Traditional and advanced methods of oil production. How oil is extracted (methods) in the world and in Russia How oil is extracted

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), the first thing to note is that contemporary practice There are many technologies for oil production, 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 lowest 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 quite in a simple way, using, for example, a grapevine ( 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 reputable oil companies are fighting for the right to work in this field.

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 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-entrepreneurs oil fields in the Caspian.

How oil is produced in Russia

The first information about where and how oil was 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 that allows separating oil from sandy impurities and obtaining 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 offshore drilling areas 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 get 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
• Stock 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 each 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

TOP

The platform is owned by a broker with over 20 years of experience. Regulated CySEC, MiFID. Here you will find Brent, WTI, Crude Oil, fuel oil, gas and oil stocks and other assets. The broker offers training programs, constantly hosts webinars, provides online analytics and has a very convenient trading platform to which a large number of indicators are connected. Minimum deposit $200 .

Russia today has approximately 13% explored oil fields in the world. The main source of replenishment of the state budget of our country are deductions from the results of the oil and gas industry.

Oil-bearing layers are, as a rule, deep in the bowels of the earth. The accumulation of oil masses in the fields occurs in rocks with a porous structure, which are surrounded by denser layers. An example of a natural reservoir is a dome-shaped sandstone layer, blocked on all sides by layers of dense clay.

Not every explored deposit becomes an object of industrial development and production. Decisions on each are made only on the basis of a thorough business case.

The main indicator of the deposit- oil recovery factor, the ratio of the volume of oil underground to the volume that can be obtained for processing. A field suitable for development is a field with a predicted oil recovery factor of 30% and higher. With the improvement of production technologies in the field this indicator brought to 45% and above.

Underground storage always contains crude oil, natural gas and water at the same time under the enormous pressure of the layers of the earth's crust. The pressure parameter has a decisive influence on the choice of production method and technology.

Oil recovery methods

The method of oil production depends on the magnitude of the pressure in the reservoir and the way it is maintained. Three methods can be distinguished:

1. Primary– oil flows from the well due to the high pressure in the oil-bearing formation and does not require the creation of additional artificial pressure build-up, the oil recovery factor is 5-15%;
2. Secondary- when the natural pressure in the well drops and the rise of oil is not possible without additional pressure build-up due to the introduction of water or natural / associated gas into the reservoir, the oil recovery factor is 35-45%;
3. Tertiary- increase in oil recovery from the reservoir after a decrease in its production by secondary methods, the oil recovery factor is 40 - 60%.

synthesis gas

Classification of mining methods

According to the principle of physical impact on a liquid oil body, today there are only two main methods of production: flowing and mechanized.

In turn, mechanized can be attributed gas lift and pump lifting methods.
If oil from the bowels is squeezed out to the ground only under the influence of the natural energy of the oil-bearing formation, then the extraction method is called a fountain.

But there always comes a moment when the energy reserves of the reservoir are depleted, and the well stops flowing. Then the rise is carried out using additional power equipment. This method of extraction is mechanized.

Mechanized way happens gas lift and pumping. In turn gas lift can be carried out compressor and non-compressor method.

The pumping method is implemented through the use of powerful deep-well pumps: rod, electric centrifugal submersible.
Let's consider in more detail each method separately.

Fountain method of oil production: the cheapest and easiest

The development of new deposits is always carried out using the flowing method of production. This is the simplest, most efficient and cheapest method. It does not require additional expenditures of energy resources and complex equipment, since the process of lifting the product to the surface occurs due to excess pressure in the oil deposit itself.

Main advantages

The main advantages of the fountain method:

• The simplest well equipment;
• Minimum cost of electricity;
• Flexibility in the management of pumping processes, up to the possibility of complete
  stops;
• Possibility of remote control of processes;
• Long intertechnological interval of equipment operation;

To operate a new well, you need to establish full control over it. The taming of the fountain is carried out by installing special shut-off valves, which subsequently allow you to control the flow, control the operating modes, make complete sealing, and, if necessary, conservation.
Wells equip lifting pipes of different diameters, depending on the estimated production rate and in-situ pressure.

