Better Technology = Better Production
The push is on to expand oil production from existing oil fields using advanced technologies that have made great headway only since the 1990s. Says the Society of Petroleum Engineers (http://www.spe.org/):
“Technology allows the industry to get more oil or gas out of each deposit that it finds. Newer stimulation technologies, treatment fluids and enhanced recovery techniques enable the oil or gas to move more easily to producing wells. Hydraulic fracturing techniques create small cracks from the wellbore into the reservoir rock. These fractures serve as a “˜highway’ for the hydrocarbons to reach producing wells. Horizontal-drilling technologies allow a reservoir to be penetrated horizontally rather than vertically, opening more of the reservoir to the well and enhancing recovery.”
In Focus: Offshore Spar Operations
SPE continues: “Technology has enhanced environmental protection as well. Directional drilling provides greatly increased flexibility in well placement, so that a well can be placed in the area where it will have the least possible environmental effect and still reach a reservoir that might be miles away laterally. Several wells can be drilled from a single location, dramatically decreasing the amount of land surface area required to develop a field. Newer synthetic-based drilling fluids have been developed for applications that previously required oil-based fluids, reducing toxicity, oil usage, and oily wastes that must be disposed. Coiled-tubing drilling units are smaller, use less space, create less visual disturbance, make less noise, use less energy, and reduce waste volumes.”