EXPLORING AND DRILLING

FOR OIL AND GAS

 The oil and gas value chain starts with
discovering fields and ends with providing
products to end consumers.
 The different stages are:
 Exploration,
 Drilling & production,
 Storage and shipping,
 Refining and marketing.
CLASSIFICATION OF THE PETROLEUM
INDUSTRY

 The American Petroleum Institute divides the

petroleum industry into five sectors:
 Upstream sector(exploration, development and
production of crude oil or natural gas);
 Midstream sector

 Downstream (oil tankers, refiners, retailers and

consumers);
 Pipeline sector; and

 Service and supply sector

WHAT ARE OIL AND GAS?
 Oil and Gas are substances found within the
earth’s crust.
 They are thought to come from decomposed plant
and animal matter.
 Scientists believe that plants and animals died
long ago, and were slowly buried by thick layers
of sediments. Over a long period of time, and
with pressure and temperature, the organic
materials were converted into the oil and gas
which are found today.

(For example, we know that present day garbage dumps give off
methane gas)
WHAT ELSE DO WE KNOW ABOUT OIL AND GAS?
Oil in it’s natural state can be
thick or thin, black or light
colored.

When oil is refined, many

products can be obtained:
Many other materials also
come from petroleum:
 Energy for power
 Gasoline for cars
 Plastics
 Diesel fuel for trucks and
trains  Materials for clothes
(example: polyester fabrics)
 Hi-octane fuels for planes
 Chemicals for everyday use
 Heating oil for houses
 Paints
Do you know that oil has natural gas in it?

When oil is produced, some gas is produced

with the oil.

The natural gas is in solution, just like the

carbon dioxide which is put inside of pop to
give it its fizz.

A barrel of oil may contain anywhere from

1 cubic ft of gas, to over 10,000 cubic ft,
depending on the type of reservoir.

That’s enough gas in a single barrel of oil to

fill your whole house!
WHERE CAN WE FIND OIL AND GAS?
Some people think that oil is in big pools underground.

Actually, most oil is trapped in the tiny pore spaces between

grains of rock or sand. Most of these pores are too small to be seen
with the naked eye.
SO, HOW DO WE FIND OIL-BEARING
ROCKS?

 Oil and gas are found in natural traps within the earth.

 These traps consist of domes or faults. Impermeable

rock above the trap prevents the oil and gas from
migrating up to surface. An “impermeable” rock is one
that fluid cannot pass through.

 Without traps, the oil and gas could migrate all the way
to the surface and evaporate.
 Here’s an example of a dome-
shaped Oil reservoir.

impermeable rock
Oil

Water

Note the layer of impermeable rock which prevents the oil from migrating upwards.

Also, note the layer of water below which prevents the oil from escaping down. Why?
 Here’s an example of a Gas reservoir

Gas

Water

Again, note the impermeable layer of rock preventing the gas from escaping.
Here’s an example of an Oil reservoir with a Gas cap

Gas
Oil
Water

Why do you suppose suppose suppose the gas is on top?

HOW DO WE FIND THE OIL RESERVOIRS?
 Geophysicists find reservoirs by bouncing sound waves off them, and
timing how long it takes for the sound to come back

 Computers process the data to construct pictures of what the earth looks
like underground.

source t = 1.42 sec

t = 1.2 sec
t = 1 sec

receivers

Gas
Oil
WHAT DO WE DO AFTER WE FIND A
RESERVOIR?

?
?
?
WE DRILL INTO IT ! ! !
WHAT DO WE DRILL WITH ?
WE DRILL WITH DRILLING RIG
WHAT’S A DRILLING RIG ?
A Drilling Rig is:

A package of special equipment put together to

enable us to drill into the earth.
A DRILLING RIG !
There are different types of drilling rigs available:
Jackup Rig
Land Rig For drilling in water
depths from 15 ft
to +/- 350 ft.

For drilling on land.

Drill Ship
Inland Barge

Drill ships and semi-submersible Semi-Submersible Rig

rigs are for drilling in water depths
For drilling in water depths
from 100 to 5000+ ft.
from 8 to 30 ft.
PARTS OF A DRILLING RIG
A drilling rig has many different parts:
a derrick, a substructure, hoisting
equipment, engines for power, drill pipe,
steel tanks, pumps, solids control
equipment, and many other pieces.

 Do you know that some drilling rigs can

drill as deep as 6 miles? That’s as deep as
Mt. Everest is tall!
A RIG MAY CONSIST OF
1. Pipe racks
2. Ramp
3. Derrick
4. Monkey board
5. Crown block
6. Drill line
7. Block & hook
8. Links & elevator
9. Kelly
10. Substructure
11. BOPs
POWER SUPPLY
POWER REQUIREMENT IN THE RIG IS THE
TOTAL CAPACITIES OF THESE MAJOR
EQUIPMENTS
- Drawworks
- Mud pumps
- Rotary system
- Auxilary power requirements for lighting,
etc…
- Life support system
Hoisting equipment on a rig
This equipment is used to raise or lower the drillstring.