With large production volumes and good pressure, large diameter pipes are used. Marginal wells for long-term preservation of the flowing process and reducing the cost of production, they are equipped with lifting pipes of small diameter.

By the way, read this article too: Features of heavy oil processing

Upon completion of the flowing process, artificial lift methods are being used at the well.

Gas lift method of oil production

The gas lift is one of mechanized methods oil production and a logical continuation of the flowing method. When the energy of the reservoir becomes insufficient to push the oil, the lift begins to be carried out by pumping into the reservoir compressed gas. This can be simple air or associated gas from a nearby field.

Used to compress gas high pressure compressors. This method is called compressor. The non-compressor gas lift method is carried out by supplying gas already under high pressure into the formation. Such gas is supplied from the nearest field.

The equipment of a gas-lift well is carried out by the method of completion of a flow well with the installation of special valves for supplying compressed gas at various depths with an interval established by the project.

Main advantages

Gas lift has its advantages over other artificial lift methods:

• sampling of significant volumes from different depths at any stage of field development with an acceptable cost indicator;
• the ability to produce even with significant curvature
  wells;
• work with heavily gassed and overheated formations;
• full control over all process parameters;
• automated control;
• high reliability of the equipment;
• operation of several layers simultaneously;
• controllability of paraffin and salt deposition processes;
• simple technology for Maintenance and repair.

The main disadvantage of gas lift is high price metal equipment.
Low efficiency and high cost of equipment force the use of gas lift mainly only for lifting light oil with a high gas content.

Mechanized method of oil production - pumping

Pumping operation ensures the lifting of oil through the well with appropriate pumping equipment. Pumps are rod and rodless. Rodless - submersible type electric centrifugal.

The most common scheme for pumping oil sucker rod pumps. This is a relatively simple, reliable and inexpensive method. The depth available for this method is up to 2500 m. The productivity of one pump is up to 500 m3 per day.

By the way, read this article too: Equipment corrosion

The main structural elements are pump pipes and plungers suspended in them on rigid rod pushers. The reciprocating movement of the plungers is provided pumping unit above the well. The machine itself receives torque from the electric motor through a system of multi-stage gearboxes.

Due to the low reliability and performance of rod plunger pumps, submersible type pumping units are increasingly used in our time - electric centrifugal pumps (ESP).

Main advantages

Advantages of electric centrifugal pumps:

• ease of maintenance;
• very good performance of 1500 m3 per day;
• a solid overhaul period of up to one and a half years or more;
• the possibility of processing inclined wells;
• pump performance is regulated by the number of stages, total length
  assembly may vary.

Centrifugal pumps are well suited for old deposits with high water content.

For lifting heavy oil screw type pumps are best suited. Such pumps have great capabilities and increased reliability with high efficiency. One pump easily lifts 800 cubic meters of oil per day from a depth of up to three thousand meters. It has a low level of corrosion resistance in aggressive chemical environments.

Conclusion

Each of the technologies described above has the right to exist, and none of them can be said unequivocally whether it is good or bad. It all depends on the set of parameters that characterize a particular deposit. The choice of method can only be based on the results of careful economic research.

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Eternity smells like oil.

Salute, guys! Today I will tell you about how oil is produced in Western Siberia. The same black gold, around which serious passions boil, on which the economy of our country stands, the dollar and the euro are "walking". In order to see the extraction process (as people in the "topic" call it), I went to the Yuzhno-Priobskoye oil field and, using its example, I will tell you how it was. Go!

1. Demonstrative bottling of oil.

It all starts with the fact that an oil company uses special equipment, resorts to the help of geologists to discover a field. Then you need to understand how much oil is hidden in the layers of the earth, and in general, is it economically profitable to extract it? Soil studies are being carried out, a large number of "exploratory" wells are being made, and if a deposit is found and it will be useful, then a lot of development work is already beginning. To do this, create a "bush" - a platform that combines many drilled wells. The bottom of the well goes into the ground at an angle and reaches a couple of kilometers, currently they are drilling at an angle, and the drilled bottom can be at a distance of a kilometer from the bush.

