Oil well

An oil well is a drillhole boring in Earth that is

designed to bring petroleum oil hydrocarbons to the
surface. Usually some natural gas is released as
associated petroleum gas along with the oil. A well that
is designed to produce only gas may be termed a gas
well. Wells are created by drilling down into an oil or
gas reserve that is then mounted with an extraction
device such as a pumpjack which allows extraction
from the reserve. Creating the wells can be an
expensive process, costing at least hundreds of
thousands of dollars, and costing much more when in
hard to reach areas, e.g., when creating offshore oil
platforms. The process of modern drilling for wells first The pumpjack, such as this one located south of
started in the 19th century, but was made more
Midland, is a common sight in West Texas
efficient with advances to oil drilling rigs during the
20th century.

Wells are frequently sold or exchanged between different oil and gas companies as an asset – in large
part because during falls in price of oil and gas, a well may be unproductive, but if prices rise, even low
production wells may be economically valuable. Moreover, new methods, such as hydraulic fracturing
(a process of injecting gas or liquid to force more oil or natural gas production) have made some wells
viable. However, peak oil and climate policy surrounding fossil fuels has made fewer of these wells
and costly techniques viable.

However, the large number of neglected or poorly maintained wellheads is a large environmental
issue: they may leak methane emissions or other toxic emissions into local air, water or soil systems.
This pollution often becomes worse when wells are abandoned or orphaned – where wells no longer
are economically viable, and no longer are maintained by a company. A 2020 estimate by Reuters
suggested that there were at least 29 million abandoned wells internationally, creating a significant
source of greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change.[1][2]

History
The earliest known oil wells were drilled in China in 347 CE. These wells had depths of up to about
240 metres (790 ft) and were drilled using bits attached to bamboo poles.[3] The oil was burned to
evaporate brine and produce salt. By the 10th century, extensive bamboo pipelines connected oil wells
with salt springs. The ancient records of China and Japan are said to contain many allusions to the use
of natural gas for lighting and heating. Petroleum was known as burning water in Japan in the 7th
century.[4][5]

According to Kasem Ajram, petroleum was distilled by the Persian alchemist Muhammad ibn
Zakarīya Rāzi (Rhazes) in the 9th century, producing chemicals such as kerosene in the alembic (al-
ambiq),[6] and which was mainly used for kerosene lamps.[7] Arab and Persian chemists also distilled
crude oil in order to produce flammable products for military
purposes. Through Islamic Spain, distillation became available in
Western Europe by the 12th century.[4]

Some sources claim that from the 9th century, oil fields were
exploited in the area around modern Baku, Azerbaijan, to produce
naphtha for the petroleum industry. These places were described
by Marco Polo in the 13th century, who described the output of
those oil wells as hundreds of shiploads. When Marco Polo in 1264
visited Baku, on the shores of the Caspian Sea, he saw oil being
collected from seeps. He wrote that "on the confines toward Early oil field exploitation in
Geirgine there is a fountain from which oil springs in great Pennsylvania, around 1862
abundance, in as much as a hundred shiploads might be taken
from it at one time."[8]

In 1846, Baku (settlement Bibi-Heybat) the first ever well was

drilled with percussion tools to a depth of 21 metres (69 ft) for oil
exploration. In 1846–1848, the first modern oil wells were drilled
on the Absheron Peninsula north-east of Baku, by Russian
engineer Vasily Semyonov considering the ideas of Nikolay
Voskoboynikov.[9]

Ignacy Łukasiewicz, a Polish[10][11] pharmacist and petroleum

industry pioneer built one of the world's first modern oil wells in
Galician oil wells
1854 in Polish village Bóbrka, Krosno County[12] who in 1856 built
one of the world's first oil refineries.[13]

In North America, the first commercial oil well entered operation

in Oil Springs, Ontario in 1858, while the first offshore oil well was
drilled in 1896 at the Summerland Oil Field on the California
Coast.[14]

The earliest oil wells in modern times were drilled percussively, by

repeatedly raising and dropping a cable tool into the earth. In the
20th century, cable tools were largely replaced with rotary drilling,
which could drill boreholes to much greater depths and in less
time.[15] The record-depth Kola Borehole used a mud motor while
drilling to achieve a depth of over 12,000 metres (12 km;
39,000 ft; 7.5 mi).[16]

