Steven Marzuola

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Introduction toOil and Gas Production

Steven Marzuola

ATA Energy Conference

May 4-6, 2007

Houston Texas

http://www.techlanguage.com/ATA 2

Introduction

Dope, Joints, Tripping

Strippers

Casing, Tubing, Liner

API - American Petroleum Institute

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Life of an Oilfield

• Reservoir formation

• Discovery and exploration

• Drilling

• Production, well intervention

• Abandonment

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Early oil discoveries• Usually guided by surface seepage. Lake

Maracaibo was destination for ships,seeking tar for repairs.

• Oil was usually a nuisance encounteredwhen drilling water wells

• Research in mid 1800’s, search toreplace whale oil used in lamps

• First rotary drilled well -1859, Titusville, PA

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Blowouts

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Historical practices

• On land, in the USA: Surface owner ownseverything to the center of the earth.Often led to inefficiencies, legal battles.

• Today, mineral rights on most propertyare bought and sold separately from thesurface land. Field or reservoir usuallymanaged as a single unit.

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Congestion

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Requirements of a Reservoir

1. Source or Generator rock

2. Reservoir

3. Seal or cap rock

4. Structure, hydrocarbons trap

5. Timing

6. Maturation

7. Migration

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Exploration aided by geology

• Surface features– Anticlines

– Faults, Salt domes

– Presence of iron

• Subsurface surveys– Gravimeter, Magnetometer

– Seismic - 2D, 3D

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Anticlines Salt dome

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Structural trap

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Gravimeter

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Seismic surveying

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3D Seismic images

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Today’s drilling• Most wells drilled using rotary drilling

• Steel drill pipe comes in 30-foot sectionsthat are threaded on both ends.

• Each section of drill pipe is called a joint.After drilling 30 feet, the kelly must beraised and another joint of pipe addedbelow the kelly. This is called making aconnection.

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Drill string components

Typical rotary drillingBottom Hole Assembly (BHA)

Additional components: mudmotors, LWD / MWD tools,

steerable subs

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Drill bits

Diamond bits

Tricone rock bit - jets,teeth.

Some use tungstencarbide teeth

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Surface components

• Kelly, kelly bushing, swivel, hose20

Pipehandling tools

Drill pipe slips Tongs

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Pressure control

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Flow of drilling mud

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Hydrostatic pressure

• Pressure is proportional to:– Height (depth) of fluid column

– Density (i.e. lbs/gallon)

• Water (8.34 lb/gal) provides a“pressure gradient” of 0.433 psi/ft

• 10,000 ft well full of water; bottomhole pressure = 4333 psi

• Drilling mud usually weighs 1.6 - 2.5times more than water

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Mud system components

• Shale shakers

• Desanders and desilters (hydrocyclones)

• Degassers

• Centrifuges

• Mud agitators

• Cuttings washers

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Water-based vs. oil-based muds

• Water most widely used, but can cause“skin” damage, contaminate formation

• In response, oil-based muds weredeveloped

• Adverse effects on rubber products,(seals, pump parts), environmentalconcern

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Modern improvements

• Major changes in past 20 years are:– 3D seismic, software, computer

– Top drive - all offshore rigs, big/deeponshore

– MWD - Measure While Drilling technology

– Mud motors

– Directional drilling => horizontal wells

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Horizontal drilling

Multilateralcompletions

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Top Drive

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Completions

• Most wells lined with steel casing.Purposes:– Protect from cave-ins

– Protect surface formations, water supply

– Isolate producing formations

– Prevent blowouts

• Innermost pipe is “tubing”, removable, toisolate flow from casing

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Casing and wellhead

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Wellheads/Christmas trees

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Separationequipment

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Stages of production

• Primary recovery - natural flow

• Secondary recovery - mechanicalpumping, gas lift

• Tertiary or Enhanced Oil Recovery - Gasinjection, thermal, chemical

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Workover and well servicing

• Together known as “intervention”

• Workover rig similar to drilling. Performsacidizing, fracturing stimulation,cementing, deeper drilling, recompletionto a different zone, sidetracking

• Well servicing - wireline, rod pullingunits, flexible tubing

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Flexible tubing rig

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Pumping

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TypicalRod Pump

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Other methods

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Offshore - Everything is BIG

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• Water depth 303 meters

• Overall height 472meters

• Weighs 656,000 tons.

• Produces gas from 40wells

• Towed 200 km to theNorwegian Sea. Talleststructure ever moved byman.

Norske Shell “Troll A”

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FPSO - Floating ProductionStorage, Offtake

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ChevronTexaco “Genesis”

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Chevron “Typhoon” meets “Rita”

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Peak Oil, or Hubbert’s Peak

• M. King Hubbert - Shell geophysicist

• Theory: production tends to followbell-shaped curve. Can be predictedin advance.

• Production increases early due todiscoveries and new infrastructure.Later declines due to depletion.

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Peak Oil, or Hubbert’s Peak (cont)

• In 1956, Hubbert predicted peak of USAproduction late 1960s - early 1970s.

• Controversial, but proven right by 1976.Actual peak was in 1970.

• Is it applicable to world production?– Rapidly growing demand in China, India

– New technologies

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Historical oil production

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Steven Marzuola281-381-9337

www.techlanguage.comsteven@techlanguage.com