The Priobskoye oil field is located in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, near Khanty-Mansiysk. It was discovered back in 1982, but development began recently, because previously it was not only economically unprofitable, but there were no technologies that would ensure the efficiency of the field. Geological reserves of subsoil are estimated at 5 billion tons. Proved and recoverable reserves are estimated at 2.4 billion tons. For example, in this area, oil deposits are located at a depth of 2.3–2.6 km.

2. Bush No. 933. To get here, I had to give out all the passport data in advance, get a pass, put on overalls, without which they are not allowed to go anywhere, pass through the security cordon to the territory of the field, and also listen to the safety instructions from several leaders twice. Everything is extremely strict and you can’t take an extra step to the side.

3. Briefing for all guests from the drilling contractor. By the way, the company "Gazpromneft-Khantos" does not drill itself, it is done by contractors who win the tender and subsequently work at the facility.

4. On the right is a drilling rig, on top of which a winch with a huge hook is suspended, which is moved up and down by an electric motor. This design is called "top drive".

The first to be lowered into the dug well is a chisel - a blank with three spiked rotating heads, which drills the ground. This bit is mounted on drill collars, which in turn are screwed on conventional drill pipes. And these assembled "candles" are screwed together 2-4 pieces. This whole huge structure, called the drill string, is bolted to an electric motor at the top, suspended from the same hook from above.
When drilling a well, the "top drive" rotates this entire structure and goes down, transferring the weight of the string to the bit. The weight of the drill string, hanging on a hook from above, goes down into the well and is equal to about 130 tons. The descent and retrieval of the drill string occurs repeatedly, so you have to replace the bit with a new one. Drilling fluid is pumped down through the pipes at a pressure of ~100 atmospheres. This fluid passes through the entire structure and exits through the bit, cooling it, and then returns upward through the space between the walls of the column and the walls of the well, raising cuttings - the drilled rock - to the surface. By the way, this field uses a new technology - horizontal drilling, that is, the bit goes not only down, but also sideways.

5. Since well drilling can currently be carried out not strictly vertically, but at any given angle, these numbers just mean the direction of the bit.

6. The solution raised up is cleaned, and the sludge is thrown into a special pit, which is reclaimed after drilling. Then vegetation is planted on top of the soil.

7. Candles are disassembled, but soon their turn will come to go deep underground.

8. Regularly a specialist takes a sample of oil to check its composition. Below you can see the glass bottles into which it is bottled.

9. Journalists and bloggers, like children, consider an outlandish bottle of warm liquid. It smells of sulfur and oil, a kind of mixture with a slight, but smell.

10. The resulting oily liquid is dirty earthy in color with bubbles and contains sand.

11. photomanya satisfied =)

12. black gold looks like ordinary dirty water. Their this slurry thanks to the complex technological process produce oil, water and associated petroleum gas.

13. The design, called "Xmas tree", under it is a centrifugal electric pump, lowered to the bottom of the well, which pumps the liquid to various purification stations, so that clean oil is obtained later. As you can see, there are no traditional "pumping machines" here, since they are ineffective and not profitable, roughly speaking - this is the last century.

14. After the well is ready, the drilling rig is transported on rails to begin the process of drilling a new well.

15. Foreground happens scheduled repairs wells. Moreover, such repairs are required for each of the wells after a certain period of time.

16. People of a heroic profession, not otherwise. In cold conditions, they repair the drilling rig and, judging by the faces, they like it!

18. The town of oil workers is located at a distance from the drilling rig, they have their own little life there. Here even the Internet 3g worked and it was possible to post pictures!

19. We leave well pad No. 933, we arrive at production sites with oil treatment units and a workshop for preparing oil pumping. The site is located a few kilometers from the drilling rig, where oil is supplied through pipes.

19. The oil treatment plant is designed to receive oil well products, its preliminary separation into oil, associated petroleum gas and formation water and subsequent oil treatment to commercial quality. In addition, the OTU accounts for marketable oil, accounts for and utilizes associated gas, and pumps marketable oil into the pipeline.