Until the 1970s, most oil wells were vertical, although lithological
and mechanical imperfections cause most wells to deviate at least
slightly from true vertical (see deviation survey). However,
modern directional drilling technologies allow for strongly
1904 oil well fire at Bibi-Heybat
deviated wells which can, given sufficient depth and with the
proper tools, actually become horizontal. This is of great value as
the reservoir rocks which contain hydrocarbons are usually
horizontal or nearly horizontal; a horizontal wellbore placed in a production zone has more surface
area in the production zone than a vertical well, resulting in a higher production rate. The use of
deviated and horizontal drilling has also made it possible to reach reservoirs several kilometers or
miles away from the drilling location (extended reach drilling), allowing for the production of
hydrocarbons located below locations that are either difficult to place a drilling rig on,
environmentally sensitive, or populated.

Life of a well

Planning

Before a well is drilled, a geologic target is identified by a geologist or geophysicist to meet the
objectives of the well.

For a production well, the target is picked to optimize production from the well and manage
reservoir drainage.
For an exploration or appraisal well, the target is chosen to confirm the existence of a viable
hydrocarbon reservoir or to learn its extent.
For an injection well, the target is selected to locate the point of injection in a permeable zone,
which may support disposing of water or gas and /or pushing hydrocarbons into nearby production
wells.

The target (the end point of the well) will be matched with a surface location (the starting point of the
well), and a trajectory between the two will be designed. There are many considerations to take into
account when designing the trajectory such as the clearance to any nearby wells (anti-collision) or if
this well will get in the way of future wells, trying to avoid faults if possible and certain formations
may be easier/more difficult to drill at certain inclinations or azimuths.

When the well path is identified, a team of geoscientists and engineers will develop a set of presumed
properties of the subsurface that will be drilled through to reach the target. These properties include
pore pressure, fracture gradient, wellbore stability, porosity, permeability, lithology, faults, and clay
content. This set of assumptions is used by a well engineering team to perform the casing design and
completion design for the well, and then detailed planning, where, for example, the drill bits are
selected, a BHA is designed, the drilling fluid is selected, and step-by-step procedures are written to
provide instruction for executing the well in a safe and cost-efficient manner.

With the interplay with many of the elements in a well design, and since making a change to one will
have a knock-on effect on many other things, trajectories and designs often go through several
iterations before a plan is finalized.

Drilling

The well is created by drilling a hole 12 cm to 1 meter (5 in to 40 in) in diameter into the earth with a
drilling rig that rotates a drill string with a bit attached. After the hole is drilled, sections of steel pipe
(casing), slightly smaller in diameter than the borehole, are placed in the hole. Cement may be placed
between the outside of the casing and the borehole known as the annulus. The casing provides
structural integrity to the newly drilled wellbore, in addition to isolating potentially dangerous high
pressure zones from each other and from the surface.

With these zones safely isolated and the formation protected by the casing, the well can be drilled
deeper (into potentially more-unstable and violent formations) with a smaller bit, and also cased with
a smaller size casing. Modern wells often have two to five sets of subsequently smaller hole sizes
drilled inside one another, each cemented with casing.

