[Theorist]

I am writing a novel in which peak oil plays an important role.
I am trying to develop a description of the enormous amount
of activity and infrastructure required to produce oil.

So I would appreciate it if those who are familiar with this topic
could provide me with such mation along these lines and/or
references to where I can find published material on it.

Specifics: I would like to be able to describe the number of
wellheads in a given country (I have chosen Kuwait). Also, the
components of each wellhead, the amount of pipe needed
to convey oil from the wellhead areas to ports and
refineries, the number of workers needed to install and
support this infrastructure, the cost of drilling
a typical well and installing the wellhead, and so forth.

Is there a site that supplies such information? I have searched
the site for the Kuwait Oil Co and found nothing online.

[HEADER_RACK]

You don't ask for much do you friend! I know nothing of oil in kuwait but I do know a little about GoM oil field. I'm guessing if you want any kind of accurate numbers, you are going to be doing research for the next 12 to 18 months (hopefully).
You are not going to find one or two sites that are going to have all that information you need. You are going to be cross-referencing your ass off.
First you need to learn and understand the drilling process and all the different aspects to it. A drilling rig just doesn't show up on location alone and presto a few weeks later you have a well. You have casting companies,wire line,coil tubing,filtration companies,directional drillers,tong companies,mud engineers,completion specialist,well testers,divers,cementers,geologist just to name a few (very few). Most of the jobs preformed in drilling are preformed by companies specializing in that one certain area.
It's very hard to put an average price on drilling wells because each well is different and unique,not to mention the number of wells when they were drilled and at what contract rates were at the time of drilling. You can't put today's prices on a well that was drilled five years ago.
Offshore after the well has been drilled they bring in the jacket. that is what the production platform sits on and the platform itself. Then it's construction companies, barge cranes,divers, x-ray.
After the platform is up and running you have all kinds of components coming off the tree or wellhead. You have separators,scrubbers,meter runs,header racks,pig launches,flares. All kinds of sh*t. To keep all that running it takes between two guys on a small platform with only a couple of wells on it, up to over a hundred for the TLPs.
You want to find out how much piping it takes to go from the field to the refinery look up some pipeline companies and try and get a map of their systems and their a a few pipeline companies around so total all them up.

Bud you have a long row to hoe. Especially if you don't have any prior oilfield knowledge.

[ROCKMAN]

Theo,

This link will provide some info on well count, processing centers and a bit more.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/KUWAIT+-+ ... 0132944393

Since it's a novel and not a tech journal you're probably not going to get to deep into the technicalites of oil production. Feel free to message me privately with any detail questioned. I've been in the oil patch for 33 years so what I don't know I can generate a viable fib.

[Theorist]

Much thanks to both of you. Rockman, you are right that I don't need a huge amount of information. Just enough for a few paragraphs in my novel. Your reference to thefreelibrary has been extremely helpful.

Header-rack, I wonder if you would be kind enough to give me a little explanation of what each of the specialtists do that you mentioned:

casting companies (are they casting iron pipe?)

wire line (for electrical control?)

coil tubing,

filtration companies,

directional drillers,

tong companies,

mud engineers

completion specialist,

well testers,

divers,

cementers

I don't need a deep explanation of each one, just a little clarification. This information is about all that I need to complete the section I'm working on.

Thanks in advance.

Theorist

[ROCKMAN]

Theo,

You left out the most critical personnel on a drilling operation: the well site geologist. Without him the whole operation would grind to a halt. Even seasoned enginners will watch in awe as the WSG manages the entire operation. Few can handle either the pressure or massive technical competence required for this task. It would be fair to say that if a WSG isn't the central character in your novel it will surely be a bust.

Best regards,
BJD
Professional WSG

[Theorist]

Rockman,

Thanks for pointing me toward the role of the well site geologist.

I think that the limited scope of what I am doing still is not clear. I am not writing a book about oil drilling. I am writing a novel about the psychological, political, and economic forces that will determine the next generation's life outcomes. The section on oil infrastructure is only a couple of paragraphs long.

Here is a rough draft of this section. The "program" is a TV program that the narrator is describing to the reader.

****

Then the program examined the concept of peak oil. During the 20th and 21st centuries, we humans have been sucking oil out of the ground at fantastic rates. To convey the scale of this undertaking, the program focused on the amount of activity that's required to produce oil in just one country, Kuwait.