20. A lot of pipes, complex structures, where oil is processed for its further use.

21. The composition of the OTU includes a large number of elements, for example: separators, pumping units, drainage tanks, line heaters and other devices. the coolest scheme, how everything is arranged. Personally, I do not understand everything, maybe one of you is an expert)

22. One of the huge water tanks needed to clean up the oil.

23. Eugene shows: - THERE'S OIL! Yes, these tanks store oil ready for use.

24. Yuzhno-Priobsky gas processing plant (GPP), at the opening of which (by teleconference) Dmitry Medvedev was a year ago.

25. The processing capacity of the GPP will be 900 million cubic meters of associated petroleum gas per year. The APG utilization rate is 96%, which meets modern world requirements.

29. A huge automated factory, which is serviced by a small number of employees.

27. General manager Yuzhno-Priobsky Gas Processing Plant Yury Viktorovich Kopotilov.

29. By law, an oil producing company is entitled to 5% flaring of associated gas dissolved in oil. The torch burns for emergency discharge and burning of gas in case of emergency situations.

30. Plant control center. The plant is automated as much as possible, only a couple of dozen people are required to manage a huge production of 20 hectares. Monitoring is carried out around the clock 365 days a year.

31. There are many young people, which is good, but in addition to them, experienced employees also work.

32. After the plant, we go to the head office of Gazpromneft-Khantos, located in Khanty-Mansiysk.

33. On the monitor screen they demonstrate the same 3D model bush, which is being developed by specialists here, as well as in St. Petersburg.

34. The representative of Mr. shows how the well goes down, how at one moment it goes strictly horizontally. As you dig, so the oil will go. Also on these screens you can see the status of all drilling rigs, which one is pumping oil at what moment, where repairs are taking place and other useful things. Everything is connected to computers and a person may not be in a cold field at the drilling rig, but sit with tea in a trailer at any distance from the well and control the drilling and production process in real time.

35. The building was built several years ago, it usually looks like most modern office buildings.

36. Yard-well of the XXI century.

Thanks to the company for the invitation to the drilling site

In a charming magazine vl_ad_le_na I read a great post about oil production. I publish with the permission of the author.

What is oil?
Oil is a mixture of liquid hydrocarbons: paraffins, aromatics and others. In fact, oil is not always black - it can also be green (Devonian, I used to have it in a jar, sorry, I threw it away), brown (the most common) and even white (transparent, it seems to be found in the Caucasus).

Oil is divided by quality into several classes depending on chemical composition- accordingly, its price changes. Associated gas is very often dissolved in oil, which burns so brightly in flares.

Gas can be dissolved from 1 to 400 cubic meters in a cubic meter of oil. That is dofiga. This gas itself mainly consists of methane, but due to the difficulty of its preparation (it must be dried, purified and brought to GOST Wobbe numbers - so that there is a strictly defined calorific value), associated gas is very rarely used for domestic purposes. Roughly speaking, if gas from the field is put into an apartment in a gas stove, the consequences can be from soot on the ceiling to a fatally damaged stove and poisoning (for example, hydrogen sulfide).

Oh yes. Another associated muck in oil is dissolved hydrogen sulfide (because oil is organic matter). It is highly toxic and highly corrosive. This imposes its own difficulties on oil production. For oil production. Professionalism, which I, by the way, do not use.

Where did oil come from?
There are two theories on this (more details -). One is inorganic. It was first stated by Mendeleev and lies in the fact that water flowed past the hot metal carbides, and thus hydrocarbons were formed. The second is organic theory. It is believed that oil "matured", as a rule, in marine and lagoonal conditions, by decaying organic remains of animals and plants (silts) under certain thermobaric conditions (high pressure and temperature). In principle, research confirms this theory.

Why is geology needed?
It is probably worth mentioning the structure of our Earth. In my opinion, everything is beautiful and clear in the picture.