To drill the well

The drill bit, aided by the weight of the drill string above it, cuts
into the rock. There are different types of drill bit; some cause
the rock to disintegrate by compressive failure, while others
shear slices off the rock as the bit turns.
Drilling fluid, a.k.a. "mud", is pumped down the inside of the
drill pipe and exits at the drill bit. The principal components of
drilling fluid are usually water and clay, but it also typically
contains a complex mixture of fluids, solids and chemicals that
must be carefully tailored to provide the correct physical and
chemical characteristics required to safely drill the well.
Particular functions of the drilling mud include cooling the bit,
lifting rock cuttings to the surface, preventing destabilisation of
the rock in the wellbore walls and overcoming the pressure of
fluids inside the rock so that these fluids do not enter the
wellbore. Some oil wells are drilled with air or foam as the
drilling fluid. An annotated schematic of an oil
The generated rock "cuttings" are swept up by the drilling fluid well during a drilling phase
as it circulates back to surface outside the drill pipe. The fluid
then goes through "shakers" which strain the cuttings from the
good fluid which is returned to the pit. Watching for
abnormalities in the returning cuttings and monitoring pit
volume or rate of returning fluid are imperative to catch "kicks"
early. A "kick" is when the formation pressure at the depth of
the bit is more than the hydrostatic head of the mud above,
which if not controlled temporarily by closing the blowout
preventers and ultimately by increasing the density of the
drilling fluid would allow formation fluids and mud to come up
through the annulus uncontrollably.
The pipe or drill string to which the bit is attached is gradually Well Casing
lengthened as the well gets deeper by screwing in additional
9 m (30 ft) sections or "joints" of pipe under the kelly or
topdrive at the surface. This process is called making a
connection. The process called "tripping" is when pulling the
bit out of hole to replace the bit (tripping out), and running back
in with a new bit (tripping in). Joints can be combined for more
efficient tripping when pulling out of the hole by creating
stands of multiple joints. A conventional triple, for example,
would pull pipe out of the hole three joints at a time and stack
them in the derrick. Many modern rigs, called "super singles",
trip pipe one at a time, laying it out on racks as they go.
Mud log in process, a common way
This process is all facilitated by a drilling rig which contains all
to study the lithology when drilling
necessary equipment to circulate the drilling fluid, hoist and turn
oil wells
the pipe, control downhole, remove cuttings from the drilling
fluid, and generate on-site power for these operations.

Completion
After drilling and casing the well, it must be 'completed'.
Completion is the process in which the well is enabled to produce
oil or gas.

In a cased-hole completion, small holes called perforations are

made in the portion of the casing which passed through the
production zone, to provide a path for the oil to flow from the
surrounding rock into the production tubing. In open hole
completion, often 'sand screens' or a 'gravel pack' is installed in
the last drilled, uncased reservoir section. These maintain
Modern drilling rig in Argentina
structural integrity of the wellbore in the absence of casing, while
still allowing flow from the reservoir into the wellbore. Screens
also control the migration of formation sands into production tubulars and surface equipment, which
can cause washouts and other problems, particularly from unconsolidated sand formations of offshore
fields.

After a flow path is made, acids and fracturing fluids may be pumped into the well to fracture, clean,
or otherwise prepare and stimulate the reservoir rock to optimally produce hydrocarbons into the
wellbore. Finally, the area above the reservoir section of the well is packed off inside the casing, and
connected to the surface via a smaller diameter pipe called tubing. This arrangement provides a
redundant barrier to leaks of hydrocarbons as well as allowing damaged sections to be replaced. Also,
the smaller cross-sectional area of the tubing produces reservoir fluids at an increased velocity in
order to minimize liquid fallback that would create additional back pressure, and shields the casing
from corrosive well fluids.

In many wells, the natural pressure of the subsurface reservoir is high enough for the oil or gas to flow
to the surface. However, this is not always the case, especially in depleted fields where the pressures
have been lowered by other producing wells, or in low permeability oil reservoirs. Installing a smaller
diameter tubing may be enough to help the production, but artificial lift methods may also be needed.
Common solutions include downhole pumps, gas lift, or surface pump jacks. Many new systems in the
last ten years have been introduced for well completion. Multiple packer systems with frac ports or
port collars in an all in one system have cut completion costs and improved production, especially in
the case of horizontal wells. These new systems allow casings to run into the lateral zone with proper
packer/frac port placement for optimal hydrocarbon recovery.

Production

The production stage is the most important stage of a well's life; when the oil and gas are produced. By
this time, the oil rigs and workover rigs used to drill and complete the well have moved off the
wellbore, and the top is usually outfitted with a collection of valves called a Christmas tree or
production tree. These valves regulate pressures, control flows, and allow access to the wellbore in
case further completion work is needed. From the outlet valve of the production tree, the flow can be
connected to a distribution network of pipelines and tanks to supply the product to refineries, natural
gas compressor stations, or oil export terminals.

