PETROCHEMICALS & PETROLEUM REFINING TECHNOLOGY

EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION OF PETROLEUM

Extraction Process

A scientist demonstrates how petroleum is contained inside the pores of rock. First, a piece of petroleumbearing rock is crushed into small pieces.

Then, the crushed rock is placed in a test tube.

The rock is heated, releasing the petroleum inside and creating a flame at the opening of the test tube.

Extraction of Petroleum
Locate the oil field Drilling Extract/Recov er the oil

PETROLEUM

Oil & gas Trap

Reservoir Rock permeable subsurface rock contained oil (porous & permeable) Oil and natural gas is composed in sedimentary rock layers. Sedimentary rock-reservoir for oil and gas. Sediment consists of breakdown pre-existing rock, seashells and precipitated salt.

Oil & gas Trap

Sedimentary Rock

Oil & gas Trap

Sand grains

Pore spaces (Contained Oil)

3 types of sedimentary rock: 1. Sandstones 2. Limestones 3. Dolostones

Oil & gas Trap

A trap requires 3 elements:

1.
2.

3.

A porous reservoir rock to accumulate the oil & gas An overlying impermeable rock to prevent the oil & gas from escaping A source for the oil & gas (black waxy shales)

Oil & Gas Trap

Who Finds Oil?

Geologist

How to Find Oil?

Sensitive gravity meters - measure tiny changes in the Earth's gravitational field that could indicate flowing oil Sensitive magnetometers - measure tiny changes in the Earth's magnetic field caused by flowing oil

How to Find Oil?

Satellite images - record infrared and ultraviolet light

How to Find Oil?

Seismology
-

creating shock waves that pass through hidden rock layers and interpreting the waves that are reflected back to the surface Computer processes the geophones data then convert to seismic lines

Seismology (Onshore)

Thumper/Vibrator

- On land we used to use dynamite to create shock waves. - Thumper' truck drives to the site, raises itself up on hydraulic lifts, and then begins vibrating. - The sound waves travel downward, hit something solid, reflected back to the surface where sensors (used to be called stingers) are place along the ground. - Sensors are connected back to a recording device.

How to Find Oil?

Placing Geophones

Seismograph

Seismology (Offshore)

Send down sound waves, let them reflect, and pick up the reflection with sensors (hydrophones or, on land, seismographs). The speed will change depending on the make up of the rock type . The reflected wave returns at a speed characteristic of the material it has been travelling through. The result is a set of seismic lines that the geologists and hydrogeologists interpret.

Drilling for Oil & Gas

Wells were drilled with cable tools in which a heavy drill bit on a cable was repeatedly dropped up and down on the ground to literally "chop" a hole down to the trap.

Today, we use rotary drilling in which a bit on the end of a length of drill pipe is rotated.

Different types of oil rigs used for various depths.

Drilling for Oil & Gas

Drilling

fluid (water & mud) is pumped down the pipe to flow through the bit & lubricates the bit, washes away the cuttings, and maintains pressure in the hole to prevent the well from becoming a blowout. mud flows back to the surface through the gap between the drill pipe and the hole. This gap is called the annulus.
Annulus

Drilling fluids

The

Mud circulation in the hole

Video

DRILLING OIL & GAS

Drilling for Oil & Gas

Drilling Process

Place the drill bit, collar and drill pipe in the hole. Attach the kelly and turntable and begin drilling. As drilling progresses, circulate mud through the pipe and out of the bit to float the rock cuttings out of the hole. Add new sections (joints) of drill pipes as the hole gets deeper. Remove (trip out) the drill pipe, collar and bit when the pre-set depth (anywhere from a few hundred to a couple-thousand feet) is reached.

Drilling Bit

Christmas tree

Drill pipes

Well head

Casing and tubing

Nodding Donkey/Pump Jack (Onshore)

1. Drill, lowered from rig, bores through seabed creating a borehole for sections of casing pipe to be lowered into 2. Casing pipe is lowered into borehole allowing cement to be pumped down the pipe to fix it in place 3. Once the cement is set and secure another stage of drilling begins

Drilling for Oil & Gas

Different types of deep water platforms(Offshore)

Fixed Platform

Built on concrete or steel legs, or both, anchored directly onto the seabed, A deck for drilling rigs, production facilities and crew quarters. Water depths :1,700 ft (520 m).
The Grane Platform, Norway

Semi-submersible Platform
Hulls

(columns and pontoons) for the structure to float and sufficient weight to keep the structure upright. can be moved from place to place be ballasted up or down by altering the amount of flooding in buoyancy tanks by chain, wire rope
Oil Platform P-51 off the Brazilian coast

It

Can

Anchored Water

depths : 200 to 10,000 feet (60 to 3,000 m).

