INSTITUTO TECNOLOGICO SUPERIOR DE COSAMALOAPAN

DIRECCIN ACADMICA / SUBDIRECCIN ACADMICA

Jefatura de la Divisin Estudios Profesionales / PROGRAMA DE INGLS /

Examen que se aplica sustentado en las normas y el procedimiento para la acreditacin de lengua extranjera, (Ingls)
vigente en los Institutos Tecnolgicos que conforman el Sistema Nacional de Educacin Superior Tecnolgica.

Oil Engineering
Instructions: Read the text carefully first and then in agree with it, complement each phrase that on
answers sheet show you. (Dont write nothing herel)

Exploration of oil and gas it isnt what

you think it is.
1 Did you know that most oil and gas
wells drilled in the world were, and
are, done by small independent
oil/gas companies? Yep, Its true,
no matter what the media or other
persons of interest say
otherwise. These small independent
companies were called Wild Cat
Operations. (a) They were and still
are the leading edge of drilling for
that precious oil and gas, which is so
highly coveted. Let me take you
back, and give you some history on
how and where this first came about
in what is Part 1 of a 2-part series.
Av. Tecnolgico S/N, Col. Los ngeles
C.P. 95400, Cosamaloapan, Ver.
Tel. (288) 882-31 00, 882-03-33
www.itsco.edu.mx

7 Let me say there have always been

seeps of oil, bubbling up from the
ground since the time the world was
formed. Oil is mainly dead algae or what
geologists and chemists like to say,
Lifeless Hydrocarbons, compressed,
pressurized and heated which turns into
a sludge. Natural Gas comes from oil
that has been compressed and
pressurized even more. When I say
pressurized, think of a piece of graphite,
when you take it and pressurized it, you
get coal, if you pressurize it more, you
get a diamond. Oil and Gas are the
same.
14 Now seeps have been all over the world, and most ancient
cultures have used it to make various things and weapons. But the real
start of how the oil boom began in the U.S., was Titusville, Penssylvania on
Oil Creek (which is actually called the Allegheny River now). People would
see a sheen of oil on the tops of the water, and called it Rock Oil. A man
by the name of Edwin Drake, drilled (actually pounded) in the area, which
started the flurry of the exploration of oil.
20 This laid waste to the Oil Boom of Texas. (b) A man by the name of
Anthony F. Lucas, who lead a drilling team, saw the salt dome known as
Spindletop. The area they were in was well known for oil seeps. When the
well has reached down to 1,139 ft, the pressurized gas and oil, launched
most of the drilling assembly into the air; gushing oil, gas and water
everywhere, which then coined the term of any well that gushed out of the
ground a Gusher. This started the Texas Oil Boom.
Av. Tecnolgico S/N, Col. Los ngeles
C.P. 95400, Cosamaloapan, Ver.
Tel. (288) 882-31 00, 882-03-33
www.itsco.edu.mx

The picture above is the spindletop well, which had been gushing for over
10 days.

These pictures show how much the spindletop area grew and the oil boom
took over in Texas.
29 Now, how does one explore for oil and gas. Well, over 100 years ago,
how they would explore was to look for nice round mounds, good sized
hills. Only to then realize that just because there is a hill doesnt mean
there is a pocket of oil and gas under it. So the geologists began to step
in. These individuals knew what rocks and clay types were on the surface
of a nice oil pocket, and 3 out of 5 times, the geologists were right. Fast
forward to today, and times have a changed!
35 To get the best cost verses waste management, most people (c) who
drill for oil use seismic machines that bounce sound waves. These
machines are called thumpers. Thumpers use these huge paddles, at the
end of hydraulic arms and stomp (or thump) the ground for a few minutes,
then move to a different position. The machine then collects the data from
the sound waves bouncing back up and it creates an image. These images
can show pockets of oil, gas, water and sometimes nothing. The nothing
can be a cave, a void, and sometimes a large geode. Back in the 60s and
70s, they use to use dynamite for this type of seismic reading.