As long as the pressure in the reservoir remains high enough, the production tree is all that is required
to produce the well. If the pressure depletes and it is considered economically viable, an artificial lift
method mentioned in the completions section can be employed.
Workovers are often necessary in older wells, which may need
smaller diameter tubing, scale or paraffin removal, acid matrix
jobs, or completing new zones of interest in a shallower reservoir.
Such remedial work can be performed using workover rigs – also
known as pulling units, completion rigs or "service rigs" – to pull
and replace tubing, or by the use of well intervention techniques
utilizing coiled tubing. Depending on the type of lift system and
wellhead a rod rig or flushby can be used to change a pump
without pulling the tubing.

Enhanced recovery methods such as water flooding, steam

flooding, or CO2 flooding may be used to increase reservoir
pressure and provide a "sweep" effect to push hydrocarbons out of
the reservoir. Such methods require the use of injection wells
(often chosen from old production wells in a carefully determined A schematic of a typical oil well
pattern), and are used when facing problems with reservoir being produced by a pumpjack,
pressure depletion, high oil viscosity, or can even be employed which is used to produce the
early in a field's life. In certain cases – depending on the remaining recoverable oil after
reservoir's geomechanics – reservoir engineers may determine natural pressure is no longer
that ultimate recoverable oil may be increased by applying a sufficient to raise oil to the surface
waterflooding strategy early in the field's development rather than
later. Such enhanced recovery techniques are often called "tertiary
recovery".

Abandonment

Orphan, orphaned, or abandoned wells are oil or gas wells that have been abandoned by fossil fuel
extraction industries. These wells may have been deactivated because of economic viability, failure to
transfer ownerships (especially at bankruptcy of companies), or neglect and thus no longer have legal
owners responsible for their care. Decommissioning wells effectively can be expensive, costing
millions of dollars,[17] and economic incentives for businesses generally encourage abandonment.
This process leaves the wells the burden of government agencies or landowners when a business
entity can no longer be held responsible. As climate change mitigation reduces demand and usage of
oil and gas, it's expected that more wells will be abandoned as stranded assets.[18]

Orphan wells are a potent contributor of greenhouse gas emissions, such as methane emissions,
causing climate change. Much of this leakage can be attributed to broken plugs, or failure to plug
properly. A 2020 estimate of US abandoned wells alone was that methane emissions released from
abandoned wells produced greenhouse gas impacts equivalent to 3 weeks of US oil consumption each
year.[18] The scale of leaking abandoned wells are well understood in the US and Canada because of
public data and regulation; however, a Reuters investigation in 2020 could not find good estimates for
Russia, Saudi Arabia and China—the next biggest oil and gas producers.[18] However, they estimate
there are 29 million abandoned wells internationally.[18][19]

Abandoned wells also have the potential to contaminate land, air and water around wells, potentially
harming ecosystems, wildlife, livestock, and humans.[18][20] For example, many wells in the United
States are situated on farmland, and if not maintained could contaminate important sources of soil
and groundwater with toxic contaminants.[18]

Types of wells

By produced fluid
Wells that produce oil
Wells that produce oil and natural gas, or
Wells that only produce natural gas.

Natural gas, in a raw form known as associated petroleum gas, is

almost always a by-product of producing oil.[21] The small, light A natural gas well in the southeast
gas carbon chains come out of solution as they undergo pressure Lost Hills Field, California, US.
reduction from the reservoir to the surface, similar to uncapping a
bottle of soda where the carbon dioxide effervesces. If it escapes
into the atmosphere intentionally it is known as vented gas, or if
unintentionally as fugitive gas.

