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Look around you. What do you see? You see homes powered by electricity generated from thermal power plants. Thousands of automobiles carrying millions of people and goods every day. LPG connections allowing homes, offices, factories, and restaurants to cook food, run vehicles and other heavy machines.
I wanted to give you the above examples to highlight the importance of energy in our lives. As conversations around cleaner forms of energy gather steam, fossil fuels are being considered as a thing of the past.
However, if reports and data are to be believed, our reliance on fossil fuels is greater than ever. The world’s global consumption of fossil fuels continues to rise every single year. In this article, we look at one of the most important aspects of fossil fuels like oil and gas- drilling.
5 Drilling Steps that Help in Extraction of Oil and Natural Gases
1. Preparation of the Site of the Rig
A site that has been identified for the purposes of oils and gas drilling needs to be separated and prepared accordingly. This means creating the roads, access points, layering of pads, and building residential bunkers for the workers on the rig.
It also means that you need to abide by all the local and state regulations surrounding the rules and laws of drilling. This includes noise level monitoring if the drilling area is close to human habitation. Following the laws is essential so as not to attract any fines or penalties.
2. Starting with the Drilling Process Itself-
In this step, the company that has been entrusted with the task of drilling starts the process. The first step involves testing the depth of the ground and then assembling the drill rig accordingly. According to studies, 100-feet is the distance that is first drilled by the company.
Special care is taken to ensure that no water ducts or aquifers are compromised in this regard. It also means that the entire drill channel, which is roughly ten feet is properly reinforced using steel padding and sand screens. For more information on drilling equipment, visit- completionproducts.com.
3. Cementing the Pipe and Extraction-
This is the process where the drill pipe has done its work and reached the level of oil and gas. Once the level has been hit, the drill pipe is removed and the steel pipe that will take the crude oil or natural gas to the surface is attached. This process is known as ‘cementing’.
A lot of safety parameters are checked and put into place during this process. This is done to ensure that the steel pipe that is used in the extraction process is completely full-proof. One small ding to the pipe can result in the release of highly inflammable fuel and cause accidents.
4. Fracking and Extraction of the Fuel-
Fracking is something that most people who are aware of the industry know about. In this process, a mixture of 99% water and 1% chemicals is fired with some velocity to break the external shale outer surface and release the fuel. This helps in the fuel to come out.
Fracking is a process that is done at four or five different points that helps release the pressure. It is an incredibly difficult and important step that usually takes up to a week to get done. You can think of this as a step that finally releases the pressurized fuel from the Earth’s surface.
5. Closing the Well and Restoring the Land-
Once the fossil fuels have been completely extracted, the company then needs to close the oil well safely to ensure that no accidents can take place. It then needs to follow certain protocols to ensure that the land can be reused and rehabilitated by the government of the land.
Governments and authorities are very particular in this regard. They can level heavy fines, penalties and cancel licenses if the companies fail to adhere to the fulfillment of the conditions of restoring the land.
The Bottom Line
In the last few years, technology has been playing a major role in helping improve the efficiency of the drilling process. This has resulted in better efficiency and lowered the rate of accidents. If you would like us to share any additional information on drilling or any other point in the article, let us know in the comments section below.
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