The study of movements, formation, and occurrence in hydrocarbon fuels is petroleum geology. Without geologists in this field, we would not be able to locate or extract oil from the earth. Petroleum geology has seven elements that are crucial for evaluation. Each element has a role in sedimentary basins. (was thinking of deleting this paragraph, took it from your outline)
Crude oil, which is known as Petroleum, is essentially a fossil fuel. The fossil fuel is created over millions of years by the remains of dead plants and algae. As these ancient marine organisms die in their swallow seas they sank down to the seafloor. Their remains were mixed with the surrounding sediments and covered up. Eventually, the swallow sea dried up and what were …show more content…
On water, an oil platform is constructed to get to the oil. When the drill makes it way to the oil the oil rises fairly quickly to the surfaces due to the high to low pressure change. Once this initial gush oil has been subdued pumps are used to extract the needed oil. Some of these drilling sites can supply oil for decades to come. Oil platforms are more expensive than oil rigs because of the needed platform structure that must take the abuse of ocean waves and storms. These platforms must contain living corridors for crew and even a helicopter platform. However, the drilling techniques on the platform are generally the same as in onshore drilling. After the oil is collected it must be refined and converted into useful products such as fuel. The crude oil that is collected has many impurities such as sulfur and sand. These impurities must be filtered out by the use of heat and a distillation tower. Once filtered out it is transported to different locations to be used as is or to continue the …show more content…
Reservoirs can be located as far down as 30, 000 feet below the surface and can be different sizes and shapes. The high pressure that exists at this deep level of the earth causes the petroleum to be push up to the surface. As the petroleum travels up to the surface it collects underneath a layers of rock it cannot pass through. The blockage allows for the reservoirs to fill up with oil. This impermeable rock stops the petroleum from escaping out and is called the trap. Traps are classified into three categories: structural trap, stratigraphic trap and hydrodynamic trap. Many petroleum reservoirs have attributes from these three different categories of traps. A seal is crucial part of the trap and helps to prevent hydrocarbons from escaping the reservoir. The capillary entry seal prevent fluids from traveling and traps hydrocarbons until there is a leak. There are two types of capillary seals: hydraulic and membrane seal. The membrane seal will leak as the pressure grows and will allow some fluid to move up through the pores; however, once the pressure normalizes the reservoir will reseal. The hydraulic seal leaks when the rocks containing the oil fractures and allows fluid to escape. Once again, as the pressure reduces and the fractures close the seal will return to blocking the
Crude oil, which is known as Petroleum, is essentially a fossil fuel. The fossil fuel is created over millions of years by the remains of dead plants and algae. As these ancient marine organisms die in their swallow seas they sank down to the seafloor. Their remains were mixed with the surrounding sediments and covered up. Eventually, the swallow sea dried up and what were …show more content…
On water, an oil platform is constructed to get to the oil. When the drill makes it way to the oil the oil rises fairly quickly to the surfaces due to the high to low pressure change. Once this initial gush oil has been subdued pumps are used to extract the needed oil. Some of these drilling sites can supply oil for decades to come. Oil platforms are more expensive than oil rigs because of the needed platform structure that must take the abuse of ocean waves and storms. These platforms must contain living corridors for crew and even a helicopter platform. However, the drilling techniques on the platform are generally the same as in onshore drilling. After the oil is collected it must be refined and converted into useful products such as fuel. The crude oil that is collected has many impurities such as sulfur and sand. These impurities must be filtered out by the use of heat and a distillation tower. Once filtered out it is transported to different locations to be used as is or to continue the …show more content…
Reservoirs can be located as far down as 30, 000 feet below the surface and can be different sizes and shapes. The high pressure that exists at this deep level of the earth causes the petroleum to be push up to the surface. As the petroleum travels up to the surface it collects underneath a layers of rock it cannot pass through. The blockage allows for the reservoirs to fill up with oil. This impermeable rock stops the petroleum from escaping out and is called the trap. Traps are classified into three categories: structural trap, stratigraphic trap and hydrodynamic trap. Many petroleum reservoirs have attributes from these three different categories of traps. A seal is crucial part of the trap and helps to prevent hydrocarbons from escaping the reservoir. The capillary entry seal prevent fluids from traveling and traps hydrocarbons until there is a leak. There are two types of capillary seals: hydraulic and membrane seal. The membrane seal will leak as the pressure grows and will allow some fluid to move up through the pores; however, once the pressure normalizes the reservoir will reseal. The hydraulic seal leaks when the rocks containing the oil fractures and allows fluid to escape. Once again, as the pressure reduces and the fractures close the seal will return to blocking the