Av. Tecnolgico S/N, Col. Los ngeles

C.P. 95400, Cosamaloapan, Ver.
Tel. (288) 882-31 00, 882-03-33
www.itsco.edu.mx

43 Now, when you have this beautiful picture of zig zag lines, is where the
work for drilling begins. The lines can indicate many things; Water, oil,
gas, a cave, and in some cases even special minerals. With this picture,
there are two was to go about exploring the strata of the surface of an
area. Shot Holing or Shot Holes, which is taking a small drill rig and going
to a certain depth to see the rock formations in the area. Or, drilling a
well, which can either be a straight hole or hydraulic fracturing, that I had
spoken about last week. A shot hole drill is more expensive, but can be
instrumental in finding the right variances in the formations to truly have
(d) an oil or gas field.

This Picture is the prefect example of a seismic graph. The large red spot
in the middle indicates a possibility of oil or gas.
53 An exploration field is an area where the oil and gas is centered, which
can be a few acres to hundreds of square miles. Now, when the drilling
companies are in an exploration field, everything is still called speculatory.
This means that even though petroleum geologists and drilling engineers
have all this expensive information, it doesnt mean that there will be any
oil or gas of substantial quantity. When the drillers do drill the first real
well in the area, and hit oil or gas in a new exploration field, is called a
Discovery Well. The 59 Discovery Wells are all over the Unites States. It
may be considered a good well, but it also may be plugged right after
being drilled, and have well drilled around it as an estimate of where to
find oil and gas. If the field is found to be good, then drilling will continue
to extract the oil or gas. If the field is spotty, as in it has some oil or gas,
but the oil or gas doesnt move fast, (e) it can be called stranded and that
is when there shall be fracking. Of course, if the field has brought up
multiple dry holes, the field is called a dead field. This can also happen in
fields that are decades old, and seem to dry up with no oil or gas going
into the wells. If that happens, the holes are plugged and abandoned
(P&A). There have been a few instances, where a grad student doing work
in some type of geological field will go to these old P&A wells for their
thesis, and find oil or gas in them. This has been happening more and
more, with people and drilling companies rechecking or testing old P&Aed
wells.
Av. Tecnolgico S/N, Col. Los ngeles
C.P. 95400, Cosamaloapan, Ver.
Tel. (288) 882-31 00, 882-03-33
www.itsco.edu.mx

71 If the drilling and the oil/gas company want to hold off extracting the
precious minerals, they what is known as a Christmas Tree on the well.
These are really a bunch of specialized pipe, fittings and monitoring
equipment (gauges that watch the PSI of a well), and can look like (f) from
a distance like a shiny Christmas Tree. These functional pipes and fittings
are special made depending on well type. They can be removed later if
there is to be a pipeline running through the area, or if the owner wants to
place a holding tank (oil only) on the property, in which they would have a
Pump Jack which slowly syphons the oil out.
78 Oh course these Christmas Trees can be on there for years due to lack
of natural gas pipelines, or even oil transferring pipelines to refineries.
With the key stone pipeline in a hold pattern and Canada not happy with
Obama, most companies are in a holding pattern, going bankrupt or
dismantling the business due to the Obama administration effecting small
and large businesses alike.
83 Exploration of any oil and gas has also taken a huge hit in recent year.
Under the Bush administration, any drilling company and oil and gas
company or corporation, was able to take a write off concerning
exploration, (g) which was put in place with the IRS. The was called the Oil
Exploration Tax Credit and it started in 2004. The Credit ended December
31, 2012. Many people may say, so what if the tax write off stops
because oil and gas companies make billions. This opinion is notorious is
most of the U.S., though when you ask these individuals how much it can
cost for exploration drilling, they say they do not care or do not know.
The normal cost for an area, that has easy access with trucks, trade men,
and other trade type business in the area of an exploration field, can range
from 8 million to 20 million. This is for one well, and (h) these are
usually independent companies. 93 There will be some individuals who
will throw the Discovery show, Blood and Oil, saying that they did it for
one million dollars. This family owns their own drilling company, drilled on
(i) their own land, and have been doing this for decades, so they know the
ins and outs, and probably are using the remnants of other wells they
have drilled (pipe, casing, casing cement, etc.) from other clients. When
you are in the oil business, and a small company, you dont throw away
perfectly good material. The Discovery Channel has already been known to
give money or help pay for certain items on shows, and ask for the people
who are being taped to create drama. So, that is totally up to the individual
on what they believe.
102 Next week, in Part 2, I will talk about how a well is drilled and (j) what
all goes into it.

Av. Tecnolgico S/N, Col. Los ngeles

C.P. 95400, Cosamaloapan, Ver.
Tel. (288) 882-31 00, 882-03-33
www.itsco.edu.mx