Tension Leg Platform (TLP)

Floating

platforms tethered to the seabed in a manner that eliminates most vertical movement of the structure.
Conventional TLP

Water

depths : 6,000 feet (2,000 m). "conventional" TLP is a 4-column design which looks similar to a semisubmersible.

The

SPAR Platform
1. 2.

Spars are moored to the seabed like TLPs Spars designed in three configurations: "conventional" one-piece cylindrical hull "truss spar" - midsection is composed of truss elements connecting the upper buoyant hull with the bottom soft tank (permanent ballast) "cell spar" - multiple vertical cylinders. The spar has more inherent stability than a TLP since it has a large counterweight at the bottom Ability to move horizontally and to position itself over wells at some distance from the main platform location. Water depth : 2000-10000 ft
Devil's Tower Spar Platform

3.

Jack Up Rig Platform

Can

be jacked up above the sea using legs that can be lowered, much like jacks. depths : 400-550 feet (120-170 m)

Water

They

are designed to move from place to place, and then anchor themselves by deploying the legs to the ocean bottom using a rack and pinion gear system on each leg

Drilling Barge
Used

mostly for inland, shallow water drilling (ex: lakes, swamps, rivers, and canals)

Drilling

barges are large, floating platforms

by tugboat from location to location.

Towed

Drilling Ship

A drillship is a maritime vessel that has been fitted with drilling apparatus. It is most often used for exploratory drilling of new oil or gas wells in deep water but can also be used for scientific drilling. Most drillships are outfitted with a dynamic positioning system to maintain position over the well Water depths :12,000 ft (3,700 m).

Moveable Rigs (for exploratory wells)

Drilling Barge

Drillingship

Jack Up Rig

Semi-submersible rig

Video

OIL RECOVERY

Oil Recovery
Primary Recovery

Makes use of the natural conditions in the reservoir to drive out the oil after a well is drilled Oil recovered : 15 - 20% of the original oil in place

Solution Gas Drive Gas Cap Drive Water Drive

Solution gas

Solution Gas Drive

Gas Cap Drive

Well head

Water underpressure

Water Drive

Exercise State the purpose of christmas tree in oil & gas recovery.

Oil Recovery
Secondary Recovery
Enhance

or replace the primary recovery techniques To increase the recovery of oil in place Method used since the late 1940's

1. Water flooding Involve injecting water into the underground reservoir to displace the oil and drive it into the wellbore where it can be lifted to the surface by pumps.

2. Immiscible gas injection Injection of low pressure gas to maintain reservoir pressure
Oil

recovery : 20 40% of the original oil in place.

Thus,

even after the secondary phase of recovery, about 60 80% of the oil still remains in the reservoir.

Oil Recovery
Tertiary Recovery

Generic term : Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)

Take over when secondary recovery no longer effective

Oil Recovery : 30 60% of the original oil in place.

1. Steam injection /Thermal processes - Raise the temperature of the oil - Reduces the oil's viscosity - Improves its ability to flow through the reservoir

2. Miscible techniques

- Injection of a gas such as NG, N2 or CO2 - Raising the pressure within the reservoir - Expand in the reservoir - Push the additional oil to the wellbore

3. Chemical injection - Involves "polymers" to increase the effectiveness of water injection

Oil Recovery
Field Processing

Objectives: purify the oil and gas dispose any harmful contaminants

 Dehydration - removal of water bound in an oilwater emulsion and is carried out through a combination of chemicals, application of heat and electricity and the proper retention time in the demulsifier. Sweetening - refers to the removal of H2S, typically by means of stripping with natural gas available from the reservoir.

Stabilization - refers to the removal of light gas components dissolved in the oil in order to increase its vapor pressure. There are various techniques for accomplishing this. Note that removal of light gases occurs at conditions where H2S can also vaporize, so some sweetening occurs simultaneously.

ASSIGNMENT 1