this conclusion.

World oil economy

Since oil production has been put on an industrial basis, it has become one of the determining factors of development. The history of the oil industry is a history of constant confrontation and, as well as the struggle for spheres of influence, which led to the most complex contradictions between the world oil industry and international politics

And this is not surprising - after all, oil can, without exaggeration, be called the foundation of prosperity, since it is one of the main factors of development modern society. The improvement of technical progress, the development of all areas of industry, the fuel and energy complex, the uninterrupted operation of land, sea and air transport and the degree of comfort of human life depend on it.

The main focus of oil fields are such regions of the world as the Persian and Mexican Gulfs, the islands of the Malay Archipelago and New Guinea, Western Siberia, northern Alaska and Sakhalin Island. Oil production is produced by 95 countries of the world, while almost 85% is accounted for by the ten largest of all oil-producing states.

Russian oil

The first written mention of the presence of oil in Russia dates back to the 16th century, when it was discovered off the banks of the Ukhta River, which flows in the northern part of the Timan-Pechora region. Then it was collected from the surface of the river and used as a remedy, and since this substance had oily properties, it was also used for lubrication. In 1702, a message appeared about the discovery of oil in the Volga region, and somewhat later in the North Caucasus. In 1823, the Dubinin brothers, serfs, were given permission to open a small oil refinery in Mozdok. By the middle of the 19th century, oil manifestations were found in Baku and in the western part of the Caspian Sea, and with the advent of the next century, Russia was producing more than 30% of the world's oil production.

water pollution

At the exploration stage, methods of theoretical forecasting, passive modeling, aerial photography and space shooting allow with a high degree determine exactly where to look for oil, while minimizing the impact on the environment. The principle of minimum impact is applied today in oil production. Horizontal and directional drilling help extract more oil with a much smaller number of wells.

However, in itself, the extraction of oil from the bowels and the injection of water into deposits affect the state of rock masses. Since most deposits are located in zones of tectonic faults and shifts, such impacts can lead to subsidence of the earth's surface and even to earthquakes. Soil subsidence on the shelf can also cause devastating consequences. For example, in the North Sea, in the area of ​​the Ekofisk field, subsidence caused the deformation of wellbores and the offshore platforms themselves. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully study the features of the developed array - the stresses and deformations existing in it.

Spilling oil pollutes the soil and water, and huge efforts and funds are required to eliminate the damage caused to nature. A spill is especially dangerous on the shelf, since oil spreads very quickly over the surface of the sea and, with large emissions, fills the water column, making it uninhabitable. In 1969, in the Santa Barbara Strait, about 6 thousand barrels of oil spilled into the sea while drilling a well - a geological anomaly appeared in the path of the drill. Such catastrophes can be avoided by modern methods of exploration of developed deposits.

As a result of non-compliance with the production technology or unforeseen events (for example, forest fires), the oil in the well may catch fire. Not too large-scale fire can be extinguished with water and foam and close the well with a steel plug. It happens that the place of ignition cannot be approached because of the abundance of fire. Then you have to drill an inclined well, trying to get into a fire in order to block it. In such cases, it can take up to several weeks to extinguish the fire.

I must say that torches do not always serve as a sign of an accident. Oil-producing complexes burn associated gas, which is difficult and economically unprofitable to transport from the field - this requires a special infrastructure. It turns out that it is necessary not only to burn valuable raw materials, but also to emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Therefore, the use of associated gas is one of the urgent tasks of the fuel industry. For these purposes, power plants are being built in the fields, operating on associated gas and supplying heat to the oil production complex itself and nearby settlements.

When the development of the well is completed, it must be mothballed. Here, the oil industry faces two challenges: to prevent possible negative impact on the environment and to save the well for the future, until more advanced development technologies are available to take the remaining oil from the reservoir. Unfortunately, in our vast country there are scattered many unconserved wells left over from the times of the USSR. Today, such an attitude to the completion of work in the field is simply impossible. If the well is suitable for further use, it is closed with a strong plug that prevents the contents from escaping to the outside. If it is necessary to completely mothball the deposit, a whole range of works is carried out - the soil is restored, the soil is recultivated, and trees are planted. As a result, the former production site looks like it has never been developed here.

Environmental impact assessment makes it possible to take into account the requirements of environmental safety and prevent possible technogenic risks even at the design stage of production facilities. Fishing facilities are located in such a way as to reduce the possible negative impact. During the operation of the field, constant attention is needed to compliance with technologies, improvement and timely replacement of equipment, rational use water, air pollution control, waste disposal, soil cleansing. Today, the norms of international law and Russian law define strict requirements for environmental protection. Modern oil companies implement special environmental programs and invest funds and resources in environmental protection measures.

Today, the area of ​​areas affected by human impact from oil production is one-fourth of what it was thirty years ago. This is due to the development of technology and the use of modern methods of horizontal drilling, mobile drilling rigs and small diameter wells.

