Soran University 9/22/2024

Sorn University
Petroleum Engineering Department

INTRODUCTION TO PETROLEUM
ENGINEERING

2024
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Sorn University
Petroleum Engineering Department

LECTURE # 1
INTRODUCTION
Fenk A Sulaiman

2024
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Petroleum & energy

 The global economy is based on an infrastructure

that depends on the consumption of petroleum.

 Petroleum is a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules

and inorganic impurities that can exist in the solid,
liquid (oil), or gas phase.

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Oil and gas industry

 The terms upstream, midstream, and downstream refer to different segments of the oil
and gas industry, each representing distinct phases in the production and distribution
process.

Upstream Midstream Downstream

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Oil and gas industry

 Upstream
 This refers to the
Upstream
exploration and
production phase. It
involves searching for,
drilling, and extracting oil
and natural gas from
underground reservoirs.
Activities in this sector
include geological surveys,
seismic testing, and the
development of
production facilities to
bring the resources to the
surface.
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Oil and gas industry

 Midstream
 Focuses on the Midstream
transportation, storage,
and sometimes the initial
processing of oil and
gas. Once extracted,
crude oil and natural gas
need to be moved from
the production site to
refineries or processing
facilities, often via
pipelines, ships, trucks,
or rail. This phase also
includes storage and
terminal operations.
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Oil and gas industry

 Downstream
 This is the refining and
distribution phase. It Downstream
involves refining crude oil
into usable products like
gasoline, diesel, jet fuel,
and petrochemicals. The
downstream sector also
includes the marketing
and distribution of these
products to consumers,
either directly (e.g., gas
stations) or through
wholesalers.

Oil and gas industry

Flowchart shows oil and gas

industry categories

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Petroleum geosciences (exploration)

 It is the study of origin, Petroleum System

occurrence, movement,
accumulation, and
exploration of
hydrocarbon fuels.

Petroleum geosciences (exploration)

 It refers to the specific set of

geological disciplines that
are applied to the search for
hydrocarbons (oil
exploration).

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Petroleum geosciences (exploration)

 A seismic survey is a low impact, non-invasive

method of gathering information about the

location and characteristics of geological

structures beneath the Earth's surface.

 This information is used to produce maps of

structures identifying areas where gas deposits

may be found.

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Petroleum engineering

 Petroleum engineering is concerned with the production of petroleum from subsurface reservoirs.

 A typical workflow for designing, implementing, and executing a project to produce hydrocarbons
must fulfill several functions.

 People with skills from many disciplines are involved in the workflow.

Petroleum geologists and geophysicists use technology to provide a description of

hydrocarbon‐bearing reservoir rock.

 Petroleum engineers acquire and apply knowledge of the behavior of oil, water, and gas in porous
rock to extract hydrocarbons.

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Petroleum engineering

 Petroleum engineers tend to specialize in one of three

subdisciplines:

[Link] engineering  Reservoir engineers

seek to optimize hydrocarbon production using an
understanding of fluid flow in the reservoir, well placement,
well rates, and recovery techniques.
[Link] engineering  Drilling engineers are
responsible for drilling and completing wells.
[Link] engineering  Production engineers manage
Hydrocarbon production system
fluid flow between the reservoir and the well.

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Petroleum Reservoir

 A petroleum reservoir (oil

and gas reservoir) is a
subsurface pool of
hydrocarbons contained in
porous or fractured rock
formations.
 Oil, gas, and water are
contained in the pore space
of reservoir rock.
 The accumulation of
hydrocarbons in rock is a
Example of a reservoir rock including petroleum
reservoir. migration and entrapment

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Petroleum Reservoir

 Porous and permeable

Impermeable

Permeable

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Petroleum Reservoir

 Petroleum reservoirs are broadly classified

as conventional and unconventional
reservoirs.

 In conventional reservoirs  the naturally

occurring hydrocarbons, such as crude oil
or natural gas, are trapped by overlying
rock formations with lower permeability,

 In unconventional reservoirs  the rocks

have high porosity and low permeability,
which keeps the hydrocarbons trapped in
place, therefore not requiring a cap rock.

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Type of reservoir containing hydrocarbon

 Oil reservoir

 In some reservoirs, only oil and water

are present at the reservoir’s pressure
and temperature conditions.

 Between a reservoir’s oil and water

zones, there is a section of the
vertical column referred to as an oil-
water transitional zone.

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Type of reservoir containing hydrocarbon

 Oil depleted reservoir

 In this type of reservoir, natural gas

occurs as solution gas, and is evident
or present only when reservoir
pressure sufficiently decreases, and
gas breaks out of the oil.

