Chapter 2-IV

Crude Oil and Exploitation

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 Crude Oil Proven Reserve

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 Proven Reserves by Country
unit: million barrels
U.S. EIA (start 2017) OPEC (end of 2015) BP (end of 2015)
Country Rank Reserves Rank Reserves Rank Reserves
Venezuela 1 300,878 1 300,878 1 300,900
Saudi Arabia 2 266,455 2 266,455 2 266,600
Canada 3 169,709 26 4,118 3 172,200
Iran 4 158,400 3 158,400 4 157,800
Iraq 5 142,503 4 142,503 5 143,100
Kuwait 6 101,500 5 101,500 7 101,500
UAE 7 97,800 6 97,800 8 97,800
Russia 8 80,000 7 80.000 6 102,400
Libya 9 48,000 8 74,363 9 78,400
Nigeria 10 37,062 9 37,062 11 37,100

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countries-by-proven-oil-reserves-(in-millions-of-barrels)---2017---US-EIA---Jo-Di-graphics.jpg
 Grade of Crude Oil
API gravity ρ (kg/m3)
Light > 31.1o < 870
Medium 22.3o-31.1o 870-920
Heavy 10o - 22.3o 920-1000
1. API: American Petroleum Institute
2. Generally speaking, oil with an API gravity between 40
and 45° commands the highest prices.
3. Above 45°, the molecular chains become shorter and
less valuable to refineries.

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 API gravity
Definition
141.5
API gravity = -131.5
SG

where SG = specific gravity

API gravity is a measure of how heavy or light a

petroleum liquid is compared to water:
If API gravity > 10, petroleum floats on water
If API gravity < 10, petroleum sinks in water

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 Grade Examples
• Venezuelan Orinoco Belt
– API Gravity: 16o (heavy)
– Sulfur content: 4.5% (sour)
• West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Blend
– API Gravity: 39.6o (light)
– Sulfur content: 0.24% (sweet)
• Note: Sour crude is defined as a crude
that contains ≥ 0.42% sulfur

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 Benchmark Crude
• The crude that serves as a pricing reference
for other types of crude
– There are many different crude oil (light, heavy,
sweet, sour, sea-based, land-based, and etc.)
– Land-based oil, delivered by pipelines, is more
expensive than ship delivered sea-based oil.
• The benchmark makes it easier for traders,
investors, analysts to determine the prices of
various crude oil and blends.

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 Major Benchmarks
• Brent Blend
– Used for roughly two-thirds of all crude contracts
around the world.
• West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
– Used for the oil consumed in the United States.
• Dubai/Oman
– Used for Persian Gulf oil delivered to Asia.
• Note: Taiwan’s gasoline price is based on
70% Dubai and 30% Brent
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 Brent Blend
• Refers to the oil from North Sea
– The oil is sea-based, can be transported to
distant locations by ships (lower cost)
• Characters of the oil
– Light and sweet, ideal for the production of
gasoline, diesel and fuels.

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 West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
• Refers to the oil from the wells of U.S.A.
– The land-based WTI is transported through
pipelines (more expensive to certain parts of
the globe than sea-based oil).
• Characters of the oil
– Very light and sweet: ideal for the production
of gasoline, in particular.

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 Dubai/Oman
• Refer to the oil from Dubai, Oman or Abu
Dhabi
• Characters of the oil
– Slightly lower grade (i.e. heavier and contains
more sulfur) than WTI or Brent.
– Grade order: WTI > Brent > Dubai
• .

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 Locating Oil Field
• The "classic" method includes making an
underground explosion and analyzing the
seismic response.

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 Drilling
• Drilling is the first step in crude oil extraction
– Drill wells into the reservoir with an oil rig
• A steel pipe (casing) is then placed in the
hole, to hold the structure of the newly
drilled well bore.

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 Stages of Oil Recovery
• Primary recovery (5-15% of the well’s oil)
– Initial sprouting: driven by natural forces
– Pumping: applied as natural forces diminish or
the spout stops
• Secondary recovery (30%)
– Use artificial means, e.g. water injection, to
increase the well pressure to drive oil to surface
• Enhanced or tertiary recovery (5-15%)
– Reduce the viscosity of oil to help it be driven to
the surface with artificial pressure

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 “Christmas Tree”
• A collection of valves
fitted to the top of the
well.
• Functions of the “tree”
– To regulate pressure and
flow
– To contain the initial
spouting geyser

