Recovery of oil and gas

Primary recovery: natural drive and artificial lift

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Petroleum reservoirs usually start with a formation pressure high enough to force crude oil into the well and sometimes to the surface through the tubing. However, since production is invariably accompanied by a decline in reservoir pressure, “primary recovery” through natural drive soon comes to an end. In addition, many oil reservoirs enter production with a formation pressure high enough to push the oil into the well but not up to the surface through the tubing. In these cases, some means of “artificial lift” must be installed. The most common installation uses a pump at the bottom of the production tubing that is operated by a motor and a “walking beam” (an arm that rises and falls like a seesaw) on the surface. A string of solid metal “sucker rods” connects the walking beam to the piston of the pump. Another method, called gas lift, uses gas bubbles to lower the density of the oil, allowing the reservoir pressure to push it to the surface. Usually, the gas is injected down the annulus between the casing and the production tubing and through a special valve at the bottom of the tubing. In a third type of artificial lift, produced oil is forced down the well at high pressure to operate a pump at the bottom of the well (see also hydraulic power).

With hydraulic lift systems, crude oil or water is taken from a storage tank and fed to the surface pump. The pressurized fluid is distributed to one or more wellheads. For cost-effectiveness, these artificial lift systems are configured to supply multiple wellheads in a pad arrangement, a configuration where several wells are drilled near each other. As the pressurized fluid passes into the wellhead and into the downhold pump, a piston pump engages that pushes the produced oil to the surface. Hydraulic submersible pumps create an advantage for low-volume producing reservoirs and low-pressure systems.

Conversely, electrical submersible pumps (ESPs) and downhole oil water separators (DOWS) have improved primary production well life for high-volume wells. ESPs are configured to use centrifugal force to artificially lift oil to the surface from either vertical or horizontal wells. ESPs are useful because they can lift massive volumes of oil. In older fields, as more water is produced, ESPs are preferred for “pumping off” the well to permit maximum oil production. DOWS provide a method to eliminate the water handling and disposal risks associated with primary oil production, by separating oil and gas from produced water at the bottom of the well. Oil and gas are later pumped to the surface while water associated with the process is reinjected into a disposal zone below the surface.

With the artificial lift methods described above, oil may be produced as long as there is enough nearby reservoir pressure to create flow into the well bore. Inevitably, however, a point is reached at which commercial quantities no longer flow into the well. In most cases, less than one-third of the oil originally present can be produced by naturally occurring reservoir pressure alone. In some cases (e.g., where the oil is quite viscous and at shallow depths), primary production is not economically possible at all.

Secondary recovery: injection of gas or water

When a large part of the crude oil in a reservoir cannot be recovered by primary means, a method for supplying extra energy must be found. Most reservoirs have some gas in a miscible state, similar to that of a soda bottled under pressure before the gas bubbles are released when the cap is opened. As the reservoir produces under primary conditions, the solution gas escapes, which lowers the pressure of the reservoir. A “secondary recovery” is required to reenergize or “pressure up” the reservoir. This is accomplished by injecting gas or water into the reservoir to replace produced fluids and thus maintain or increase the reservoir pressure. When gas alone is injected, it is usually put into the top of the reservoir, where petroleum gases normally collect to form a gas cap. Gas injection can be a very effective recovery method in reservoirs where the oil is able to flow freely to the bottom by gravity. When this gravity segregation does not occur, however, other means must be sought.

An even more widely practiced secondary recovery method is waterflooding. After being treated to remove any material that might interfere with its movement in the reservoir, water is injected through some of the wells in an oil field. It then moves through the formation, pushing oil toward the remaining production wells. The wells to be used for injecting water are usually located in a pattern that will best push oil toward the production wells. Water injection often increases oil recovery to twice that expected from primary means alone. Some oil reservoirs (the East Texas field, for example) are connected to large, active water reservoirs, or aquifers, in the same formation. In such cases it is necessary only to reinject water into the aquifer in order to help maintain reservoir pressure.

Enhanced recovery

Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is designed to accelerate the production of oil from a well. Waterflooding, injecting water to increase the pressure of the reservoir, is one EOR method. Although waterflooding greatly increases recovery from a particular reservoir, it typically leaves up to one-third of the oil in place. Also, shallow reservoirs containing viscous oil do not respond well to waterflooding. Such difficulties have prompted the industry to seek enhanced methods of recovering crude oil supplies. Since many of these methods are directed toward oil that is left behind by water injection, they are often referred to as “tertiary recovery.”