Oil and gas technology

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The term crude oil and natural gas technology , also known internationally as petroleum engineering , comprises a series of underground activities carried out by various engineers who are used in the production of hydrocarbons in the form of crude oil or natural gas . Typically, these activities are part of what is known as the upstream part of the oil and gas industry because it is more about finding and extracting hydrocarbons than refining or distributing them, which in turn is referred to as downstream . Reservoir science and oil and natural gas technology are the two main underground disciplines of the oil and gas industry, both with a focus on the optimal economic development of hydrocarbons from underground sources. The deposit science is limited to providing a static representation of the hydrocarbon-containing rock, while the petroleum and natural gas technology deals with the estimation of the recoverable volume of such a deposit. This requires a detailed understanding of the physical relationships between oil, water and gas that are under high pressure in porous rock.

The joint efforts of geologists and engineers determine during the entire utilization phase of a hydrocarbon deposit how the source is tapped and exploited. Usually they have a particularly high impact on the cost-effectiveness of the warehouse. The job description of Petroleum Engineering requires a good knowledge of many related activities, such as geophysics , economic geology , drilling , drill core analysis , business management , reservoir simulation , pump technology and oil and gas equipment technology .

General

Oil and gas engineering has developed into a profession whose task it is to extract oil under increasingly difficult conditions because the more easily accessible oil fields on earth have already been discovered and exhausted. Further developments in the fields of computer models, materials, the use of statistical data and probability calculations have, in addition to technologies such as directional drilling or enhanced oil recovery - or EOR processes - have significantly impacted the tools of oil and gas engineers over the past few decades improved.

Because mistakes can quickly run into the tens of millions of dollars, oil and gas engineers are challenged. As far as the technical challenges are concerned, underwater operations at great depths are definitely comparable to space travel. You have to struggle with arctic conditions as well as extreme heat. High-temperature and high-pressure environments are now almost commonplace and require the oil and gas engineer to safely deal with such far-reaching topics as thermal hydraulics , soil mechanics and intelligent systems.

Petroleum and natural gas engineers often have to implement highly technical plans under dangerous conditions and coordinate the necessary personnel extremely reliably. The drilling team and the machines that are used in the process become the extended arm of the oil and gas engineers in the implementation of each drilling program. Understanding and taking into account such special communicative requirements in the composition of these teams has always been decisive for this profession.

The Society of Petroleum Engineers is the largest professional body for oil and gas engineers in the United States and publishes a lot of information about the oil industry. The petroleum engineer course is available at 17 universities in the USA and in many other countries - especially in oil-producing countries - but not only at the top producers there are comparable courses.

In Germany, for example, these are offered by the Technical University of Clausthal and the TU Bergakademie Freiberg, in Austria by the Montanuniversität Leoben .

Even some oil companies have noteworthy training programs for petroleum engineers .

Oil and gas engineers have always been among the best-paid engineers in the world; On the other hand, there were always regular mass layoffs when the oil price fell . According to a survey published in September 2007, the median annual income is $ 122,458. In a June 4, 2007 article, Forbes.com reported that petroleum engineering ranks 24th among the highest paid occupations in the United States.

Sub-disciplines

Oil and gas engineers are divided into different sub-disciplines:

  • Reservoir engineers ( Reservoir Engineers ) working to optimize the production of oil and gas. They ensure the optimal placement of the boreholes, plan the individual sections of the project and use the enhanced oil recovery process.
  • Drilling engineers ( Drilling Engineers ) take care of the technical aspects of handling and Verpressbohrung.
  • Operating engineers ( Petroleum Production Engineers ) form the interface between the reservoir and the wellbore. This includes drilling, sand control, pumping technology, flow control in the wells and other monitoring techniques. They are also responsible for the selection of devices that separate the extracted materials such as oil, gas and water on the surface.

literature

Friedrich P. Springer: On the history of deep drilling technology from the perspective of textbooks and specialist books, Erdöl Erdgas Kohlen Heft 7/8, 125th year 2009.

Individual evidence

  1. America's Best- And Worst-Paying Jobs English

Web links