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Type of reservoir containing hydrocarbon

 Associated free gas reservoir

 In other reservoirs, the associated free gas is

found at the structural top of the trap, forming a
gas cap.

 Beneath the gas cap is the oil accumulation and

beneath the oil is water.

 Such a reservoir could produce both the

associated free gas and solution gas dissolved in
the oil with well completions established in each
zone.

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Type of reservoir containing hydrocarbon

 Gas reservoir

 In still other natural gas reservoirs, the gas zone

structurally is above a gas-water transition zone.

 The gas zone often contains connate water

saturation, which increases with depth, to
eventually become a completely water saturated
zone.

 The gas in this type of hydrocarbon accumulation

is referred to as non-associated gas, as there is
no oil present.

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Drilling

 Drilling is a subset of Petroleum Engineering to

provide a pathway to the produced fluids from the
reservoir.

 Drilling rigs may be permanently installed or

portable.

 Typically, a hole (well) is drilled of a diameter

according to the diameter of drill bit if diameter of
the hole is kept smaller the bit can get stuck in
hole and will cause a adverse problem for the
crew.

 As drilling proceeds, bit is changed according to

different diameters of the hole ensuring the safe
operation.

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Drilling

 Wells are needed to extract fluids from the reservoir.

 Each well must be drilled and completed so that fluids can flow from
the reservoir to the surface.
 The connection between the well and the reservoir is achieved by
completing the well so fluid can flow from reservoir rock into the well.

 Well performance in the reservoir depends on:

 The properties of the reservoir rock
 The interaction between the rock and fluids
 Fluid properties.

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Drilling

 Drilling well types

 Vertical well

 Horizontal well

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Drilling

 Drilling well types

 Directional well

 Multi lateral well

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Petroleum Production

 Petroleum production engineers design and

select subsurface equipment to produce oil
and gas well fluids.

 They often are degreed as petroleum

engineers, although they may come from
other technical disciplines (e.g., mechanical
engineering, chemical engineering,
physicist) and subsequently be trained by
an oil and gas company.

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Petroleum production

Well manifolds

Well completion
Well head (x-mass tree)
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Petroleum production

 Separator is a piece of equipment that is used to

separate fluid from the well into oil, water, and gas
phases for transport to storage and processing
facilities.
 Produced hydrocarbons must be processed into marketable
products.
 Processing typically begins near the well site and continues
at refineries.
 Refined hydrocarbons are used for a variety of purposes: Three-Phase Horizontal Separator
 Natural gas for utilities
 Gasoline and diesel fuel for transportation
 Asphalt for paving.

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Oil & gas units

 Two sets of units are commonly found in the petroleum literature:

 Oil field units

 Metric units (SI units)

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Oilfield units

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Oil & gas units

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Classification of Oil and Gas

 Surface temperature and pressure are usually less than reservoir temperature and
pressure.

 Hydrocarbon fluids that exist in a single phase at reservoir temperature and

pressure often transition to two phases when they are produced to the surface
where the temperature and pressure are lower.

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Classification of Oil and Gas

 There are a variety of terms for describing hydrocarbon fluids at surface

conditions:

Natural gas: Natural gas is a hydrocarbon mixture in the gaseous state at surface
conditions.

Crude oil: Crude oil is a hydrocarbon mixture in the liquid state at surface
conditions.

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Classification of Oil and Gas

 There are a variety of terms for describing hydrocarbon fluids at surface

conditions:

o Heavy oils do not contain much gas in solution at reservoir conditions and have
a relatively large molecular weight.

o Light oils typically contain a large amount of gas in solution at reservoir

conditions and have a relatively small molecular weight.

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Classification of Oil and Gas

 Separator GOR is the ratio of gas rate to oil rate. It can be used to indicate fluid type.

Gas–oil ratio (GOR):

 Separator GOR is often expressed as MSCFG/STBO where MSCFG refers to one thousand standard
cubic feet of gas and STBO refers to a stock tank barrel of oil.

 A stock tank is a tank that is used to store produced oil.

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Classification of Oil and Gas

Gas–water ratio (GWR):

Water–oil ratio (WOR):

where, qo= oil, qw = water, and qg = gas

 Water cut is water production rate divided by the sum of oil and water production rates:

 Water cut (WCT) is a fraction, while WOR can be greater than 1.

 The ratio of one produced fluid phase to another (Production Performance Ratios)
provides useful information for understanding the dynamic behavior of a reservoir.