Unwanted natural gas can be a disposal problem at wells that are

developed to produce oil. If there are no pipelines for natural gas
near the wellhead it may be of no value to the oil well owner since
it cannot reach the consumer markets. Such unwanted gas may
then be burned off at the well site in a practice known as
production flaring, but due to the energy resource waste and
environmental damage concerns this practice is becoming less Raising the derrick
common.[22]

Often, unwanted (or 'stranded' gas without a market) gas is

pumped back into the reservoir with an 'injection' well for storage
or for re-pressurizing the producing formation. Another solution
is to convert the natural gas to a liquid fuel. Gas to liquid (GTL) is
a developing technology that converts stranded natural gas into
synthetic gasoline, diesel or jet fuel through the Fischer–Tropsch
process developed in World War II Germany. Like oil, such dense
liquid fuels can be transported using conventional tankers or
trucking to users. Proponents claim GTL fuels burn cleaner than Oil extraction in Boryslav in 1909
comparable petroleum fuels. Most major international oil
companies are in advanced development stages of GTL
production, e.g. the 140,000 bbl/d (22,000 m3/d) Pearl GTL plant in Qatar, scheduled to come online
in 2011. In locations such as the United States with a high natural gas demand, pipelines are usually
favored to take the gas from the well site to the end consumer.

By location

Wells can be located:

On land, or
 Offshore

Offshore wells can further be subdivided into

Wells with subsea wellheads, where the top of the well is

sitting on the ocean floor under water, and often connected to
a pipeline on the ocean floor.
Wells with 'dry' wellheads, where the top of the well is above
the water on a platform or jacket, which also often contains Burning of natural gases at an oil
processing equipment for the produced fluid. drilling site, presumably at
Pangkalan Brandan, East Coast of
While the location of the well will be a large factor in the type of Sumatra – circa 1905
equipment used to drill it, there is actually little difference in the
well itself. An offshore well targets a reservoir that happens to be
underneath an ocean. Due to logistics, drilling an offshore well is far more costly than an onshore
well. By far the most common type is the onshore well.[23] These wells dot the Southern and Central
Great Plains, Southwestern United States, and are the most common wells in the Middle East.

By purpose

Another way to classify oil wells is by their purpose in contributing to the development of a resource.
They can be characterized as:

wildcat wells are drilled where little or no known geological information is available. The site may
have been selected because of wells drilled some distance from the proposed location but on a
terrain that appeared similar to the proposed site. Individuals who drill wildcat wells are known as
'wildcatters'.
exploration wells are drilled purely for exploratory (information gathering) purposes in a new area,
the site selection is usually based on seismic data, satellite surveys etc. Details gathered in this
well includes the presence of hydrocarbon in the drilled location, the amount of fluid present and
the depth at which oil or/and gas occurs.
appraisal wells are used to assess characteristics (such as flow rate, reserve quantity) of a proven
hydrocarbon accumulation. The purpose of this well is to reduce uncertainty about the
characteristics and properties of the hydrocarbon present in the field.
production wells are drilled primarily for producing oil or gas, once the producing structure and
characteristics are determined.
development wells are wells drilled for the production of oil or gas already proven by appraisal
drilling to be suitable for exploitation.
abandoned wells are wells permanently plugged in the drilling phase for technical reasons.

At a producing well site, active wells may be further categorised as:

oil producers producing predominantly liquid hydrocarbons, but most include some associated
gas.
gas producers producing almost entirely gaseous hydrocarbons, consisting mostly of natural gas.
water injectors injecting water into the formation to maintain reservoir pressure, or simply to
dispose of water produced with the hydrocarbons because even after treatment, it would be too
oily and too saline to be considered clean for dumping overboard offshore, let alone into a fresh
water resource in the case of onshore wells. Water injection into the producing zone frequently
 has an element of reservoir management; however, often produced water disposal is into
shallower zones safely beneath any fresh water zones.
aquifer producers intentionally producing water for re-injection to manage pressure. If possible this
water will come from the reservoir itself. Using aquifer produced water rather than water from
other sources is to preclude chemical incompatibility that might lead to reservoir-plugging
precipitates. These wells will generally be needed only if produced water from the oil or gas
producers is insufficient for reservoir management purposes.
gas injectors injecting gas into the reservoir often as a means of disposal or sequestering for later
production, but also to maintain reservoir pressure.

Lahee classification [1] (https://web.archive.org/web/20060427165653/http://www.pttc.org/tech

_sum/ts_v91_10.htm)

New Field Wildcat (NFW) – far from other producing fields and on a structure that has not
previously produced.
New Pool Wildcat (NPW) – new pools on already producing structure.
Deeper Pool Test (DPT) – on already producing structure and pool, but on a deeper pay zone.
Shallower Pool Test (SPT) – on already producing structure and pool, but on a shallower pay
zone.
Outpost (OUT) – usually two or more locations from nearest productive area.
Development Well (DEV) – can be on the extension of a pay zone, or between existing wells
(Infill).

