Pumping Oil

[Jalopy]

I have no knowledge of crude oil pumping. How many oil wells, either on dry land or in the ocean "spew" oil like the one that is doing it now in the Gulf? I have always been under the impression that the oil actually had to be pumped up from below ground. Just curious. Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[Jogeephus]

I'm not an oil person but several years ago they explored for oil along a fault line that runs through this area. One of the wells turned out to be a gusher and spewed oil out of it like you see in the movies. They took some pictures and capped it off since it wasn't the type oil they wanted. I was told that the reason this one spewed was the area of the fault they drilled in was under a lot of pressure which is one of the things needed to form oil. So I guess its about like a water well versus and artesian well, it all has to do with the below ground pressure. Maybe Backhoebuggy will offer a better explanation.

 

[novaman]

My knowledge of oil drilling is limited but I believe they have a BOP (blow off protector) that prevents it from doing this. Again I may be wrong but I know they do have BOP's....just unsure if this is its purpose or something else.

 

[Brute 23]

It all depends on the wells. Alot of oil wells free flow. They have wells in other countries that makes hundreds of thousands of barrels a day. In comparison I have wells that make 800 barrels a day thru a 20/64" choke up 4" pipe... they have wells that flow thru 6" chokes up 16-24" pipe. :shock: You can put alot of fluid on the ground in a hurry.

Stuff happens all the time. Brand new tanks bust holes in them because of impurities in the metal, we had a dozer operator back over a well last week, just all kind of things can happen. There are zones on land that even with the technology today the big companies will not drill into because they are afraid of a blow out. It happens... and has the potential to happen more often than what people would like to know about.

Companies have things that ocea requirea like spill plans, walls around the tanks that can hold fluid back, safety cut off valves that work off pressure, all kinds of stuff.

On big wells they use hydrolics to shut the wells down. It does not take a whole lot of pressure and you can cut right thru a valve or just not be able to move it. In BPs case they had test blow out preventers, hydrolic leaks, and their safety valve on the rig was messed up. There are multiple things that should catch a problem like that... all which failed... from what sounds like neglect.

They have hooked this pipe up to the top and are getting some of the oil to the surface. There are vents in the pipe the keep it from getting too much pressure and breaking or popping off. As they go they will start closing the vents and capturing more and more... hopefully.

 

[TexasBred]

800 bpd?????Where !!

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Back around the turn of the 20th century (dates??) the Spindletop Oil Fields in Texas produced gushers. Yes some wells can have built up pressure that start spewing as soon as a hole is punched in the formation. If blowouts didn't happen then the legendary "Red Adair Hellfighters" would not have all that worldwide business of putting out well fires. The movie years ago that starred John Wayne was based on Red Adair's firefighting business.

 

[TexasBred]

Back around the turn of the 20th century (dates??) the Spindletop Oil Fields in Texas produced gushers. Yes some wells can have built up pressure that start spewing as soon as a hole is punched in the formation. If blowouts didn't happen then the legendary "Red Adair Hellfighters" would not have all that worldwide business of putting out well fires. The movie years ago that starred John Wayne was based on Red Adair's firefighting business.

True....he got rich putting out those well fires...all over the world. Not that many fields that have the tremendous pressures anymore around these areas tho. We have a well in Goliad Co. that topped out at 130 bpd for a while and I thought it was a gusher...in about 18 months it's down to about 45.National average tho is only about 10.

 

[Angus Cowman]

Back around the turn of the 20th century (dates??) the Spindletop Oil Fields in Texas produced gushers. Yes some wells can have built up pressure that start spewing as soon as a hole is punched in the formation. If blowouts didn't happen then the legendary "Red Adair Hellfighters" would not have all that worldwide business of putting out well fires. The movie years ago that starred John Wayne was based on Red Adair's firefighting business.

