Artificial lift
Production wells are free flowing or lifted. A free-flowing oil well has enough downhole pressure to reach suitable wellhead production pressure and maintain an acceptable well flow. If the formation…
Subsea Injection wells
Subsea Wells are essentially the same as dry completion wells. Mechanically, however, they are placed in a subsea structure (template) that allows the wells to be drilled and serviced remotely…
Wellhead
Wellheads can involve dry or subsea completion. Dry completion means that the well is onshore or on the topside structure on an offshore installation. Subsea wellheads are located underwater on…
Exploration and drilling
When 3D seismic investigation has been completed, it is time to drill the well. Normally, dedicated drilling rigs either on mobile onshore units or offshore floating rigs are used. Larger…
The reservoir
The oil and gas bearing structure is typically porous rock, such as sandstone or washed out limestone. The sand may have been laid down as desert sand dunes or seafloor.…
Crude oil and natural gas
Crude oil Crude oil is a complex mixture consisting of 200 or more different organic compounds, mostly alkanes (single bond hydrocarbons on the form CnH2n+2) and smaller fraction aromatics (six-ring…
LNG liquefaction and regasification facilities
Natural gas that is mainly methane cannot be compressed to liquid state at normal ambient temperature. Except for special uses such as compressed natural gas (CNG), the only practical solution…
Pipelines
Pipelines can measure anywhere from 6 to 48 inches (15-120 cm) in diameter. In order to ensure their efficient and safe operation, operators routinely inspect their pipelines for corrosion and…
Gas Plants
Gas processing consists of separating the various hydrocarbons and fluids from the pure natural gas to produce what is known as “pipeline quality” dry natural gas. Major transportation pipelines usually…
Upstream process sections
We will go through each section in detail in the following chapters. The summary below is an introductory synopsis of each section. The activities up to the producing wellhead (drilling,…