So, oil geologists deal only with the earth's crust. It consists of a crystalline basement (oil is very rare there, since these are igneous and metamorphic rocks) and a sedimentary cover. The sedimentary cover consists of sedimentary rocks, but I will not delve into geology. I can only say that the depths of oil wells are usually about 500 - 3500 m. It is at this depth that oil lies. Above is usually only water, below is a crystalline foundation. The deeper the rock, the earlier it was deposited, which is logical.

Where is the oil located?
Contrary to for some reason, widespread myths about "oil lakes" underground, oil is in traps. Simplifying, the traps in a vertical section look like this (water is the eternal companion of oil):

(The fold, curved "back" up, is called an anticline. And if it looks like a bowl - this is a syncline, oil does not linger in synclines).
Or like this:

And in plan they can be round or oval elevations. Dimensions - from hundreds of meters to hundreds of kilometers. One or more of these traps, located nearby, is an oil field.

Since oil is lighter than water, it floats up. But in order for the oil to not leak anywhere else (to the right, left, up or down), the reservoir with it must be limited by the rock-tire from above and below. Usually these are clays, dense carbonates or salts.

Where do the curves inside the earth's crust come from? After all, the rocks are deposited horizontally or almost horizontally? (if they are deposited in groups, then these groups are usually quickly leveled by wind and water). And bends - uplifts, lowerings - arise as a result of tectonics. Did you see the words "turbulent convection" in the picture with the cut of the Earth? This same convection moves the lithospheric plates, which leads to the formation of cracks in the plates, and consequently, displacement of blocks between cracks and changes in the internal structure of the Earth.

How is oil deposited?
Oil does not lie by itself, as already mentioned, there are no oil lakes. Oil is in the rock, namely, in its voids - pores and cracks:

The rocks are characterized by such properties as porosity is the fraction of the volume of voids in the rock - and permeability- the ability of the rock to pass through a liquid or gas. For example, ordinary sand is characterized by very high permeability. Concrete is much worse. But I dare to assure you that the rock lying at a depth of 2000 m with high pressure and temperature is much closer in properties to concrete than to sand. I felt. However, oil is being extracted from there.
This is a core - a drilled piece of rock. Dense sandstone. Depth is 1800 m. There is no oil in it.

Another important addition - nature does not tolerate emptiness. Almost all porous and permeable rocks are, as a rule, saturated with water; they have water in their pores. Salty because it flowed through many minerals. And it is logical that some of these minerals are carried away together with water in a dissolved form, and then, when the temperature and pressure conditions change, it falls out in these very pores. Thus, the grains of the rock become held together by salts and this process is called cementing. That is why, by and large, wells do not crumble immediately during the drilling process - because the rocks are cemented.

How is oil found?
Usually, first, according to seismic exploration: vibrations are started on the surface (by an explosion, for example) and the time of their return is measured by receivers.

Further, according to the wave return time, the depth of one or another horizon is calculated at different points on the surface and maps are built. If an uplift (=anticlinal trap) is detected on the map, it is checked for oil by drilling a well. Not all traps contain oil.

How are wells drilled?
A well is a vertical mine working with a length many times greater than its width.
Two facts about wells: 1. They are deep. 2. They are narrow. The average diameter of the well at the entrance to the reservoir is about 0.2-0.3 m. That is, a person will not crawl through there unambiguously. Average depth - as already mentioned, 500-3500 m.
Drilling wells from drilling rigs. There is such a tool for grinding rock as a chisel. Note, not a drill. And it is completely different from the same screw-shaped device from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The bit is suspended on the drill pipes and rotates - it is pressed to the bottom of the well by the weight of these same pipes. There are different principles for setting the bit in motion, but usually the entire drill string of pipes rotates so that the bit spins and crushes the rock with its teeth. Also, drilling fluid is constantly pumped into the well (inside the drill pipe) and pumped out (between the well wall and the outer wall of the pipe) in order to cool this entire structure and carry away particles of crushed rock with it.
What is the tower for? To hang these very drill pipes on it (after all, in the process of drilling, the upper end of the string is lowered, and new pipes must be screwed to it) and to raise the pipe string to replace the bit. Drilling one well takes about a month. Sometimes a special annular bit is used, which, when drilling, leaves a central column of rock - a core. The core is taken to study the properties of rocks, although this is expensive. Wells are also inclined and horizontal.