This small country produces 2.8 million barrels of oil a day, which is 3.2% of the world's daily output. Kuwait has approximately 1100 oil wells. The site for each well had to be selected through geological analysis. Each well then had to be drilled separately and fitted with a wellhead. This process alone required the involvement of a small army of specialists: casting companies, wire line companies, coil tubing companies, filtration companies, directional drillers, tong companies, mud engineers, completion specialist, well testers, drivers, cementers, and well site geologists.

Because Kuwait's oil fields are ageing, many wells require water to be injected into them in order to force oil up to the surface. So many wellheads required the installation of pipes for bringing this water from some source. Once the water has been used, it creates more problems because it has to be pumped to disposal sites and cleaned of residues.

As petroleum is brought to the surface, it is usually accompanied by natural gas. One might expect this by-product to be considered a plus. But often it is just an added burden because it is expensive to convey to ports and consumers. So it is often just flared off, adding to petroleum's overall environmental damage. The flaring process has to be carefully supervised. Flowlines had to be installed for conveying oil from each wellhead to gathering centers, where it is combined with oil from other wellheads in the field. From these gathering centers, oil must be pumped to storage tanks, refineries, and shipping ports.

****

If you can add any key items to this brief summary, I would be most appreciative. The list of items in my previous post are things that I though I might explain briefly for the reader.

[ROCKMAN]

I understood Theo. But you must understand the impact of geologists upon the "psychological, political, and economic forces" which rule the world. Few people understand our tremendous power. And we strive to keep it that way. Take this as your last warning.

All kidding aside. I suspect you're locked into Kuwait but have you researched Equatorial Guinea off the west coast of Africa? And if you recall an old movie, "The Dogs of War" with Ch. Walkin, you might notice some weird similarities.

[obixman]

I'll try some of them....


wire line (for electrical control?)

Wireline refers (mostly) to the logging of a well. Tools are lowered down the hole (either inside or outside the pipe) and readings are taken at a specified interval. These are then interpreted by experts and reveal information about what's going on.. the rock type, porosity, permiablity, and or cementing quality among monay others...

coil tubing,

When a well is completed, continous tubing is lowered down the hole and used to bring fluids to the surface. Coiled tubing is used, because of failures and unneeded problems when tubing is in pieces and joined together. In the 90's we were converting all our offshore GOM wells to coiled tubing.



directional drillers,

Get the well to where you want it to go, when you don't want the well just to go vertical.


completion specialist,

Experts who determine the mechanical design and chemical and other treatments which will optimize the fluid recovery. This may involve acids and great pressures.


divers,

Only needed for offshore wells, and even then not needed often on a per-well basis. Most of the time they are responsible for hooking up and maintaining equipment which are difficult to bring to the surface. This may involve platforms or pipelines. May be brought in for subsurface completions.

cementers

While the well is drilling casing is used to seperate the well from the formations drilled through. In order to protect the formations and support the casing it is cemented to the surrounding rocks. When a well is abandoned, the casing is cut off and the well filled with cement. (If a radioactive source is lost in the hole, then the cement is colored red to warn everybody...)


Hope this helps.

[Theorist]

Rockman,

You had me worried for a moment. But I love humor, so I've recalled
the homicidal hit men who guard my person. It was hard, because
their appetite was already whetted! The thought of blood flowing from a corpse seems to release an adrenalin rush in them that reminds me of the mental state of a CEO when he contemplates his golden parachute. Pure primordial lust.

Obixman,

Thank you very much for these details. That will help a great deal.

Bye,

Theorist

[allyn]

we have been unable to find any new field that is able to produce more than 1 million barrels per day. And logic dictates that without new major discoveries, we are simply unable to significantly ramp up production. That means the peak in global oil production is soon to follow. So, peak oil is really a result of peak discovery. for more information visit this site http://www.lincenergy.us

[JustaGirl]

Allyn, you end your post for a link to clean coal technology?

[Snik]

I am writing a novel about the psychological, political, and economic forces that will determine the next generation's life outcomes.

If you haven't read it, I strongly suggest you read "The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prize: ... _and_Power

Knowing what political and economic forces have occurred in the past as they relate to oil may give you a good insight into what may come in the future.