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Classification of Oil and Gas

 Example 1.1 Gas–oil Ratio

 A well produces 500 MSCF gas/day and 400 STB oil/day. What is the GOR in
MSCFG/STBO?

 Solution 1.1

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Classification of Oil and Gas

 A summary of hydrocarbon fluid types is given in Table 1.2.

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Classification of Oil and Gas

 API gravity in the table is defined in terms of oil specific gravity as:

141.5
131.5

 The specific gravity of oil is the ratio of oil density ρo to freshwater density ρw:

 The API gravity of freshwater is 10°API, which is expressed as 10 degrees API.

API denotes American Petroleum Institute
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Classification of Oil and Gas

 Example 1.2 API Gravity

The specific gravity of an oil sample is 0.85. What is its API gravity?

 Solution 1.2

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Classification of Oil and Gas

 Another way to classify hydrocarbon liquids:

Compare the properties of the hydrocarbon liquid to water.

o Two key properties are viscosity and density.

• Viscosity is a measure of the ability to flow, and density is the amount of

material in a given volume.

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Classification of Oil and Gas

 Another way to classify hydrocarbon liquids:

• Water viscosity is 1 cp (centipoise) and water density is 1 g/cc (gram per cubic
centimeter) at 60°F.

• A liquid with smaller viscosity than water flows more easily than water.

• Gas viscosity is much less than water viscosity.

• Tar has very high viscosity relative to water.

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Classification of Oil and Gas

 Another way to classify hydrocarbon liquids:

Black oil

Table 1.3 Classifying Hydrocarbon Liquid Types Using API Gravity and Viscosity

Note: Super light (Volatile and brown/yellow) 40-50 API

Condensate or Wet gas >50 API

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LIFE CYCLE OF A RESERVOIR

 The life cycle of a reservoir begins when the field becomes an exploration
prospect and does not end until the field is properly abandoned.

Exploration: An exploration prospect is a geological structure that may contain

hydrocarbons.

o The exploration stage of the project begins when resources are allocated to
identify and assess a prospect for possible development.

o This stage may require the acquisition and analysis of more data before an
exploration well is drilled.
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LIFE CYCLE OF A RESERVOIR

o Exploratory wells are also referred to as wildcats.

• They can be used to test a trap that has never produced, test a new reservoir in a
known field, and extend the known limits of a producing reservoir.

• Discovery occurs when an exploration well is drilled and hydrocarbons are

encountered.

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LIFE CYCLE OF A RESERVOIR

 Production can begin immediately after the discovery well is drilled or several
years later after appraisal and delineation wells have been drilled.

 Appraisal wells are used to provide more information about reservoir

properties and fluid flow.

 Delineation wells better define reservoir boundaries. In some cases, delineation

wells are converted to development wells.

 Development wells are drilled in the known extent of the field and are used to
optimize resource recovery.
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LIFE CYCLE OF A RESERVOIR

 A buildup period ensues after first oil until a production plateau is reached.

 The production plateau is usually a consequence of facility limitations such as

pipeline capacity.

 A production decline will eventually occur.

 Production continues until an economic limit is reached and the field is

abandoned.

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LIFE CYCLE OF A RESERVOIR

 Figure 1.2 illustrates a typical production profile for an oil field beginning with
the discovery well and proceeding to abandonment.

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LIFE CYCLE OF A RESERVOIR

 Traditionally, production stages were identified by chronological order as:

Primary production

Secondary production

Tertiary production

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LIFE CYCLE OF A RESERVOIR

 Traditionally, production stages were identified by chronological order as:

Figure 1.3 Sketch of production

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LIFE CYCLE OF A RESERVOIR

 Traditionally, production stages were identified by chronological order as:

Primary production

o Primary production is the first stage of production and relies entirely on natural
energy sources to drive reservoir fluids to the production well.

Secondary production

o Oil recovery can be increased in many cases by slowing the decline in pressure.
This can be achieved by supplementing natural reservoir energy.

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LIFE CYCLE OF A RESERVOIR

 Traditionally, production stages were identified by chronological order as:

Secondary production

o The supplemental energy is provided using an external energy source, such as

water injection or gas injection.

o The injection of water or natural gas may be referred to as pressure maintenance

or secondary production.

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LIFE CYCLE OF A RESERVOIR

 Traditionally, production stages were identified by chronological order as:

Secondary production

o Pressure maintenance is often introduced early in the production life of some

modern reservoirs.

o In this case the reservoir is not subjected to a conventional primary production

phase.