How to find out where which layer lies?
A person cannot go down into the well. But we need to know what we drilled there, don't we? When the well is drilled, geophysical probes are lowered into it on a cable. These probes work on completely different physical principles of operation - self-polarization, induction, resistance measurement, gamma radiation, neutron radiation, borehole diameter measurement, etc. All curves are written to files, it turns out such a nightmare:

Now the geophysicists are at work. Knowing physical properties of each rock, they distinguish layers by lithology - sandstones, carbonates, clays - and perform a breakdown of the section by stratigraphy (ie, to which era and time the layer belongs). I think about the park jurassic everyone heard:

In fact, there is a much more detailed division of the section into stages, horizons, members, etc. But we don't care now. It is important that oil reservoirs (formations capable of releasing oil) are of two types: carbonate (limestones, like chalk, for example) and terrigenous (sand, only cemented). Carbonates are CaCO3. Terrigenous - SiO2. This is if it's rude. It is impossible to say which is better, they are all different.

How is the well prepared for work?
After the well is drilled, it is cased. This means that a long string of steel casing pipes is lowered (almost like a well in diameter), and then ordinary cement mortar is pumped into the space between the well wall and the outer wall of the pipe. This is done so that the well does not crumble (after all, not all rocks are well cemented). In the context of the well now looks like this:

But we closed the formation we needed with a casing string and cement! Therefore, the perforation of the column is performed opposite the formation (and how to find out where the desired formation is? Geophysics!). Again, a perforator with explosive charges embedded in it descends on a cable. There, the charges are triggered and holes and perforation channels are formed. Now we are not worried about water from neighboring layers - we perforated the well just opposite the one we needed.

How is oil produced?
The most interesting part, I think. Oil is much more viscous than water. I think that such viscosity is understandable intuitively. Some petroleum bitumens, for example, are similar in viscosity to butter.
I'll go from the other end. The fluids in the formation are under pressure - overlying rock layers push against them. And when we drill a well, nothing presses from the side of the well. That is, in the area of ​​the well, the pressure is reduced. A pressure drop is created, called depression, and it is this pressure that causes the oil to start flowing towards the well and appear in it.
To describe the flow of oil, there are two simple equations that all oilmen should know.
Darcy equation for rectilinear flow:

The Dupuis equation for a plane-radial flow (just the case of fluid inflow to the well):

In fact, we stand on them. It is not worth going further into physics and writing the equation of non-stationary inflow.
From a technical point of view, three methods of oil extraction are most common.
Fountain. This is when the reservoir pressure is very high, and oil does not just enter the well, but also rises to its very top and overflows (well, it doesn’t actually overflow, but further into the pipe).
SHGN pumps (rod submersible pump) and ESP (electric centrifugal pump). The first case is an ordinary rocking machine.

The second one is not visible at all:

Notice there are no towers. The tower is needed only for lowering / raising pipes in the well, but not for production.
The essence of the operation of the pumps is simple: the creation of additional pressure so that the fluid that enters the well can rise through the well to the surface of the earth.
It is worth remembering an ordinary glass of water. How do we drink from it? We tilt, right? But the well cannot be tilted. But you can put a straw into a glass of water and drink through it, drawing the liquid in your mouth. This is how the well works: its walls are the walls of the glass, and instead of a tube, a string of tubing (tubing) is lowered into the well. Oil rises through the pipes.

In the case of SRP, the pumping unit moves its "head" up and down, respectively, setting the bar in motion. When moving up, the boom pulls the pump with it (the bottom valve opens), and when moving down, the pump lowers (the top valve opens). So, little by little, the liquid rises up.
ESP works directly from electricity (with a motor, of course). Wheels (horizontal) spin inside the pump, they have slots, so oil rises to the top.

I must add that the open gushing of oil, which they like to show in cartoons, is not only emergency situation, but also an environmental disaster and millions in fines.