Cost
The cost of a well depends mainly on the daily rate of the drilling rig, the extra services required to
drill the well, the duration of the well program (including downtime and weather time), and the
remoteness of the location (logistic supply costs).[24]

The daily rates of offshore drilling rigs vary by their capability, and the market availability. Rig rates
reported by industry web service[25] show that the deepwater water floating drilling rigs are over twice
that of the shallow water fleet, and rates for jackup fleet can vary by factor of 3 depending upon
capability.

With deepwater drilling rig rates in 2015 of around $520,000/day,[25] and similar additional spread
costs, a deep water well of duration of 100 days can cost around US$100 million.[26]

With high performance jackup rig rates in 2015 of around $177,000,[25] and similar service costs, a
high pressure, high temperature well of duration 100 days can cost about US$30 million.

Onshore wells can be considerably cheaper, particularly if the field is at a shallow depth, where costs
range from less than $4.9 million to $8.3 million, and the average completion costing $2.9 million to
$5.6 million per well.[27] Completion makes up a larger portion of onshore well costs than offshore
wells, which have the added cost burden of an oil platform.[28]
The total cost of an oil well mentioned does not include the costs associated with the risk of explosion
and leakage of oil. Those costs include the cost of protecting against such disasters, the cost of the
cleanup effort, and the hard-to-calculate cost of damage to the company's image.[29]

See also
Fracking (hydraulic fracturing)
Hydro-slotted perforation
Offshore drilling
Oil spill
Petroleum industry
Thermomechanical cuttings cleaner

References
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26. Center, Petrogav International Oil & Gas Training (2020-07-02). The technological process on
Offshore Drilling Rigs for fresher candidates (https://books.google.com/books?id=stjuDwAAQBAJ
&q=a+deep+water+well+of+duration+of+100+days+can+cost+around+US%24100+million&pg=P
A198). Petrogav International.
27. "Trends in U.S. Oil and Natural Gas Upstream Costs" (https://www.eia.gov/analysis/studies/drillin
g/pdf/upstream.pdf) (PDF). Energy Information Administration. U.S. Energy Information
Administration. 2016. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
28. "The Cost of Oil & Gas Wells" (http://www.oilscams.org/how-much-does-oil-gas-well-cost).
OilScams.org. Oil Scams. 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
29. "How Much Does an Oil & Gas Well Cost?| Oil & Gas Investing Advice" (http://www.oilscams.org/h
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External links
Halliburton Technical Papers (http://www.halliburton.com/en-US/tools-resources/technical-papers.
 page/) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20180202215848/http://www.halliburton.com/en-US/t
ools-resources/technical-papers.page) 2018-02-02 at the Wayback Machine
Freemyer Industrial Pressure (http://www.indpress.com/)
Schlumberger Oilfield Glossary (http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/)
The History of the Oil Industry (http://www.sjgs.com/history.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/
web/20130402153507/http://www.sjgs.com/history.html) 2013-04-02 at the Wayback Machine
"Black Gold" (https://books.google.com/books?id=deIDAAAAMBAJ&dq=popular+mechanics+1930
+aircraft&pg=PA401) Popular Mechanics, January 1930 – photo article on oil drilling in the 1920s
and 1930s
"World's Deepest Well" (https://books.google.com/books?id=eCYDAAAAMBAJ&dq=Popular+Scie
nce+1932+plane&pg=PA21) Popular Science, August 1938, article on the late 1930s technology
of drilling oil wells
'Ancient Chinese Drilling' (http://www.cseg.ca/publications/recorder/2004/06jun/06jun-ancient-chin
ese-drilling.pdf) article from June 2004 CSEG Recorder
Brief history of oil and gas production (http://www.petroleumworld.com/eveditorial20123101.htm)
Mir-Babayev M.F. "Brief history of the first drilled oil well; and the people involved". Oil-Industry
History (US), 2017, v. 18 #1, pp. 25–34

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