From permitting to drilling and extracting to refining, the production of oil and gas is complex.
Years before you ever pulled into a gas station, the process was begun to extract and transform crude oil into gasoline, diesel, and over 6,000 other usable byproducts. Many steps in the process are carried out by fellow community members in our own backyard. Let’s take a 30,000 foot view of the industry that fuels our transportation.
THE SITE
- Identify the drill site. A lease and permit must be obtained before any drilling can occur. A lease can take up to 3 years to obtain, and a permit can be 300 pages long. Planning is a must!
- Prepare the site. A caliche road leading to the site and a pad for all the equipment are built before any equipment is brought to the site.
THE DRILLING RIG
- Rent a drilling rig, and start drilling. Rigs cost around $90,000 per day to rent. Drilling first begins by crushing rock to form a wellbore (or hole). The wellbore is drilled vertically to 9,000 feet on average, followed by horizontal drilling to expose more of the oil bearing zone to the wellbore.
SETTING UP THE WELL
- To create a wellbore, a drill bit is attached to a drill string (or drill pipe).
- While drilling, drill string fluid is pumped in to flush out the crushed rock from the wellbore.
- Casing (tubing) is then inserted, followed by cementing between the casing and the bare wall of the wellbore. The casing and cement protects and seals the wellbore from outside contaminates and supports the walls to prevent the well from caving in on itself. There may be several layers of each throughout the length of the well.
- A perforating gun is lowered which creates holes through the casing and cement resulting in micro-fracturing. This connects the oil reservoir to the wellbore and prepares the reservoir for hydraulic fracturing.
EXTRACTING THE OIL
- Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, is the process of pumping water, sand, and a few chemicals at high pressures to crack the rock, allowing oil and gas to flow into the wellbore and back to the surface. Approximately 1-5 million gallons of water are needed per frac. Without fracking, 95% of wells would be uneconomical.
- Once the well is fracked, a pumping unit is set to continue pumping oil and gas to surface facilities.
- Numerous services are required during the drilling process. Water is brought via trucks and pumped for miles through lay-flat pipes. Sand trucks, storage tanks, support services, and all the equipment must be brought to the drilling site. Around 100+ people are needed onsite during this process.
TRANSPORTING THE OIL
- Oil is held onsite in storage containers or shipped to refineries via trucks, pipelines, and railways.
- Natural gas is transported via pipelines or tankers to gas plants for processing.
REFINING
- Oil refineries use a variety of methods to separate and purify the materials in the crude oil and transform it into products like gasoline, diesel, and petroleum.
CONSUMER
- Two of the most well-known usable products from oil are gasoline and diesel. However, petroleum is used in the production of over 6,000 products, many of which are utilized daily in homes, offices, travel, and medical facilities. (You can find several of them pictured on page 42!) Every aspect of modern amenities would not be possible without oil and gas, the very industry that has supported and shaped our community for 100 years.
You can click full image below to enlarge the infographic as it was originally printed in Focus, or download the pdf of it here!
Article written by Allyson Joy with Matt Brewer and originally published in Focus Regional 2024 Oil & Gas edition.
