| Skybird |
06-17-08 05:17 AM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blacklight
Quote:
I am simplifying, but it is not that there are only subterranean caves filled with an ocean of liquid oil, only some part of an oil field is made of this. The greater part of the substance is stored inside sediments and porous rock holding it like a stone-sponge. you can imagine the difference when remembering the difference between drinking a glass of water with a straw, and needing to suck it out with effort from a piece of hard rubber-sponge, or needing to suck it out of a hard fruit. to get the most out of it, you sooner than later need technical kitchen helpers, fi you do not want to eat the fruit all together .
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Technically the way they handle the situation when the oil is in sediment and porous rock is not to suck it out. What they do is drill two holes and then pump water down one. The water seeps through the rock and because oil floats on top of the water, the water pushes the oil up through the seccond hole so they are actually replacing the oil field with a water field. It's actually a very efficient way to get the oil out.
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Yes indeed, as I said, I was simplyfying. the problem is the pressure needed once the most obvious holes and caves are empty of oil. Like your blood pressure rises when your capillars tighten, it is with pil winning as well when you need to free it from the finer and finer granulated? porous? layers of sediment and rock.
If they would not pump water into the reservoirs, some emptied caves would simply collapse. Its comparable in stabilizing like flooding old mines. |