What to do when oil is poorly produced?
Over time, oil ceases to be squeezed out of the rock under the weight of the overlying strata. Then the RPM system - reservoir pressure maintenance - comes into operation. Injection wells are drilled and water is pumped into them under high pressure. Naturally, the injected or formation water will sooner or later enter the production wells and will rise up along with the oil.
It should also be noted that the greater the proportion of oil in the flow, the faster it flows, and vice versa. Therefore, the more water flows with the oil, the harder it is for the oil to get out of the pores and into the well. The dependence of the proportion of oil permeability on the proportion of water in the flow is presented below and is called the relative phase permeability curves. It is also a very necessary concept for an oilman.

If the bottomhole formation zone is contaminated (with small rock particles carried away with oil, or solid paraffins have fallen out), then acid treatments are carried out (the well is stopped and a small amount of hydrochloric acid is pumped into it) - this process is good for carbonate formations, because they dissolve. And for terrigenous (sandstones) acid does not care. Therefore, hydraulic fracturing is carried out in them - gel is pumped into the well under very high pressure, so that the formation begins to crack in the well area, after which proppant is pumped (ceramic balls or coarse sand so that the crack does not close). After that, the well starts to work much better, because the obstacles to the flow are eliminated.

What happens to the oil after it is produced?
First, oil rises to the surface of the earth in a pipe that goes from each well. 10-15 nearby wells are connected by these pipes to one metering device, where it is measured how much oil is produced. Then the oil is sent for preparation according to GOST standards: salts, water, mechanical impurities (fine rock particles) are removed from it, if necessary, hydrogen sulfide, as well as oil, are completely degassed, to atmospheric pressure (you remember that oil can contain dofiga gas?). Marketable oil goes to the refinery. But the plant may be far away, and then the Transneft company comes into play - main pipelines for finished oil (as opposed to field pipelines for crude oil with water). Through the pipeline, oil is pumped by exactly the same ESPs, only laid on their side. The impellers rotate in them in the same way.
The water separated from the oil is pumped back into the reservoir, the gas is flared or goes to the gas processing plant. And oil is either sold (abroad by pipelines or tankers), or goes to an oil refinery, where it is distilled by heating: light fractions (gasoline, kerosene, naphtha) are used for fuel, heavy waxy fractions are used for raw materials for plastics, etc., and the heaviest fuel oils with a boiling point above 300 degrees usually serve as fuel for boilers.

How is all this regulated?
For oil production, there are two main project document: a project for calculating reserves (it justifies that there is just so much oil in the reservoir, and not more and not less) and a development project (it describes the history of the field and proves that it is necessary to develop it in this way and not otherwise).
To calculate the reserves, geological models are built, and for the development project - hydrodynamic models (there it is calculated how the field will work in one mode or another).

How much does it all cost?
I must say right away that all prices are, as a rule, confidential. But I can roughly say: a well in Samara costs 30-100 million rubles. depending on depth. A ton of marketable (not processed) oil costs differently. When I counted the first diploma, they gave a value of about 3000 rubles, when the second - about 6000 rubles, the time difference is a year, but these may not be real values. Now I do not know. Taxes are at least 40% of profits, plus property tax (depending on the book value of the property), plus mineral extraction tax. Add the money required for workers' salaries, for electricity, for well repairs and field development - the construction of pipelines and equipment for collecting and processing oil. Very often, the economics of development projects goes into the red, so you need to contrive to work in the black.
I will add such a phenomenon as discounting - a ton of oil produced in next year, is less valuable than a ton of oil produced in it. Therefore, we need to intensify oil production (which also costs money).

So, I summarized what I studied for 6 years. The whole process, from the appearance of oil in the reservoir, exploration, drilling, production, processing and transportation to sale - you see that this requires specialists of completely different profiles. I hope that at least someone read this long post - and I cleared my conscience and dispelled at least a few myths surrounding oil.

Offshore oil production, along with the development of shale and hard-to-recover hydrocarbon reserves, will over time displace 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. About 350 deposits are currently being developed in different zones 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 weather conditions in the 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 ultra-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 platform fixing 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. V Lately mobile bases for drilling began 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" on land 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.