The hoisting equipment

consists of: derrick

a crown block,
a traveling block,
drilling line,
and a drawworks to
This shows a 30 foot section
pull the drilling line up of drill pipe being added to
or down. the drill pipe already in the
hole.

substructure

Drill string
spare drill pipe
Drill bit
The Drilling Mud Cycle
1) Clean drilling mud is taken from the steel
mud tanks and pumped down the inside of the
drill pipe.

4) the mixture is
circulated across
screens at surface

3) the mixture of drilling mud and

drill cuttings are circulated up the
6) Clean mud falls annulus
screens through the screens
and is returned to the
pits

mud pump

5) the drill cuttings are removed, and 2) the mud is circulated through the drill bit into the
form a cuttings pile. This can be annulus, lifting the cuttings removed by the drill bit.
hauled off and disposed of.
Prepared by Tom Sheeran
Here’s a sequence showing how holes are drilled,
First, a large drill bit is used to drill
a short interval of hole.
0’
Then, steel casing is run and cemented on
the outside to keep the hole from
collapsing.

200’

Prepared by Tom Sheeran

 0’

Next,
a smaller bit is Then, this new
run inside the hole is also
first casing. cased off and
cemented.
This bit drills
out the bottom
of the casing,
and drills new
hole.
200’

500’

Prepared by Tom Sheeran

Again, a smaller
hole is drilled out,
and smaller
casing is run
to keep the
hole from
falling in.

Prepared by Tom Sheeran

In this way, the hole is drilled in stages, until the target reservoir rock is penetrated. At
this point, the geologists must figure out if there is oil or gas in it.

Prepared by Tom Sheeran

 How do Geologists tell if the reservoir has oil or gas?
They do this by running logs across the zone. Logs are tools run on electric cable
(“wireline”) which record the physical properties in the rock such as resistivity, porosity,
density, radioactivity, and pore pressure.

Prepared by Tom Sheeran

Here’s an example of what a log looks like. Geologists look at logs to decide
whether or not to complete a well (if there is oil), or abandon it (if there’s no oil).
Gamma Electrical Porosity
Radiation Resistivity

Sand good
porosity
Shale
200’
Siltstone
poor
Shale resistivity,
poor
probably
porosity
Siltstone water

Dolomite 500’

Shale

good
good porosity
resistivity,
Looks may have
like oil or gas poor
good porosity
sand
quality poor
3000’
resistivity, good
probably porosity
water

Prepared by Tom Sheeran

Can you tell where the geologist would complete this well?
Gamma Electrical Porosity
Radiation Resistivity

good porosity

200’
poor
resistivity, poor porosity
probably
water

good porosity

500’ poor porosity

good
resistivity,
may have oil
good porosity
}Right here! This shows a clean sand,
Looks or gas with good porosity and resistivity.
like
good poor
sand porosity
quality
poor
resistivity, good porosity
probably water

3000’ Prepared by Tom Sheeran

If the well looks good on the logs, we run a final string
of casing across the production zone, and cement it in place.

Prepared by Tom Sheeran

Then, we run perforating guns in the hole and perforate (shoot
holes ) in the casing across the productive zone.

Prepared by Tom Sheeran

Production tubing is run, with a packer to isolate the produced
zone from the casing above.
tubing

Packer

Prepared by Tom Sheeran

Finally, the well is produced into
a pipeline, which takes it to
production facilities on surface.

Prepared by Tom Sheeran

The production facilities on surface separate out the Produced Gas
gas, oil, and water into their separate phases.

Oil

Production Separator
Produced
Water

Prepared by Tom Sheeran

From there, the oil and gas may
be refined further before being
ready to market.

Produced Gas

Storage Tanks

Oil

Production Separator Oil Refinery

Produced Water

Prepared by Tom Sheeran

Finally, the gas and oil can be sold to
power cars and heat houses.

Prepared by Tom Sheeran

And That’s Where Oil and Gas Come From!

The End.
Prepared by Tom Sheeran
 About the Author:

Tom Sheeran has been working in the oil and gas industry for over 18
years. He worked summers on a drilling rig while going to school to earn
a degree in Petroleum Engineering. After graduating, he went to work for
Chevron in the Rocky Mountains. In 1990 he began working for Chevron
Overseas Petroleum, and since then has worked all over the world, in
Scotland, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Venezuela, Angola and Nigeria.
Tom is currently employed by Chevron Nigeria Ltd. and is living and
working as a resident in Lagos, Nigeria.

Tom and his wife Shallini have 2 children, and home-schooled in the U.S.
for several years before moving overseas. Tom developed this
presentation for kids so they may learn more about the oil industry.

You may contact Tom at:

Tom A. Sheeran
Sr. Drilling Engineer
Chevron Nigeria Ltd.
SHTA@chevron.com
TAS Oct. 1998