Oil Rig Company - How Do Oil Companies Dig Up For the Petroleum Oil?"

Oil is the fossil fuel found in many countries throughout the world. From the record, in year 2005, USA produced around 9 million barrels of crude oil a day and imported around 13 million barrels per day from other countries. The production of oil will be refined into Gasoline, Kerosene and other heating products. In order to maintain oil consumption level, current oil companies must survey for new sources of petroleum and increase the productivity of existing oil wells.

How do oil companies survey oil site and pump up from the ground?

From many movies, you may be used to see how black oil gush out from the ground and also how oil wells look like as seen on Armageddon, Beverly Hillbillies or Oklahoma Crude etc. However the present oil production is very different from the way they told you in the films.

Over decade, organism decayed themselves under the sedimentary layers with very few or none of oxygen underneath. As a result, microorganisms broke out into the carbon-rich compounds and formed organic layers. The organic matter with sediment will form fine-grained shale called source rock. From the deposition of layers, it generated strong pressure and heat onto the source rock. The heat and pressure refined the organic matter within crude oil and natural gas. The oil flowing from the source rock then accumulated to be thicker in porous limestone or sandstone called reservoir rock. Movement of earth could trap the oil and natural gas inside the reservoir rock between layers of impermeable rock and cap such as granite and marble.

The locating of the oil site is assigned for geologists who are employed directly by oil companies or under contract from private firms. Their tasks are to find the proper conditions of the oil trap which it has to be the exact source rock, reservoir rock and entrapment. The most common method of locating the oil is seismology that can create shock waves that pass through the hidden rock layers and interpret the reversed waves into the data.

Regarding the seismology survey, the shock wave can be created by the following methods:

• Compressed-air gun : This method is to shoots pulses of air into the water (for exploration over water).
• Thumper truck : This method is to hardly slams the plates into the ground (for exploration over land).
• Explosives : This method is to drill into the ground (for exploration over land) or throw overboard (for exploration over water), and detonate.

After the selected site is found and prepared, a number of holes have to be dug for making a room for the rig and the main hole. A rectangular pit called cellar is dug around the site of the actual hole. The cellar can provide a space around the hole for workers and drilling instrument. The oil rig team then begins drilling the main holes, usually with a small drill truck. As soon as the hole-drilling is completed, the rig equipment can be taken place and set up afterward.