Page 19 - Introduction to Petroleum Engineering

WHAT IS PETROLEUM ENGINEERING? 3
arctic climates in Alaska and Siberia to deepwater environments in the Gulf of Mexico
and off the coast of West Africa. They tend to specialize in one of three subdisciplines:
drilling engineering, production engineering, and reservoir engineering. Drilling
engineers are responsible for drilling and completing wells. Production engineers
manage fluid flow between the reservoir and the well. Reservoir engineers seek to
optimize hydrocarbon production using an understanding of fluid flow in the reser-
voir, well placement, well rates, and recovery techniques. The Society of Petroleum
Engineers (SPE) is the largest professional society for petroleum engineers. A key
function of the society is to disseminate information about the industry.

1.1.1 Alternative Energy Opportunities
Petroleum engineering principles can be applied to subsurface resources other than
oil and gas (Fanchi, 2010). Examples include geothermal energy, geologic sequestra-
tion of gas, and compressed air energy storage (CAES). Geothermal energy can be
obtained from temperature gradients between the shallow ground and surface,
subsurface hot water, hot rock several kilometers below the Earth’s surface, and
magma. Geologic sequestration is the capture, separation, and long‐term storage of
greenhouse gases or other gas pollutants in a subsurface environment such as a res-
ervoir, aquifer, or coal seam. CAES is an example of a large‐scale energy storage
technology that is designed to transfer off‐peak energy from primary power plants to
peak demand periods. The Huntorf CAES facility in Germany and the McIntosh
CAES facility in Alabama store gas in salt caverns. Off‐peak energy is used to pump
air underground and compress it in a salt cavern. The compressed air is produced
during periods of peak energy demand to drive a turbine and generate additional
electrical power.

1.1.2 Oil and Gas Units
Two sets of units are commonly found in the petroleum literature: oil field units and
metric units (SI units). Units used in the text are typically oil field units (Table 1.1).
The process of converting from one set of units to another is simplified by providing
frequently used factors for converting between oil field units and SI (metric) units in
Appendix A. The ability to convert between oil field and SI units is an essential skill
because both systems of units are frequently used.

TAbLE 1.1 Examples of Common Unit Systems
Property Oil Field SI (Metric) British
Length ft m ft
Time hr sec sec
Pressure psia Pa lbf/ft 2
Volumetric flow rate bbl/day m /s ft /s
3
3
Viscosity cp Pa∙s lbf∙s/ft 2