Introduction to Petroleum Geology
(Non-Technical)
Industry History
Technology
Discoveries
Companies
Career Reflections (so you want to be a petroleum geologist)
GEOL 4233 Class
January 14, 2008
A History of Petroleum
Ancient:
Egypt: oil to preserve mummies
China: natural gas for fuel
Babylonia: oil to seal walls and pave streets
America: tar to seal canoes
First Drilling: America: using cable tool: to 70 in 1859
First Product: Kerosene for lamps (Gasoline an unwanted by-product)
Demand: Industrial Revolution
- Internal Combustion Engine (1885)
- Global Economic Growth
Natural Oil Spills
Tar sand near Redden Oklahoma (Atoka County)
Industry Technological Milestones
1883: Anticlinal theory (where to drill)
Anticlinal Theory
Petroleum Accumulates in Structural Closure
Gas
Oil
Water
Industry Technological Milestones
1883: Anticlinal theory (where to drill)
1914: Seismograph invented (remote sensing)
2D Seismic Line
Gulf of Mexico (offshore)
Industry Technological Milestones
1883: Anticlinal theory (where to drill)
1914: Seismograph invented (remote sensing)
1920s: Introduction of rotary drilling (well control, environment)
Cushing Field Blowout
(circa 1914)
The outcome of a successful
cable-tool well.
Large Land Drilling Rig
Loving County, Texas
20,000 PTD Ellenberger test
Rotary Drilling Rig Schematic
Tri-Cone Rotary Bit
Coring Bit
Nothing is Foolproof
2005 blowout in West Texas
Industry Technological Milestones
1883: Anticlinal theory (where to drill)
1914: Seismograph invented (remote sensing)
1920s: Introduction of rotary drilling (well control, environment)
Start of waterflooding (improved recovery)
Industry Technological Milestones
1883: Anticlinal theory (where to drill)
1914: Seismograph invented (remote sensing)
1920s: Introduction of rotary drilling (well control, environment)
Start of waterflooding (improved recovery)
1924: First electrical well logging (formation evaluation)
Industry Technological Milestones
1883: Anticlinal theory (where to drill)
1914: Seismograph invented (remote sensing)
1920s: Introduction of rotary drilling (well control, environment)
Start of waterflooding (improved recovery)
1924: First electrical well logging (formation evaluation)
1930s: Offshore drilling (access to prospective areas)
Jack-Up Drilling Rig (Texas Federal Waters ~150 water depth)
Industry Technological Milestones
1883: Anticlinal theory (where to drill)
1914: Seismograph invented (remote sensing)
1920s: Introduction of rotary drilling (well control, environment)
Start of waterflooding (improved recovery)
1924: First electrical well logging (formation evaluation)
1930s: Offshore drilling (access to prospective areas)
1960s: Digital computers (data manipulation)
1970s: Directional drilling
1980s: 3D seismic (enhanced imaging)
Oklahoma Industry Milestones
Nellie Johnstone OK 1897 (1st deliberate discovery)
ONG installs first compressor on natural gas pipeline 1910
First dual completion in Wicey Field 1913
AAPG founded 1918
First field tests of reflection seismograph conducted in OKC suburb 1921
Introduction of rotary drilling to OK 1924
Phillips Petroleum invents fractionation process to remove condensate from natural gas 1925
First waterflood operation started in Rogers County - 1931
Early U.S. Discoveries
Drilling on hills and near seeps (+ serendipity)
PA (1859) late 1800s
CA (1865) 1920s
TX (1880s significant discs) Spindletop: 1901
OK (1897) Glenn Pool: 1905
United States Energy Consumption By Source, 1775-2000. From E.I.A., (2003).
The Phillips well, on the right, and the Woodford well, on the left. Located in the middle of Oil Creek Valley (note the river at the right
of the photograph), these two wells showed the early promise of the Oil Regions. The Phillips well was the most productive ever drilled
to date, flowing initially at 4,000 barrels per day in October 1861. The Woodford well came in at 1,500 barrels per day in July, 1862.
Note the wooden tank collecting the oil in the foreground, as well as the many different sized barrels in the background. At this time,
barrel size was not yet standardized, which made terms like "Oil is selling at $5 per barrel" very confusing.
