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From oil to gasoline: a series illustrating oil processing steps |
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An old pumpjack near Denver City, TX; note the lack of counterweights indicating a shallow well |
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A typical electric motor driven rear-pivot pumpjack near Lamesa, TX |
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An electric motor driven center pivot pumpjack; note the ground wire from the frame to the sucker rod connection. Wells with flammable gases have these. |
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This is the first in a series of Tabblos about oil production. I've tried to make it interesting for those not into "guy things". It also is much longer than I anticipated!
Oil wells are familiar sights in many parts of the USA. They vary in color (the owner's choice) and design (the manufacturer's choice) but the part commonly called an oil well "pump" is the pumpjack which converts the energy of a "prime mover" (a motor or engine) into the vertical motion of a "sucker rod". The actual pump is downhole at the bottom of the well and is similar to the liftpump on a water well handpump.
Collecting these pictures and researching the terms and techniques of oil extraction was an educational experience! The oil patch is a complicated and messy place to work and understand. And they have their own language!
Oil can be close to the surface as in the wells above and below or can be thousands of feet below the surface. The "counterweights" -- the huge metal plates either on the crank or the beam -- are for counteracting the mass of the sucker rods. The deeper the well, the more the sucker rod string pulls the beam downward. By balancing it as closely as possible, the motor uses less energy pumping, just like a seesaw when both parties move to balance the beam.
I've tried to include as much information in the captions as I could instead of a bunch of text boxes. I dunno which is better. |
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To watch a boring video of this in action, click here. |
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A dual completion well near Snyder, TX |
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A shallow well near Florence, CO. These wells were very shallow and originally had wooden "walking beams" (the long beam which rocks) driven by small gasoline engines and were housed in sheds to prevent weather damage. This one was recently reconditioned and new oil tanks installed. |
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Dual completion wells tap two oil strata (remember, this is a form of mining) independently pumped. Each pumpjack has a sucker rod train and a pump; the strata are sealed from each other. To see these pumps in action, click here.
I finally caught the Anderson rig pumping! (That's the unit to the right.) Note that both storage tanks are now in service in the movie. |
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Some typical components of an oil well pad: barrels of chemical additives, the "christmas tree" (the pipes in the foreground), and the oil separator in the background. Details about each are below. |
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A low profile pumpjack somewhere in the Texas Panhandle -- used in center pivot irrigated fields |
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To view a video of this pump in action, click here. When seen above a field of corn or grain, it looks to me like an alien having sex . . . |
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The maze of plumbing between the separator and the tanks carrying oil, gas, and water. One set of pipes was not used anymore. |
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A closeup of the low profile pumpjack linkage. The short stroke is apparent here: maybe three feet. Obviously these will deliver less oil. Regular pumps can stroke up to 6 or more feet. |
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A typical well pad tank "battery". The left one is plastic and contains the water fraction. |
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A mechanically driven metering pump for chemical additives which are fed into the christmas tree. The additives are used to condition the oil for better separation and chemical characteristics like acidity. The labels on the barrels didn't give much information as to what they did for the oil; just what they'd do to humans! |
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Some old, open top oil tanks. Note the net stretched across the tops to keep birds from landing in the mess left in them. |
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A single-cylinder, valveless, propane fueled internal combustion engine |
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The other side of the engine above. |
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When I began this exploration, I thought all oil wells used electric motors. I soon disocvered this well which changed my perspective. Some wells still use 1940s technology!
This engine, which ran very poorly, appeared to be a valveless design; the piston has ports which serve the same purpose of letting fuel in and exhaust gasses out.
The 2" pipe below the engine is the exhaust; there is no muffler.
To see (and hear) this machine in action, click here. Here is another video of a better maintained engine. It's not nearly as much fun to listen to but I'm sure is much more fuel efficient! |
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The well that the engine above drives near Andrews, TX |
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The heart of the oil pad: the separator. This tower separates the oil from the water and natural gas coming up from the well. |
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The sight glass shows the upper level of the oil layer. (The top sight glass was plugged.) The cylinder on the right is a float valve which opens to allow the level to remain steady. The gas fraction rises out of the oil into the upper portion of the separator. |
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This natural gas line passes through the well pad. The stuff sticking up out of the top is a solar powered flowmeter and telemetry setup. The gas from the oil well is collected into this pipe via the regulators below. |
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The big round thing with the manifold and vertical pipe above it are part of the emergency relief valve. In case of a fire in the separator, the gas-operated diaphragm opens the valve above and lets the contents of the separator blow into the air. This reduces the fuel inside the unit but I'm sure makes quite a mess! |
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These regulators allow gas to flow either way, depending on the pressure in the separator. The separator needs a certain amount of pressure for the oil and water to flow to the tanks. But, as gas collects, the pressure increases and excess gas flows into the main pipeline. The gas pressure also operates the automatic valving on the pad. |
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This is an injection site, formerly an oil well. I don't know what they are injecting; it could be water or, preferably, carbon dioxide (which is more expensive). The purpose of injecting any fluid is to "push" the oil toward nearby wells. Oil strata are generally sand or gravel layers with the oil around the grains. By creating a "current" through the layer, the oil will flow toward the wells. The pipe on top of the ground is a blowoff line into a pit. |
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The christmas tree converted into its new incarnation. The large outside pipe is the well shaft pipe; the small one in the middle carries the fluid to the oil strata. |
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The digital flowmeter for the injection fluid. These are lithium battery powered units which run for over five years. |
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