Hydrocarbs extraction

Master 2 STH

October 30, 2018

 Oil and gas resources are located in either conventional or unconventional
reservoirs, which can be located in either onshore or offshore geological for-
mations.
The key difference between conventional and unconventional oil and gas
relates to the geology of the reservoirs where deposits are located. Conven-
tional gas reservoirs consist mostly of porous sandstone and are capped with
impermeable rock, which traps the gas and stops it from reaching the surface.
This means these reserves can be extracted by drilling wells through the
cap rock, through which the oil and gas then flows to the surface. Con-
ventional resources are located across Australia in both on- and offshore
reservoirs.
Developed offshore oil and gas resources in Australia are conventional
resources. Although the extraction of offshore unconventional resources is
theoretically possible, the technological challenges of doing so mean that it is
considered uneconomical compared to extracting other available hydrocarbon
resources. Unconventional oil and gas which includes shale oil and gas, tight
oil and gas, and coal seam gas is contained in more complex geological
systems that complicate its extraction.
As a result it cannot be extracted via traditional wells and requires inno-
vative technology and techniques for extraction.
This often involves the use of hydraulic fracturing (or fraccing), which
involves pumping a fluid mixture made up of water, sand and chemical ad-
ditives into the wellbore under high pressure to create cracks in the deep
rock formations to free the trapped hydrocarbons. In the past, the cost of
this process was considered to outweigh the potential gains. As a result,
the extraction of unconventional oil and gas resources is a relatively recent
development compared to conventional oil and gas.
However, in recent years technological developments have made fraccing
more economical and these resources are now being developed, with most un-
conventional gas in Australia to date coming from Queenslands CSG projects.
For onshore unconventional hydrocarbon resources that require fraccing,
specialised pumps are needed for various applications including:
- Transporting the water required for fraccing to the well site
- Pumping fluid into the wells at high pressure for the fraccing process -
The transportation of produced water away for treatment and/or reuse
- To transport the extracted gas and/or oil to processing facilities
While conventional oil and gas resources, and some CSG resources, do
not require water to be pumped into the ground for hydraulic fracturing,
they do require pumps for an array of other applications.
For instance, CSG wells that dont require fraccing still require the removal
of some of the water trapped in the coal seams so that the pressure holding

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the gas to the coal is reduced, allowing the gas to flow to the gas well.
This is usually achieved through the use of progressive cavity pumping
systems, which are lowered inside the well casing on steel tubing to a depth
of around 800 to 1,000 metres depending on the location of the coal seam.
Both the gas and associated water are then extracted via the CSG well,
and are then separated and pumped to relevant treatment facilities via sep-
arate pipelines. At the gas processing facility the gas is compressed to high
pressure using a multi-stage reciprocating gas compressor.
Gas is generally dehydrated before it is transported via a high pressure
gas pipeline. This process may involve monoethylene glycol (MEG) injection
or triethylene glycol (TEG) dehydration.
This process usually involves centrifugal pumps for recycling the sepa-
rated glycol and reciprocating pumps to reinject glycol at the wellhead.
Crude oil is generally piped to a refinery for processing into products such
as petrol, diesel fuel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and others.Processing
plants require an array of pumps for applications including transporting hy-
drocarbons throughout the process, transporting boiler feed water, cooling,
transport and metering of chemicals, acid gas removal, and booster services.
Pumps that handle hydrocarbons during processing are generally API
610 centrifugal process pumps.
Pumping may also be required for water injection to boost the flow of
declining conventional wells, onshore or offshore.
Additionally, the process of extracting oil and gas often requires application-
specific chemicals at precise quantities, requiring pumps that can handle
these materials and deliver the required accuracy and reliability.
For example, an offshore oil and gas platform may have up to 100 metering
pumps, often diaphragm pumps, installed.
Pumps are also often required to transport fluids needed for cooling, re-
moving slurry, control of drilling mud, multiphase application, separating
components, boosting pressure, emptying tanks, and other functions.
It is worth noting that associated and ancillary facilities at any oil and/or
gas field will also require pumps to provide a variety of services.

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Bibliography

[01] K. H. Coats: pumpindustry, https://www.pumpindustry.com.au/the-

pumps-that-drive-oil-and-gas/.