domingo, 10 de abril de 2011

THE IMPORTANCE OF AN OIL AND NATURAL GAS WELL

THE IMPORTANCE OF OIL WELL OR NATURAL GAS The oil well is the foundation of the entire oil industry and therefore its maintenance is very convenient with everything regarding the well. Good maintenance of the wells ensures a solid oil company. The beginning of the care of the well starts when you start to drill the well, because with the information from wells drilled in the vicinity stratigraphic information is obtained to ascertain to what depth you should place the surface casing (tuberia de superficie) as well as information on possible producing sands of oil or gas, this pipe is called surface casing, it is used to ensure the well is in any event is good anchored with a good surface casing. On this pipe, which will be installed under the Christmas tree, or wellhead, which together with the other casings is used, ensure the well of any problems. Then for more depth, the tubing or casing intermediate or final are installed, also hanging on the well head, depending on the depth of the well. All these pipes hang from the surface and are held by the top of the well. The cementing of these casings, which in some cases only cover the base of the pipes, but it is always advisable to cover a greater extent, at least cover all the permeable sands of the well, to avoid these leaking between the tube and the bare well drilled into the surface and damage, such as a bursting pressure or load surface sands, this essential as this will give us peace of mind of not having pressure problems on the surface, or having a blow out, or burst, is important to place cement until all the horizons that may contain gas, oil or water, are covered, so make sure you do not have problems blow outs, and that's good for the life of a well, regularly check the pressure in the surface casing to verify if there is leakage of natural gas or oil sands deeper to those near the surface. This is done by measuring the pressure in the surface casing, which should be zero pressure. If you get pressure in this casing can be very harmful, since it can cause natural disasters like natural gas bubbling on the surface of the earth for having carried sands gas pressure to surface water or groundwater that eventually come to the surface through layers of earth that are on them. This happened in the San Joaquin field in eastern Venezuela, which still look natural gas fumes in the area of land in the area, on different occasions. The completion of the well is also important because of its simplicity and quality depends on not requiring to have to return to make repairs to the well. There are three very important issues in maintaining a healthy exercise for the maintenance of wells, these are, first have a well file, complete with all existing documentation on the well drilling on its day to day, on every job run in the well, indicating each and every one of the equipment installed in the hole, the type and quality, if the packers are drillable or are removable, where are the sliding sleeves, if open sand to produce the casing, etc.. And it must be updated with the information you get with computers that provide additional information, this way we know what is happening in the well and under what conditions this. On the other hand is very important to have geological maps of each sands crossed by the well-date with indication if they are in production or not, and if the tested sand contains gas, water, or oil, as well to learn if there are sufficient wells that can drain the reservoir efficiently, this information leads us to recommend where we can drill additional wells to develop the reservoir or carry out secondary or tertiary recovery if indicated by the studies. Here play a key role geologists and reservoir engineers who must work closely related to detect potential new well drilling, or exploratory wells. Wells must have tests of production often, as this story, chronologically, says much of what to do or what actions to take in the well. For example, a well that is a noticeable reduction in well head pressure and increased water content, with the same salinity all the time, indicates that the column of production in the well water is being loaded, which is heavier than oil and thus lowering the well head pressure goes on the head until the well dies, or fails to produce, making it very convenient for periodic reviews of these conditions to make appropriate corrections in each case. In the case referred to is to download the production string to a pit or vessel, with a larger choke so the tubing is unloaded and the oil again runs up the tubing. as you do this the well pressure will go back up to what it was before it loaded with water and oil. Therefore, it is very important to keep a daily record of information coming from the well, as they are, its oil production during the test, usually four hours, the amount of gas produced, and the results of a sample of what is produced, this should be carried in a register book and it may be manual or automated, it is important that the information is instantly available to our knowledge. so employees can review the information and take immediate action.When making these entries through automated methods have the tendency to produce weekly or monthly reports which does not work because when information reaches the personnel working on the well is to act too late. that is why I insist that this information should be obtained immediately, on-line automated or manual. A small business can have a clerk to make the gas volume calculations using the circular disc pressures were measured when the well test was done.by means of measures of the volume increase in the oil test tank can calculate all oil production volume, volume of gas, gas oil ratio and if you have a small laboratory in the field can.. have the results of the sample of oil, its API gravity, the% water salinity, and pass this information available to the book that corresponds to that sand and also including in the book the production and all information that was obtained by the well test, this way the supervisors or foremen, can make a review of