The drilling process

The Origins, Migration and Trapping of Petroleum and Exploring For It.

THE ORIGIN OF PETROLEUM

During certain geologic ages, when the climate was suitable, petroleum began as organic material derived from plants and animals which grew in abundance. As these organisms went through their cycles of growing and dying, buried organic material slowly decayed and became our present-day fossil fuels: oil, gas, coal and bitumen. Oil, gas and bitumen were dispersed in the sediments (usually clay-rich shales). Over millions of years, these organic-laden shales expelled their oil and gas under tremendous pressures from the overburden. The oil and gas migrated into permeable strata below or above them, then migrated further into traps that we now call reservoirs. It’s interesting to note that the word “petroleum” is derived from the Latin words for “rock” (petra) and “oil” (oleum), indicating that its origins lie within the rocks that make up the earth’s crust.

These ancient petroleum hydrocarbons are complex mixtures and exist in a range of physical forms — gas mixtures, oils ranging from thin to viscous, semi-solids and solids. Gases may be found alone or mixed with the oils. Liquids (oils) range in color from clear to black. The semi-solid hydrocarbons are sticky and black (tars). The solid forms are usually mined as coal, tar sand or natural asphalt such as gilsonite.

As the name “hydrocarbon” implies, petroleum is comprised of carbon atoms and hydrogen atoms bonded together; the carbon has four bonds and the hydrogen has one. The simplest hydrocarbon is methane gas (CH4). The more complex hydrocarbons have intricate structures, consisting of multiple carbon-hydrogen rings with carbon-hydrogen side chains. There are often traces of sulfur, nitrogen and other elements in the structure of the heavier hydrocarbons.

Date: 2015-02-28; view: 1559