One of the first man-made earthquakes associated with oil production occurred in 1939 at the Wilmington field in California. It was the start of a cycle of natural disasters that destroyed buildings, roads, bridges, oil wells and pipelines. The problem was solved by pumping water into the oil reservoir. But this method is far from a panacea. Water injected into deep layers can affect temperature regime array and become one of the causes of an earthquake.

Old fixed drilling platforms can be turned into artificial reefs that will become a "home" for fish and other marine life. To do this, the platforms are flooded, and after some time, ranging from six months to a year, they are overgrown with shells, sponges and corals, turning into a harmonious element of the sea landscape.

Sources and links

en.wikipedia.org - a resource with articles on many topics, the free encyclopedia Wikipedia

vseonefti.ru - all about oil

forexaw.com - information and analytical portal for financial markets

Ru - the largest search engine in the world

video.google.com - search for videos on the Internet using Google Inc.

translate.google.ru - translator from the Google search engine

maps.google.ru - maps from Google to search for places described in the material

Ru - the largest search engine in Russia

wordstat.yandex.ru - a service from Yandex that allows you to analyze search queries

video.yandex.ru - search for videos on the Internet through Yandex

images.yandex.ru - search for images through the Yandex service

superinvestor.ru

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Links to application programs

windows.microsoft.com - the site of Microsoft Corporation, which created the Windows operating system

office.microsoft.com - website of the corporation that created Microsoft Office

chrome.google.ru - a commonly used browser for working with sites

hyperionics.com - site of the creators of the HyperSnap screen capture program

getpaint.net - free software for working with images

Oil is called "black gold" because it is a hydrocarbon, without which the development of modern industrial production. Oil and gas is the basis of the fuel and energy complex, which produces fuel, lubricants, oil components are used in building materials, cosmetics, food, detergents. These raw materials are sold for currency and bring prosperity to countries and peoples that have huge reserves of it.

How are oil deposits found?

Mining begins with exploration of deposits. Geologists determine the possible occurrence of oil horizons in the subsoil first by outward signs- relief geography, oil slicks coming to the surface, the presence of traces of oil in groundwater. Experts know in which sedimentary basins it is possible to assume the presence of oil reservoirs; professionals are armed with various methods exploration and prospecting studies, including surface study of rock outcrops and geophysical visualization of sections.

The presumable area of ​​occurrence of the deposit is determined by a combination of features. But even if they are all present, this does not mean that detailed exploration will reveal an oil pool with large reserves necessary to start commercial production. It often happens that exploratory drilling does not confirm the commercial value of the deposit. These risks are always present in oil exploration, but without them it is impossible to determine the structures (traps) in which oil accumulates in the amount necessary for development.

Agree that it would be nice to have your own rocking chair. No, not for free all-day sports. We are talking about a few other rocking chairs. About those with the help of which, from kilometer depths, the most valuable thing that humanity has, and because of which it wages endless wars, is raised into the light of day - oil. It so happened that oil is not everywhere. And where it is, you need to be able to get it. By the way, there is also oil in the Ulyanovsk region. Even though there is not so much of it, and it is not as good as in Siberia (it is even good in a sense), even if it is not as easy to get as in Qatar, but it is. And it has been successfully mined here since the 70s.

Do you want to know how it is done and whether you can put your own rocking chair next to it?

(ATTENTION! The puddle in the photo is not spilled oil, but the consequences of a surprisingly hot and dry summer in Central Russia)

On the third try

Black gold in the Volga region was discovered back in the 18th century, but then it did not cause such a stir as it does now, so they successfully forgot about oil. 200 years later, when the country needed a lot of fuel after the Second World War, the first geological surveys were sent here. They de and reported about the Volga region as a region of huge oil fields!

But they miscalculated a bit.

The drillers who arrived here after the geologists gave much more modest estimates. But the wells were still drilled. And again, they were forgotten.

The third time about the Volga oil was remembered only in 1976. And contributed to this ... village pyromaniacs!

A whole lake of oil flowed out under natural pressure over the course of 20 years on the surface of one of the wells mothballed in the 1950s. Local flame lovers decided to "light the blue sea" and with N-th attempt they succeeded. The oil flared up like a torch, the water boiled under it and began to throw burning oil-water fountains high into the blue sky. Puffs of black smoke rose, which could be seen even from the windows of the Kremlin. So they remembered that the people's property has been disappearing on the banks of the Volga for many years. In 1977, the first wells of Novospasskneft were put into operation in Novospasskoye, bringing the country about 12,000 tons of brown fluid per year.

After the collapse of the Union, Novospasskneft became JSC Ulyanovskneft and, together with other oil producers in Ulyanovsk and Penza, was included in the RussNeft holding.

