How do crude oil pumps work

It is common for there to be insufficient pressure in the reservoir to push oil to the surface, and thus this artificial lift is used to increase production from a well.

Sometimes artificial lift is required from the very beginning, whereas other times production of a well decreases over time as the pressure drops and artificial lift is needed to boost production. The beam pumping method utilized by pump jacks is the most common method for creating artificial lift. Pump jacks operate on the same basic principle of some hand pumped water wells that some people are familiar with. Pump jacks are classified as a type of artificial lift pump system, and are the most common type of artificial lift system.

These devices are composed of a long, heavy beam that is moved by some external power source. This source causes the end of the beam to rise and fall. Environmental See all.

OK Earthquake Update: Protocols. Empowerment See all. Economic See all. Trending Now Week Month. Humble beginnings. Trout, pumpjack inventor How do they work? How much crude can a pumpjack pump? Why so many sizes? Fixed platforms are typically used in areas with water depths less than 1, ft m and would be the most likely type of production platform that would be used in the Great Lakes.

These platforms contact the bottom using concrete or steel legs and are either directly attached to, or simply rest on, the bottom. A variety of other production platforms are available for deeper water conditions and would probably not be applicable for use in the Great Lakes. Conventional wells are drilled vertically from the surface straight down to the pay zone. This is the traditional and still common type of drilling. Horizontal Drilling using technologies such as bottom driven bits, drillers are able to execute a sharp turn and drill horizontally along a thin pay zone.

In a related procedure, developed in this area, two horizontal well bores are drilled one above the other, about 3 meters apart. One application for this is SAGD Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage where steam is injected into the higher of these horizontal holes and the heat precipitates oil down into the lower hole, increasing production of heavy oil.

Drilling these holes requires an experienced crew, precision techniques and advanced technology. This approach minimizes surface environmental disturbance.

For example, oil reserves under a lake can be tapped by a slant hole drilled from on shore. More commonly in this area; four, six, even eight slant wells are drilled from one "pad" i. This allows the oil reserves under a large land area to be tapped by only one well site. Thus, production of valuable oil reserves is effectively harmonized with conserving the environment.

Directional Drilling has advanced from slant and horizontal drilling to drilling that can change direction and depth several times in one well bore. A schematic of these drill bores often several from the same drill pad, resembles the roots of a plant. This type of drilling is uniquely suited to pay zones in the Lloydminster area which are often distributed like prairie sloughs across the underground landscape. Directional drilling is also being applied in other parts of the world now such as Venezuela and where there is a special need to limit environmental impact on the surface.

Once a well has been drilled and verified to be commercially viable, it must be completed to allow for the flow of oil or gas. The completion process involves the strengthening of the well walls with casing and installing the appropriate equipment to control the flow of oil or gas from the well.

Casing consists of a stacked series of metal pipes installed into the new well in order to strengthen the walls of the well hole, to prevent fluids and gases from seeping out of the well as it is brought to the surface, and to prevent other fluids or gases from entering the rock formations through which the well was drilled. Casing extends from the surface to the bottom of the well and is typically steel pipe with a diameter that may range from 4. Casing with a diameter slightly smaller than that of the well hole is inserted into the well, and a wet cement slurry is pumped between the casing and the sides of the well.

Casing is installed as the well is progressively drilled deeper. The top interval of the well, extending from the surface to a depth below the lowermost drinking water zone, is the first to be completed, being cemented from the surface to below the drinking water zone.

Next, a smaller diameter hole is drilled to a lower depth, and then that segment is completed. This process may be repeated several times until the final drilling depth is reached.

Another aspect of well completion is the selection of an appropriate intake configuration for the well. Intake configurations are designed to permit the flow of oil or gas into the well, and the selection of a particular intake type will depend on the nature of the formation surrounding the intake portion of the well. Well completion also involves the installation of an appropriate wellhead.

A wellhead is the permanent equipment mounted at the opening of the well that is used to regulate and monitor oil or gas extraction from the well. The wellhead also prevents oil or gas leakage from the well and blowouts due to high-pressure formations associated with the well. For wells with sufficient pressure for the oil or gas to reach the surface without assistance, the wellhead will include a series of Valves and fittings to control the flow.

Gas wellheads in the Canadian waters by Lake Erie are located on the lake bottom because of winter ice and navigational concerns. Such wellheads would likely be used for any offshore wells in U.

Most modern or recently drilled onshore U. For such oil wells, lifting equipment or well treatment is used to bring the oil to the surface. Lifting equipment typically involves the use of some type of mechanical surface or downhole pump. Well treatment involves the injection of acid, water, or gases into the well to open the formation and allow oil to flow more freely through it and into the well.

For some oil wells, a compressed gas often natural gas collected from the oil well is injected into the well. This gas dissolves into the oil, forming bubbles that lighten the oil and bring it to the surface. For wells in limestone or carbonate formations, acid may be injected under pressure to dissolve portions of the rock and thus create spaces that enhance the flow of oil.

Diaphragm pumps are one of the most versatile types of oil and gas pumps in the industry and transfer fluid through positive displacement with a valve and diaphragm. The working principle of this pump is that a decrease in volume causes an increase in pressure in a vacuum and vice versa. Diaphragm pumps are suitable for high-volume fluid transfer operations in oil refineries. They also require much less maintenance than positive displacement pumps due to their fewer moving parts and less friction during operation and are available in compact designs.

Fortunately, winks can be rectified by using a back-pressure regulator. A gear pump uses the meshing of gears to pump fluid by displacement. Gear pumps are one of the most common types of positive displacement pumps for transferring industrial fluids. Gear pumps are also widely used for chemical transfer applications for high viscosity fluids. There are two main variations: external gear pumps which use two external spur gears or timing gears that drive the internal gear set.

The internal gears do not touch, so non-lubricating fluids can be pumped with external gear pumps. Internal gear pumps use a shaft driven drive gear to drive the internal mating gear.