Stages of an Oil Well
1, Exploration
As the name implies, we are conducting an exploration to see how viable and fit the land is, we see major action from geologists and geophysicists, wildcat wells are drilled to test the wells.
2, Site preparation
Here we clear the land, create access roads, bring in equipment, essentially we are preparing the land for the operations ahead.
3, Drilling
Now the party is getting started, a hole is made into the ground to connect subsurface to the surface, steel pipes called casing are also inserted to provide structure and support, then it is cemented, then we insert our drilling mud to control pressure.
4, Well completion
These are the finishing touches on our well, valves, tubing and perforation is done here, we also get to insert our Christmas tree. At this stage, sometimes we can do acidizing, but our well is just about ready to releasing the black gold.
5, Production
Oil and gas flows from the reservoir to the surface through the tubes we put in earlier, when the raw crude is collected, we separate it(water, gas, oil). it is then sent through pipelines for the next stage.
6, Well Maintenance
At this stage damaged equipment is fixed, work over operations are performed, and blockages are clear to ensure the smooth and continuous running of our well.
7, Enhanced recovery
When the energy in the reservoir is no longer enough to push it to the surface, eor is used to help, water, steam, or gas is injected into the reservoir to assist the oil in coming out, it can increase our total recovery to about 70 percent.
8, Plug and Abandon
Finally it’s time for the life of the well to come to an end, when well is no longer commercially viable(it isn’t producing enough oil to make profit), we fill our well with cement, closing it down permanently.