these books before they go out to the oil field . Of course this can be achieved with automated systems, but I doubt they are better and less expensive than those made by hand when it comes to a few wells. For me it works perfect for producing fields up to a hundred thousand barrels per day and 40 production stations. An important consideration is the well head assembly, the well head or christmas tree must have two valves and another on one side and at the end of this valve have the choke housing. Also the surface casing or should have a valve or a special plug which can make or measure the pressure from time to time, these plugs can be replaced by valves with special equipment to be installed under pressure, it is delicate work. It is very important to know if the well is producing sand when produced up on the casing as this can erode internally all the valves of the head to cause a blowout of the well, very difficult to control, so it is so important sampling in a correct and its analysis by properly trained personnel. It is an excellent way to manage the field to Have monthly or weekly meetings with staff training, or self-training, you can use the most capable of doing so is very convenient and gives an atmosphere of teamwork very important because knowledge is distributed and who is recognized more knows the business. This diploma or recognition is awarded annually or as otherwise is often more effective as a cookout for the group, where there is the good fellowship and good friend and colleague. Things that are essential for the proper functioning of a production area. Security. This is perhaps one of the most important areas in operations since the area of loss prevention is essential to keep production costs low. We must make periodic training and have an organization that knows who is in command and those who collaborate and well-publicized phones or radios. I've been up to my knees in pools of oil that burned with field staff, and I am sure they would not have done if I did not get into the burning oil in a big oil spill, because if you know what you are doing is not taking any chances. Another important information, which should be added to the data files of the wells, is updated maps and information for each well in terms of performance and facilities in the well. also the reservoir should be analysed by reservoir engineers ,because it is possible that the reservoir may require an action to initiate studies of reservoir pressure maintenance for maximum recovery of oil or gas. Generally the cost per barrel when secondary recovery is less than the natural depletion of the reservoir. But there are exceptions, such as when there is a good push of water from the reservoir. But you have to study it thoroughly. Not necessarily spend money on computer studies or hiring companies that charge a fortune for a study. The same reservoir engineers can do their studies with their computers, at least initially. For example, undersaturated oil reservoirs, ie, that oil has little gas in solution and there is a need to inject gas or water, as the pressure in the wells falls head very quickly, thus requiring artificial lift (gas lift gas ) or pumping units if it is heavier oil. An important action in maintaining low production costs is standardization in the use of equipment, such as types and models of pumping units, motors, engines, types of wellhead valves, etc. I Never forget a visit I made years ago to the Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana, where steel mills, aluminum, etc.., Venezuela in Puerto Ordaz, when I saw the largest building in the complex was the maintenance, as there had motors from all over the world, French, Italian, German, Swedish, U.S., etc. And therefore the stock of inventories had to be very large, we rather concentrate on only two sizes of engines for the pumping units, like 40 HP and others 30HP, single brand GE and Westinghouse, therefore the number of parts was very low, so did the models of the valves in the heads of the wells. No wonder we had the lowest production cost of oil from the Venezuelan oil industry at that time. Another situation that must be treated the same way is to standardize the use of flowlines from the wells to the production stations, we should not be buying and installing different brands, because we fill our warehouses with many spare parts for all the different brands, unless they have a local distributor that guarantees replacement parts. Each station must have production gas and oil separation and another for production testing, and production test tank, and be equipped for measuring the volume of gas produced during the test to get the oil gas ratio, which is very important , which is also listed on the page where the information is maintained for the oil production in particular, as well with a look at an expert or connoisseur of wells, can detect abnormalities and take your immediate corrective. I know all these things as executives sounded very silly, but I can say with experience and that the proper management of the wells depends on the success of your company because your company depends on the amount of oil produced and quality and efficiency and effectiveness with which they work the wells, which are the heart and core of your business. Finally I should mention that it is very important to the classification of all wells, active wells, the type of production, whether natural flow, artificial, pumping, etc. And if the wells are closed why is it closed to from a sand production in particular, in order to attack the problem of lack of production.The PODE of Venezuela has closed wells definitions that are very good, not bad to copy it and use it. And if it can be improved. When you have closed many wells, it should encourage small companies to take control of these wells as they are more efficient in their use, since for large companies is not a business devoted to these marginal wells, but for small businesses that have a better efficiency and interest in the management of these wells. Nestor G. Ramirez Consultant nesgram@gmail.com nesgram.blogspot.com (using google search) or @ Nesgram Caracas, Venezuela