Crude Oil Production

Petroleum production engineering is that part of petroleum engineering that attempts to

maximize oil and gas production in a cost-effective manner. To perform their job correctly,
production engineers should have solid background and sound knowledge about the properties of
fluids they produce and working principles of all the major components of producing wells and
surface facilities. The role of a production engineer is to maximize oil and gas production in a
cost-effective manner. Familiarization and understanding of oil and gas production systems are
essential to the engineers.
A complete oil or gas production system consists of a reservoir, well, flowline, separators,
pumps, and transportation pipelines. The reservoir supplies wellbore with crude oil or gas. The
well provides a path for the production fluid to flow from bottom hole to surface and offers a
means to control the fluid production rate. The flowline leads the produced fluid to separators.
The separators remove gas and water from the crude oil. Pumps and compressors are used to
transport oil and gas through pipelines to sales point (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 A sketch of petroleum production system

Reservoir
Hydrocarbon accumulations in geological traps can be classified as reservoir, field, and pool. A
‘‘reservoir’’ is a porous and permeable underground formation containing an individual bank of
hydrocarbons confined by impermeable rock or water barriers and is characterized by a single
natural pressure system. A ‘‘field’’ is an area that consists of one or more reservoirs all related to
the same structural feature. A ‘‘pool’’ contains one or more reservoirs in isolated structures.
Depending on the initial reservoir condition in the phase diagram (Fig. 2), hydrocarbon
accumulations are classified as oil, gas condensate, and gas reservoirs. An oil that
is at a pressure above its bubble-point pressure is called an ‘‘undersaturated oil’’ because it can
dissolve more gas at the given temperature. An oil that is at its bubble-point pressure is called a
‘‘saturated oil’’ because it can dissolve no more gas at the given temperature. Single (liquid)-
phase flow prevails in an undersaturated oil reservoir, whereas two-phase (liquid oil and free
gas) flow exists in a saturated oil reservoir.

Fig. 2 A typical hydrocarbon phase diagram

Categories of Well
Gas wells are wells with producing GOR being greater than 100,000 scf/stb; condensate wells
are those with producing GOR being less than 100,000 scf/stb but greater than 5,000 scf/stb; and
wells with producing GOR being less than 5,000 scf/stb are classified as oil wells.
Classification of Oil Reservoir
Oil reservoirs can be classified on the basis of boundary type, which determines driving
mechanism.
Reservoir Drive Mechanism
 Water-drive reservoir
  Gas-cap drive reservoir
 Dissolved-gas drive reservoir

Water-drive reservoir
In water-drive reservoirs, the oil zone is connected by a continuous path to the surface
groundwater system (aquifer). The pressure caused by the ‘‘column’’ of water to the
surface forces the oil (and gas) to the top of the reservoir against the impermeable barrier that
restricts the oil and gas (the trap boundary). This pressure will force the oil and gas toward the
wellbore.

Gas-cap drive reservoir

In a gas-cap drive reservoir, gas-cap drive is the drive mechanism where the gas in the reservoir
has come out of solution and rises to the top of the reservoir to form a gas cap (Fig. 1.4). Thus,
the oil below the gas cap can be produced. If the gas in the gas cap is taken out of the reservoir
early in the production process, the reservoir pressure will decrease rapidly. Sometimes an oil
reservoir is subjected to both water and gas-cap drive.

Fig. 3 A sketch of a gas-cap drive reservoir.

Dissolved-gas drive reservoir
A dissolved-gas drive reservoir (Fig. 4) is also called a ‘‘solution-gas drive reservoir’’ and
‘‘volumetric reservoir.’’ The oil reservoir has a fixed oil volume surrounded by no flow
boundaries (faults or pinch-outs). Dissolved-gas drive is the drive mechanism where the
reservoir gas is held in solution in the oil (and water). The reservoir gas is actually in a liquid
form in a dissolved solution with the liquids (at atmospheric conditions) from the reservoir.
Compared to the water- and gas-drive reservoirs, expansion of solution (dissolved) gas in the oil
provides a weak driving mechanism in a volumetric reservoir. In the regions where the oil
pressure drops to below the bubble-point pressure, gas escapes from the oil and oil–gas two-
phase flow exists. To improve oil recovery in the solution-gas reservoir, early pressure
maintenance is usually preferred.

Fig. 4 A sketch of a dissolved-gas drive reservoir.

Well
Oil and gas wells are drilled like an upside-down telescope. The large-diameter borehole section
is at the top of the well. Each section is cased to the surface, or a liner is placed in the well that
laps over the last casing in the well. Each casing or liner is cemented into the well (usually up to
at least where the cement overlaps the previous cement job). The last casing in the well is the
production casing (or production liner). Once the production casing has been cemented into the
well, the production tubing is run into the well. Usually a packer is used near the bottom of the
tubing to isolate the annulus between the outside of the tubing and the inside of the casing. Thus,
the produced fluids are forced to move out of the perforation into the bottom of the well and then
into the inside of the tubing.
Packers can be actuated by either mechanical or hydraulic mechanisms. The production tubing is
often (particularly during initial well flow) provided with a bottom-hole choke to control the
initial well flow (i.e., to restrict overproduction and loss of reservoir pressure). Figure 5 shows a
typical flowing oil well, defined as a well producing solely because of the natural pressure of the
reservoir. It is composed of casings, tubing, packers, down-hole chokes (optional), wellhead,
Christmas tree, and surface chokes.
Fig. 5 A typical Flowing oil well

Well head
The ‘‘wellhead’’ is defined as the surface equipment set below the master valve ( figure 6). It
includes casing heads and a tubing head. The casing head (lowermost) is threaded onto the
surface casing. This can also be a flanged or studded connection. A ‘‘casing head’’ is a
mechanical assembly used for hanging a casing string (Fig. 1.8). Depending on casing programs
in well drilling, several casing heads can be installed during well construction. The casing head
has a bowl that supports the casing hanger. This casing hanger is threaded onto the top of the
production casing (or uses friction grips to hold the casing). As in the case of the production
tubing, the production casing is landed in tension so that the casing hanger actually supports the
production casing (down to the freeze point). In a similar manner, the intermediate casing(s) are
supported by their respective casing hangers (and bowls).
 All of these casing head arrangements are
supported by the surface casing, which is in compression
and cemented to the surface. A well completed with three
casing strings has two casing heads. The uppermost casing
head supports the production casing. The lowermost casing head sits on the surface casing
(threaded to the top of
the surface casing).