From the Paleontological Research Institute <[Link]
Signal Hill Oil Field
Discovered 1921
A view of Signal Hill, just north of Long Beach, California, in 1930. The "forest" of oil derricks were drilled in the 1920's.
photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Public Library
From the Paleontological Research Institute <[Link]
1901 Spindletop Field discovery
#1 Lucas
Blowout @ 1,020 IP: ~100,000 BOPD
Glenn Pool Oil Field:
#1 Ida E. Glenn Discovery November 1905
Sec 10-17N-12E
Tulsa County, Oklahoma
Glenn Pool Oil Field Educational Center
<[Link]
Companies
Oklahoma
Standard Oil Trust & Successors
Seven Sisters
Mergers & Super-Majors
State-Owned Companies
Oklahoma Companies
1905
Glenn Pool Field discovered Owned largely by Henry Ford Sinclair.
It is central in the formation of Sinclair Oil Company in 1916 (Tulsa).
1910
E. W. Marland founds Marland Oil Company, which forms core
of Conoco Oil Company in 1929 (Ponca City)
1912
Henry Doherty starts what will become Cities Service Company (Bartlesville)
1914
Discovery of Garber Field gives Herbert Champlin financial start for Champlin
Oil Company (Enid)
1917
Phillips Petroleum Company founded by Frank and L. E. Phillips (Bartlesville)
1920
Erle Halliburton founds Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company (Duncan)
1921
Lloyd Noble starts Noble Drilling Company (Ardmore)
1929
James Anderson and Robert Kerr form drilling company that in 1946 becomes
Kerr-McGee Oil Industries (Ada)
Standard Oil Company
John D. Rockefeller
1870-1911 (cartel)
1880 controlled 95% of US refining
Broken apart in 1891 (Teddy Roosevelt)
Standard Oil Break-Up
(33 companies, including)
Standard of:
New Jersey Exxon
New York Mobil
Indiana Amoco
California Chevron
Other Major Spin-Offs
Atlantic Richfield (ARCO)
Pennzoil
The Original Seven Sisters (now 4)
Exxon
Shell (Royal Dutch)
BP (Anglo-Persian)
Mobil
Chevron
Gulf Oil
Texaco
Major Mergers
Occidental buys Cities Service 1982
Chevron with Gulf Oil 1985 (Now Chevron)
BP with Amoco 1998 (Now BP)
Exxon with Mobil 1999
Chevron with Texaco 2001 (Now Chevron)
Conoco with Phillips - 2002
Todays Super-Majors
Exxon-Mobil
Shell
BP (formerly BP-Amoco)
Total
Merged with Petrofina (Belgium) 1999
Merged with Elf Aquitaine (France) 2000
Chevron (formerly Chevron-Texaco)
Conoco-Phillips
Map of world regions showing OPEC member states.
Major State-Owned Companies
Saudi Aramco (Saudi Arabia)
Gazprom (Russia)
CNPC (China)
NIOC (Iran)
PDVSA (Venezuela)
Petrobras (Brazil)
Petronas (Malaysia)
Pemex (Mexico)
Petroleum Geology Careers
Professional Demographics
Job Market
Expectations & Skills
Career Paths Decisions
The Key
Geoscience Demographics in 1998
For a Typical Major Oil Company
Age Brackets for Geoscientists Worldwide
300
255 1975-83 Boom Hiring
250
191 In
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100
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>25
26-29
30-34
35-39
40-44
Age (yrs)
45-49
50-54
55-59
60+
Cyclic Job Market
Employment
(number of jobs)
Ro
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Pr
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Typical of Todays Global Industries
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Retrench
Time
Employers Expectations
Immediate Impact
Bottom Line Focus
High Productivity
Continuous Training
Problem Solving
Necessary Skills
Well-educated (love of geology)
Self-motivated
Team Player
Excellent Communicator (oral, written, graphical)
Career Path Decisions
Technical vs. Managerial Ladder
Domestic vs. International
Exploration vs. Development Geology
Mergers and Acquisitions
Where to Start & If and When to Bail
The Key To Success:
Attitude