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 Natural Forces
• The force exerted by the gas above the
crude
– Release of the gas initially dissolved in the
crude lowers the rate of pressure drop
• The lifting force of underground water
– The drainage of water from surface

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 Gas force

Water force
(Clark, N.J., Elements of
Petroleum Reservoirs, SPE, 1969)

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 Pumps Used in Primary Recovery
• Beam/rod pumps
– Use a beam-and-crank assembly and a
reciprocating motion to lift the oil to surface
• Electrical submersible pumps (ESPs)
– Use electricity powered impellers to lift the oil
to surface

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 Beam Pump
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 Electrical Submersible Pump
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 Secondary recovery
• During the primary recovery period, the
reservoir pressure falls gradually.
Eventually, the flow of oil stops.
• At this point, secondary recovery is
applied using one of the following artificial
means to increase the reservoir pressure:
– Water injection (most commonly used)
– Natural gas reinjection
– Air or carbon dioxide injection.

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 Enhanced recovery
• Enhanced recovery, or tertiary recovery, is
applied after secondary recovery.
• Enhanced recovery is costly, hence is
applied only when oil price is high enough.
• In this recovery, attempts are made to
increase the mobility, or decrease the
viscosity, of the oil.

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Methods for Enhanced Recovery
• Steam injection (most commonly used)
• Firing flooding
• Surfactant injection
• CO2 injection
• Microbial treatments

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 Steam Injection
• The steam is often comes from a power
plant, using the waste heat to generate
steam
Losses
~10%

Fuel Steam HP steam Electricity

Turbine
100% Generator ~30%

LP steam For oil

60% recovery

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 Fire Flooding
• A fire is started in a reservoir to heat-up
and move the oil.
• In fire flooding, some of the oil would be
burned as fuel.

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 Surfactant Injection
• Surfactants (detergents) are injected into
the reservoir to mobilize the oil which
would otherwise remain in the reservoir.
• Surfactant injection is expansive hence is
used only occasionally.

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 Carbon Dioxide Injection
• Carbon dioxide is also capable of reducing
oil viscosity when injected into the
reservoir.

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 Microbial Treatments
• Special microbes are used to break down
the hydrocarbon chain of oil, making the
oil less viscous.
• In some US states, such as Texas, there
are tax incentives for applying microbes
for oil recovery

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 Unconventional Oil
• As conventional oil is depleted, unconventional
oil will become more appealing.
• Two important unconventional oil with vast
reserve:
– Oil shale
– Tar sand
• The oil from these resources are often “extra
heavy” i.e. with an API <10 or ρ > 1000 kg/m3.

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 Shale Oil and Oil Shale
• Shale oil
– The oil comes from shale is referred to as
shale oil or tight oil.
– Tapping techniques: horizontal drilling and
hydraulic fracturing (fracking)
• Oil shale
– Refer to the shale (rock) that contains
“kerogen”- an oil precursor.
– Kerogen can be refined to regular oil by
breaking its molecules.
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 Oil Shale History
Boom
1915- Rumors of petroleum
sources running dry
1940s-Increase of petroleum
demand from WWII
1970s-Energy Crisis
2000s-Increase in oil prices
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Bust
1920s-WestTexas oil fields
discovered
1940s and 50s- Middle East
oil discoveries
1980s-OPEC dropped prices
2005s- booming shale
gas/oil production
32
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 Oil Shale (UK) photo 2010
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 Methods of Oil Shale Recovery
• Mining
– When the shale is near the surface. It can be
mined using the world’s largest digging
equipment.
• In situ heating
– Used a special heating tube to warm the rock
to 370oC (can take 8 months to 4 years).
– After heating, pump the resulting oil to surface.

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 Cost of In Situ Heating is Lower
• Energy self-sufficient
– The gas produced from the heating can be
recycled and burnt to produce more heat
• Higher quality product
– Gases and liquid instead of solid rock
• No needs for rock crushing, heated in low-
oxygen environment to turn the kerogen
into oil and gas as mining do.

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 Oil Shale Processing

Product
Supply of gases
Kerogen
bearing rock condenser
Returned
Steam hot gases
injection

Shale oil

Fossil fuel
Char discharge burner

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 Tar Sands
• Tar sands is a combination of clay, sand,
water, and bitumen.
– Bitumen: a heavy black viscous oil.
• Tar sands can be mined and processed to
extract the bitumen, which is then refined
into oil.
• Recovery methods (the same as oil shale)
– Mining
– In situ heating

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 Extracting Oil from Tar Sand

Union of concerned Scientists

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