PETROLEUM EXTRACTION INTRODUCTION In 2008, the United States produced an estimated 4.

9 million barrels of crude oil per day and imported 9.8 million barrels per day from other countries. This oil gets refined into gasoline, kerosene, heating oil and other products. To keep up with our consumption, oil companies must constantly look for new sources of petroleum, as well as improve the production of existing wells. So maybe youre thinking about, how does a company find oil and pump it from the ground? Is for that reason that today I would like to talk about the process of extraction of petroleum.// The first Step is locating the oil field. Geologists are the ones responsible for finding oil. Their task is to find the right conditions for an oil trap -- the right source rock, reservoir rock and entrapment. Many years ago, geologists interpreted surface features, surface rock and soil types, and perhaps some small core samples obtained by shallow drilling. Modern oil geologists also examine surface rocks and terrain, with the additional help of satellite images.// However, they also use a variety of other methods to find oil. They can use sensitive gravity meters to measure tiny changes in the Earth's gravitational field that could indicate flowing oil, as well as sensitive magnetometers to measure tiny changes in the Earth's magnetic field caused by flowing oil. They can detect the smell of hydrocarbons using sensitive electronic noses called sniffers. Finally, and most commonly, they use seismology, creating shock waves that pass through hidden rock layers and interpreting the waves that are reflected back to the surface.// Once the site has been selected, scientists survey the area to determine its boundaries, and conduct environmental impact studies if necessary. The oil company may need lease agreements, titles and right-of way accesses before drilling the land. After the legal issues are settled, the crew goes about preparing the land: 1. The land must be cleared and leveled, and access roads may be built. 2. Because water is used in drilling, there must be a source of water nearby. If there is no natural source, the crew drills water well. 3. The crew digs a reserve pit, which is used to dispose of rock cuttings and drilling mud during the drilling process, and lines it with plastic to protect the environment.//

Drilling The oil well is created by drilling a hole into the earth with an oil rig. A steel pipe (casing) is placed in the hole, to provide structural integrity to the newly drilled wellbore. Holes are then made in the base of the well to enable oil to pass into the bore. Finally a collection of valves called a "Christmas Tree" is fitted to the top, the valves regulating pressures and controlling flows. // After a reserve location has been identified by petroleum engineers, a well is drilled to access the reserve. Depending on the location, the reserve could be near the surface, deep underground, or under water, and each of these require specific techniques and equipment to safely access the reserve. The well bore is created with a drill, and a steel casing is installed inside the well bore to provide greater structural integrity than the bore wall itself would provide. A conventional well will go through three phases during its lifetime:// Now Im going to talk about this 3 phases: Primary recovery A new well is usually under pressure from natural gas and subterranean structures. This means that the crude oil will freely flow up and out of the well through the well bore. This pressure can be quite large, and a series of valves and blowout preventers are installed on the top of the well head to control the outflow of the oil. A report by the Institute for Energy states that as much as 5 15% of a reservoirs oil can be extracted through primary recovery.// Secondary recovery After the natural pressure within the well has been expended, pressure has to be applied via a different method to force the oil out of the well. The primary method used in secondary recovery is water injection. Since oil is less dense than water, the water sinks below the oil, forcing the oil up through the well bore. Alternatively, a gas, such as natural gas or carbon dioxide, can be injected into the reservoir to increase the pressure on the oil at the well location. Secondary recovery generally results in 30-50% of the oil reservoir being extracted.// Tertiary recovery After secondary recovery efficiency tapers off, tertiary recovery methods are used if economically feasible. The remaining oil in the reservoir is often contained in rock pores and in thin sheets. Recovery methods generally attempt to move the small oil particles together so that they can be recovered. Injection of carbon dioxide gas into the well is one method, since the carbon dioxide works to reduce the viscosity of the oil, reduce the effects of capillary action in the rock, and expand the oil volume. Surfactants are often added to the reservoir to decrease the surface tension between the oil and the water in the well.//

Like I said before, oil is a non-renewable resource and the over-explotation of oil deposits on the face of earth has begun the search for oil in the sea. But the main reason for this exploration and explotation of the coastal zone is the rapid increase in global energy demand. Although it is expected that the continental shelves to satisfy a significant portion of future oil requirements, the industry is turning to deeper water areas of the continental slopes to the future provision of oil, and possibly in the coming years will work in continental regions even more profound and too deep semienclosed seas, which are characterized by thick sediments.// The first site was discovered at sea in 1935 and operation began in 1946 in California. Since then some 20 000 wells drilled in the seabed, 75 countries have reported inventories and 28 removed oil, both near the coast and offshore. In the last five years of oil extraction at sea grew by nearly seventy percent, but relatively few catastrophic accidents. Of course, like everything new, prospecting and drilling for oil in the sea at considerable distances from the coast and in increasingly deep waters and wells that at any moment they reach ten kilometers deep, is still not one hundred percent safe and raises economical, technological and human problems.// In the exploration of coastal oil resources and boats floating platforms used for drilling wells, and the technology to do so is limited to a maximum depth of 450 meters. After this exploration, and as they appear accumulations considered commercially explotable oil, floating craft are replaced by large fixed structures required to drill wells and to accommodate the production and storage facilities. So far, they have used for this purpose large platforms anchored to the bottom through piles out on the water surface. The maximum depth to which these structures are installed does not exceed 100 meters.// CONCLUSION The sudden influx of oil can affect a developing economy, producing a sharp rise in the value of national currencies, you can return to non-oil sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing less competitive in world market so that oil dominates the economy. The country then becomes vulnerable to dramatic swings in the commercial market. Dependence on oil can also influence the course of action the government to its citizens. Michael Ross, an associate professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles, believes that the rich countries for oil do less to help the poor countries that have no oil, have lower levels of literacy have low scores on measures such as the "Human Development Index" of the UN, and have higher infant mortality and malnutrition.//

Why is this possible? The economists explain, "as opposed to agriculture, the oil sector employs few people inexperienced. The inherent volatility of commodity prices primarily affect the poor and those least able to avoid the risks. Because the resource is concentrated, the resulting wealth reaches the hands of just a few, and thus is more susceptible to misuse. " Because petrol profits sometimes focus directly on the leaders, the government has little need to raise revenues through taxes and responsible citizens.// THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

QUESTIONS New Drilling Technologies The U.S. Department of Energy and the oil industry are working on new ways to drill oil, including horizontal drilling techniques, to reach oil under ecologically-sensitive areas, and using lasers to drill oil wells Recently, another type of oil drilling has made the news