Now Ulyanovskneft has 259 production wells on the territory of 33 fields in the Ulyanovsk and Penza regions. Their forces pump out more than 700,000 tons of oil a year from the earth.

rocking chair

Let's see how a typical oil pumping station works - a deep rod pump. One of these was installed in the Novospassky district of the Ulyanovsk region. The depth of its well is 1300 meters. This is exactly the well that was drilled back in the 50s and mothballed.

The principle of operation of the pumping unit is very simple. Imagine that you need to pour out some liquid from the vial without turning it over. What is the best way to do this? That's right - take a syringe and pump it out in several steps. The oil pump works the same way. Only now the bubble with liquid is located at a depth of more than a kilometer. The "syringe" (piston pump) is lowered to the very bottom of the well, and its shank is connected to the surface by rods welded together.

Driven by an electric motor, the machine performs reciprocating movements of the balance bar, moves the deep piston up and down, and it raises the column of oil to the surface. There, depending on the volume of the reserve (debit rate) of the field, oil either enters an underground oil pipeline or accumulates in a storage facility, from where it is regularly taken by an oil carrier - the same orange tank truck that stinks of rotten eggs, behind which you drag, waiting for the "window" for overtaking.

However, the extracted crude oil is of little use and up to presentation she needs to go through the path of purification. The fact is that the oil raised from the depths is mixed with groundwater. It turns out a kind of emulsion, which contains a lot of water. For example, in this well, the proportion of water in the mixture is 68%. It is clear that no one wants to transport and buy water, so the first thing they do is get rid of it. To do this, crude oil is delivered by pipelines or tankers to the UPSU - a preliminary water discharge unit. There the mixture settles, separates and deemulsifies.

The next stage is the central oil treatment facility (CPP). Here, the oil is finally cleaned of unnecessary impurities, brought to the standard and poured into the Transneft pipeline system under the Urals brand (heavy, sour oil).

Skynet "Megaphone"

Ulyanovskneft has more than 200 rocking chairs scattered across the center and south of the Ulyanovsk region. As a rule, they stand in an open field, where even a gravel road cannot be laid (the lands around rocking chairs are often used as arable land). How to manage rocking chairs? How to track whether they work or stop? How to protect them from encroachments of curious citizens?
It would be possible to plant a watchman and an operator near each, but then all the company's profits would go to their salaries. What to do?

Of course, now it’s the 21st century in the yard and you can control rocking chairs remotely using mobile network. For example, Ulyanovskneft's pumping chairs communicate with the monitoring center in Novospasskoye via the MegaFon network. This technology is called M2M - Machine-to-machine, "machine with machine." So, machines communicate with each other and they don’t need people at all ...

Each pumping unit is equipped with a control unit, which has two modems through which telemetry is sent to the control center and various commands are received. For example, you can remotely stop or start the machine, get up-to-date information about its condition and, in the event of a breakdown, immediately go to the site.

The information is encoded and sent via GPRS to the center, where it is displayed on the operator's screen.

But that is not all. With the help of M2M MegaFon, the readings of electricity consumption meters are taken and transmitted to the accounting point. This system allows you to save a lot of time when calculating the energy costs of each rocking chair.

The electricity supplier independently accesses the database and, based on its data, automatically generates an invoice for payment.

Here is this magic box at the transformer:

With the help of a black antenna, data is transmitted via mobile communications.

And that's not it! SIM cards from "MegaFon" were installed even in those same oil carriers. Each vehicle is equipped with the GLONASS system, which helps track the location of the tanker on the map. Fuel level sensors via mobile communications transmit data on the amount of diesel fuel in the tanks and signal its sharp drop. Yes, it happens when, at the expense of the company, the driver decides to fill up his tractor or "push the fuel to the left." The monitoring system solves this problem as well.

The Ulyanovsk oil workers chose MegaFon because this operator has a large number of base stations and the most stable communication signal, which is very important.

Can you extract oil yourself?

Those romantic times of oil gushing from a well are long gone. To scoop something out of the depths of the earth, you need technology, machines, people and deep knowledge. According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the subsoil of Russia belongs to the state and the people living in it. This means that in theory you can put your rocking chair on and rock, rock, rock to your heart's content! But in practice, everything is much more complicated. To start extracting oil, you need to obtain a license for this type of activity. But this can only be done by a limited circle of people who have proven their worth in this matter.

In order to develop the field, you only need:

• Explore and determine its reserves;


• Define production limits;


• Prove that you can adhere to these limits and report annually to the commission on the successes and failures of your mission. For the latter, you will simply be deprived of a license. It is strictly forbidden to pump more and it is not welcome to produce oil less than the established limits.

But this is all poetry and in fact it is almost impossible for a mere mortal to obtain a license to develop an oil field in Russia. And yes, all the oil is yours :) I now have a share due by law.

But, they say, oil is now much cheaper. Get better bitcoins, and leave oil to professionals. :)