Page 18 - Petroleum and Gas Field Processing

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Oil and Gas

From Formation to Production

1.1 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

This book deals with the field surface operations and facilities for handling
and processing the produced oil, gas, and water. This is an important
aspect in the overall planning and development of the field and must be
considered and integrated into the early stages of planning, economic
evaluation, and development of the field. Before considering the surface
production operations and facilities, however, extensive work and studies
are first made to characterize and evaluate the reservoir, determine the
production strategy for the life of the field, design the well completions
that are compatible with the production strategy, and design the well-
drilling programs.
Petroleum engineering students would, normally, have covered the
subject matters related to the reservoir, well completion, drilling, and
subsurface production methods before taking a course on surface
production operations. Non-petroleum-engineering students taking this
course, however, would be lacking such important and useful knowledge
and background. This chapter, therefore, provides brief background
information for the non-petroleum-engineering students to appreciate all
operations related to the production of oil and gas.
A brief description of how oil and gas were formed and accumulated
underground is first presented. A description of the various types
of petroleum reservoir according to their geologic and production
classifications is then provided. The exploration activities used in finding
(discovering) petroleum reservoirs are then highlighted. Finally, an
overview of the field development work, including the reservoir, drilling,
and production engineering aspects of the development, are summarized.

Copyright 2003 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.