How is oil produced? Where do they extract oil? The price of oil

Oil is a combustible oily liquid, having a color from light brown (almost transparent) to dark brown (almost black). The density is divided into light, medium and heavy.

At present, it is impossible to imagine a modern world without oil. It is the main source of fuel for various transport, raw materials for the production of various consumer goods, medicines and other. And how do they extract oil?

Developments

Oil together with natural gas accumulates in porous rocks, which are called collectors. They can be different. Good is the collector, which represents the sandstone layer, which is located between the layers of clay and shale. This eliminates the leakage of oil and gas from underground reservoirs.

Once the minerals are discovered, their stocks in the reservoir are evaluated, the quality is developed and a way of safe extraction and transportation to the processing plant is developed. If the oil and gas production in this field is estimated to be economically viable, then the installation of the operational equipment begins.

Features of oil production

In natural reservoirs, where oil is extracted, it is in a damp state. Typically, the flammable liquid is mixed with gas and water. Often they are under high pressure, under the influence of which oil is displaced to unequipped wells. This can lead to problems. Sometimes the pressure is so low that a special pump is required.

The process of oil production can be divided into three stages:

• Movement of fluid along the formation towards the well. It is carried out due to a natural or artificially created pressure difference.
• Movement of the fluid along the well - from the face to the mouth.
• Collection of oil with gas and water on the surface, their separation, purification. And then the liquid is transported to the processing plants.

There are different methods of oil production, which depend on the type of mineral deposit (land, seabed), the type of reservoir, the depth of the deposit. Also, the method can change as the natural reservoir is emptied. It should be noted that offshore oil production is a more complex process, since it requires the installation of subsea installations.

Natural extraction

How is oil produced? For this, a force of pressure is used, whether natural or created artificially. Operation of the well at the energy of the formation is called a fountain. In this case, under the pressure of underground water, gas rises oil upward, without requiring the use of additional equipment. However, the fountain method is used only for the primary extraction of minerals, when the pressure is significant and capable of raising the liquid upward. In the future, it is necessary to use additional equipment that allows the oil to be completely pumped out.

The fountain method is the most economical. To regulate the flow of oil, a special fitting is installed, which seals the wellhead, controls the volume of the feed.

After primary extraction, secondary and tertiary methods are used to maximize the use of the deposit.

Primary, secondary and tertiary methods

With the natural method of oil production, a phased method is used:

• Primary. The liquid comes under the influence of high pressure in the formation, which is formed from groundwater, the expansion of gases and so on. With this method, the oil recovery factor (CIN) is about 5-15%.
• Secondary. This method is used when natural pressure is not enough to lift oil through a well. In this case, a secondary method is used, which consists in supplying energy from the outside. In this capacity, injected water, associated gas or natural gas. Depending on the reservoir rocks and oil characteristics, CIN in the secondary method reaches 30%, and the total value is 35-45%.
• Tertiary. This method consists in increasing the mobility of oil to increase its return. One of the ways is TEOR, by means of which the viscosity decreases due to the heating of the liquid in the reservoir. For this purpose water vapor is most often used. Less commonly, partial oil burning is used on site, directly in the reservoir itself. However, this method is not very effective. To change the surface tension between oil and water, you can introduce special surfactants (or detergents). The tertiary method allows to increase the CIN by about 5-15%. This method is used only if oil production continues to be profitable. Therefore, the application of the tertiary method depends on the price of oil and the cost of its extraction.

Mechanized method: gas lift

If energy for lifting oil is supplied from the outside, then this method of mining is called mechanized. It is divided into two types: compressor and pumping. Each of the methods has its own peculiarities.

Compressor is also called gaslift. This method involves pumping gas into the well, where it is mixed with oil. As a result, the density of the mixture is reduced. The bottomhole pressure also decreases, it becomes lower than the reservoir pressure. All this leads to the movement of oil to the surface of the earth. Sometimes gas under pressure is supplied from adjacent layers. Such a method is called a "noncompressor gas lift".

In the old fields, an airlift system is also used, in which air is used. However, this method requires the combustion of petroleum gas, and the pipeline has a low resistance to corrosion damage.

Gas lift for oil production is used in Western Siberia, Western Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan.

Mechanized method: use of pumps

With the pump method, the pumps are lowered to a certain depth. The equipment is divided into different types. The most widely used rod pumps.

Consider how to extract oil in this way. The principle of operation of such equipment is as follows. The pipe is lowered into the borehole, inside which the suction valve and the cylinder are located. The latter has a plunger with a discharge valve. The movement of oil is due to the reciprocating movement of the plunger. In this case, the suction and discharge valves alternately open and close.

The capacity of the sucker-rod pumps is approximately 500 cubic meters. M / day with a well depth of 200-400 m, and at a depth of 3200 m - up to 20 cubic meters. M / day.

For the extraction of oil can be used and rodless sediment. In this case, electric energy is supplied to the equipment through the wellbore. A special cable is used for this. Another kind of energy-carrying flow (heat carrier, compressed gas) can also be used.

In Russia, the centrifugal form of the electric pump is more often used. With the help of such equipment, most of the oil is extracted. When using electric pumps on the ground, it is necessary to install a control station and a transformer.

Extraction in the countries of the world

It was considered how to extract oil from natural reservoirs. It is worth familiarizing with the pace of development. Initially, until the mid-1970s, oil production doubled almost every decade. Then the pace of development became less active. The volume of oil that was pumped from the beginning of production (from the 1850s) to 1973 amounted to 41 billion tons, almost half of which fell on 1965-1973.

The world's largest oil producers are countries such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, the United States, China, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, Kazakhstan. These states are the main ones in the market of "black gold". It should be noted that oil production in the US is not at the top positions, but the country has bought large deposits in other states.

The largest oil and gas basins in which oil and gas are extracted are the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Mexico, the Southern Caspian, Western Siberia, the Algerian Sahara and others.

Oil reserves

Oil is a non-renewable resource. The volume of known deposits is 1200 billion barrels, and the undiscovered - about 52-260 billion barrels. Total oil reserves, taking into account its modern consumption, will last approximately 100 years. Despite this, Russia plans to increase the production of "black gold".

The countries that produce the most oil are:

• Venezuela.
• Saudi Arabia.
• Iran.
• Iraq.
• Kuwait.
• United Arab Emirates.
• Russia.
• Libya.
• Kazakhstan.
• Nigeria.
• Canada.
• USA.
• Qatar.
• China.
• Brazil.

Oil in Russia

Russia is one of the leading countries in oil production. It is not only widely used in the country itself, much of it is exported to various states. Where in Russia do they extract oil? The largest deposits are in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous District, the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District and the Republic of Tatarstan. These regions account for more than 60% of the total volume of produced liquid. Also, the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Yakutia are the places where oil is produced in Russia, showing excellent results in increasing volumes. This is due to the development of a new export direction Siberia - Pacific Ocean.

Oil prices

The price of oil is formed from the ratio of supply and demand. However, in this case there are some peculiarities. Demand is almost unchanged and has little effect on price dynamics. Of course, it grows every year. But the main factor in the formation of prices is supply. A small decrease leads to a sharp jump in value.

With the increase in the number of cars and similar equipment, the demand for oil is increasing. But the fields are gradually drying out. All this, according to experts, will ultimately lead to an oil crisis, when demand far exceeds supply. And then prices will skyrocket.

It is also worth noting that the price of oil is one of the most important political instruments in the world economy. To date, this is about $ 107 per barrel.