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LIFE CYCLE OF A RESERVOIR

 Traditionally, production stages were identified by chronological order as:

Tertiary production (Enhance Oil Recovery)

o EOR processes include miscible, chemical, thermal, and microbial processes.

• Miscible processes inject gases that can mix with oil at sufficiently high
pressures and temperatures.

• Chemical processes use the injection of chemicals such as polymers and

surfactants to increase oil recovery.

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LIFE CYCLE OF A RESERVOIR

 Traditionally, production stages were identified by chronological order as:

Tertiary production (Enhance Oil Recovery)

o EOR processes include miscible, chemical, thermal, and microbial processes.

• Thermal processes add heat to the reservoir.

• This is achieved by injecting heated fluids such as steam or hot water or by the
injection of oxygen-containing air into the reservoir and then burning the oil as a
combustion process.

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LIFE CYCLE OF A RESERVOIR

 Traditionally, production stages were identified by chronological order as:

Tertiary production (Enhance Oil Recovery)

o EOR processes include miscible, chemical, thermal, and microbial processes.

• Microbial processes use microbe injection to reduce the size of high molecular
weight hydrocarbons and improve oil mobility.

 EOR processes were originally implemented as a third, or tertiary, production

stage that followed secondary production

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LIFE CYCLE OF A RESERVOIR

 Traditionally, production stages were identified by chronological order as:

Tertiary production (Enhance Oil Recovery)

o The analysis of results from laboratory experiments and field applications

showed that some fields would perform better if the EOR process was
implemented before the third stage in field life.

o EOR processes were often more expensive than just drilling more wells in a
denser pattern.

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LIFE CYCLE OF A RESERVOIR

 Traditionally, production stages were identified by chronological order as:

Tertiary production (Enhance Oil Recovery)

o The process of increasing the density of wells in an area is known as infill

drilling.

Improved Oil Recovery (IOR): The term improved oil recovery (IOR) includes
EOR and infill drilling for improving the recovery of oil.

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LIFE CYCLE OF A RESERVOIR

 Several mechanisms can occur during the production process:

Production mechanisms that occur during primary production depend on such

factors as reservoir structure, pressure, temperature, and fluid type.

Production of fluids without injecting other fluids will cause a reduction of

reservoir pressure.

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LIFE CYCLE OF A RESERVOIR

 Several mechanisms can occur during the production process:

The reduction in pressure can result in expansion of in situ fluids.

In some cases, the reduction in pressure is improved if water moves in to

replace the produced hydrocarbons.

Many reservoirs are in contact with water-bearing formations called aquifers.

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LIFE CYCLE OF A RESERVOIR

 Example 1.3 Gas Recovery

The original gas in place (OGIP) of a gas reservoir is 5 trillion ft3 (TCF). How
much gas can be recovered (in TCF) if recovery from analogous fields is
between 70 and 90% of OGIP (original gas-in-place)?

 Solution 1.3

Two estimates are possible: a lower estimate and an upper estimate.

o The lower estimate of gas recovery is 0.70 × 5 TCF = 3.5 TCF.

o The upper estimate of gas recovery is 0.90 × 5 TCF = 4.5 TCF.

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RESERVOIR MANAGEMENT

 One definition of reservoir management says that the primary objective of

reservoir management is to determine the optimum operating conditions needed to
maximize the economic recovery of a subsurface resource.

 This is achieved by using available resources to accomplish two competing

objectives:

Optimizing recovery from a reservoir while simultaneously minimizing capital

investments and operating expenses.

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RESERVOIR MANAGEMENT

 As an example:

Consider the development of an oil reservoir.

o It is possible to maximize recovery from the reservoir by drilling a large number

of wells, but the cost would be excessive.

o Drilling a single well would provide some of the oil but would make it very
difficult to recover a significant fraction of the oil in a reasonable time frame.

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RESERVOIR MANAGEMENT

 Reservoir management is a process for balancing competing objectives to

achieve the key objective.

 An alternate definition says that reservoir management is a continuous process

designed to optimize the interaction between data and decision making.

 Both definitions describe a dynamic process that is intended to integrate

information from multiple disciplines to optimize reservoir performance.
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RESERVOIR MANAGEMENT

 The process should recognize uncertainty resulting from our inability to

completely characterize the reservoir and fluid flow processes.

 It may be necessary to modify a reservoir management plan based on new

information obtained during the life of the reservoir.

 The plan should be flexible enough to accommodate changes in economic,

technological, and environmental factors. Furthermore, the plan is expected to
address all relevant operating issues, including governmental regulations.

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