My dad knew Mr adair personally and I have met him on 1 or 2 occasions I had one of his caps for yrs I don't know where it is now gonna have to call mom and find out if it is Dads hat collection :lol:

 

[Caustic Burno]

I have no knowledge of crude oil pumping. How many oil wells, either on dry land or in the ocean "spew" oil like the one that is doing it now in the Gulf? I have always been under the impression that the oil actually had to be pumped up from below ground. Just curious. Thanks in advance for any replies.

That is one hot well the average oil well in the US produces less than 20 barrels a day.
There have been some wells that have produced as much as 5000, BPD but are few and far between.

 

[TexasBred]

Yep....I don't know of any putting out that much....we do have one gas well that sounds like a jet engine when you drive up to it. Can't even carry on a conversation.

 

[Brute 23]

In the Eagle Ford they are getting 1000, 1200, 2000 a day out of them. They are having to do gas lift on some and some are flowing just depending on where you are at. They all go down eventually... pop a hole in a balloon and it will go flat... but thats a good place to start.

Conoco, Petrohawk, Chesapeak, Pioneer and many others are selling off land and production in the shale plays to come around here for the wet gas. I think Petrohawk said they have like 10 years of drilling... Conoco has like 1200 wells to drill... Pioneer some where around the same. Its getting crazy. We don't have enough pipelines to get the gas out of the area. They are laying 16", 24" lines and packing them as soon as they open them up.

Jim Cramer said to buy stock in Copano and I think he was right. They have alot going on. ;-)

 

[plumber_greg]

Back around the turn of the 20th century (dates??) the Spindletop Oil Fields in Texas produced gushers. Yes some wells can have built up pressure that start spewing as soon as a hole is punched in the formation. If blowouts didn't happen then the legendary "Red Adair Hellfighters" would not have all that worldwide business of putting out well fires. The movie years ago that starred John Wayne was based on Red Adair's firefighting business.

I watched that movie when I was about 10 or 12. Got the bright idea that I could light the top of a paint can full of gasoline and throw a firecracker in it to blow it out. Tried about 20 times, and actually could time it just right. Well the last time I tried the firecracker blew gas and fire about 10 feet in the air and all over the yard. Dad never did really know how the yard caught on fire for sure, he just quit asking about it. I needed more supervision as a child. gs

 

[Angus Cowman]

Back around the turn of the 20th century (dates??) the Spindletop Oil Fields in Texas produced gushers. Yes some wells can have built up pressure that start spewing as soon as a hole is punched in the formation. If blowouts didn't happen then the legendary "Red Adair Hellfighters" would not have all that worldwide business of putting out well fires. The movie years ago that starred John Wayne was based on Red Adair's firefighting business.

I watched that movie when I was about 10 or 12. Got the bright idea that I could light the top of a paint can full of gasoline and throw a firecracker in it to blow it out. Tried about 20 times, and actually could time it just right. Well the last time I tried the firecracker blew gas and fire about 10 feet in the air and all over the yard. Dad never did really know how the yard caught on fire for sure, he just quit asking about it. I needed more supervision as a child. gs

I am beginning to think you need mor supervision as an adult also
Are you sure you are a plumber and NOT a fitter

 

[plumber_greg]

I tell my wife nearly everyday she needs to take better care of me. Nearly everyday she tells me I should be able to take care of myself. gs

 

[TexasBred]

In the Eagle Ford they are getting 1000, 1200, 2000 a day out of them. They are having to do gas lift on some and some are flowing just depending on where you are at. They all go down eventually... pop a hole in a balloon and it will go flat... but thats a good place to start.

Conoco, Petrohawk, Chesapeak, Pioneer and many others are selling off land and production in the shale plays to come around here for the wet gas. I think Petrohawk said they have like 10 years of drilling... Conoco has like 1200 wells to drill... Pioneer some where around the same. Its getting crazy. We don't have enough pipelines to get the gas out of the area. They are laying 16", 24" lines and packing them as soon as they open them up.

Jim Cramer said to buy stock in Copano and I think he was right. They have alot going on. ;-)

According to the RRC site there are a few that size but most 3-400....still dang good....Chesapeake is still drilling like crazy up here. Course they drill like crazy everywhere the are since the CEO gets paid a % of gross sales.