4. HYDROCARBON RESOURCE EXTRACTION AND TRANSPORT METHODS 

 INTRODUCTION 



Oil and gas exploration have taken place in the Texas and Louisiana 

 coastal region for more than half a century. New technology has resulted in a 

 more efficient search for petroleum. However, the basic processes of petro- 

 leum exploration have not changed greatly since it first began in the coastal 

 area. 



The search for and production of oil and gas in the field must be viewed 

 from two levels. First, there are the activities associated with the search, 

 drilling, production, and transport of oil and gas from individual wells. 

 Vis is the level with which most of the following description will be con- 

 cerned. However, there is a second level that deals with patterns or groups 

 of oil and gas activities beyond those of individual wells. 



Since oil and gas exploration is extremely expensive, e\/ery effort is 

 made to minimize expenditures. Most exploration is done in a manner to maxi- 

 mize both the probability of producing and the percent oil and gas extraction. 

 Thus, well placement is deliberately planned according to the most probable 

 geometry of petroleum-bearing formations. When a productive well is drilled 

 outside a known producing field, exploration geologists will usually try to 

 ascertain the size and shape of the productive formation. This will allow 

 prediction of other likely wellsites for drilling. This knowledge has dis- 

 tinct advantages for the industry. The probability of achieving successful 

 production in the area is increased. Certain facilities and manpower require- 

 ments - tank batteries, gathering lines, separator facilities, injection 

 wells, canals, roads, gaugers, pumpers, maintenance men - may be more effi- 

 ciently utilized where oil and gas wells are concentrated rather than spread 

 far apart. It is more efficient for the mineral producer to be able to manage 

 the field as an entire unit. Logging information and production statistics 

 for the entire field allow more efficient and economic production of the 

 resource. Advanced methods such as "flooding" and other secondary production 

 techniques allow, a greater percentage of the subsurface deposit to be extracted. 



From the viewpoint of environmental impacts, the second level of oil and 

 gas activities is particularly significant. While the effects of oil and gas 

 activities for single wellsites may be readily recognizable and predictable, 

 combinations of activities - for example, a network of canals in a marsh - may 



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