Petroleum
engineering is the part of engineering that combines scientific and practical
methods oriented to the development of techniques to discover, exploit,
develop, transport, process and treat hydrocarbons from their natural state, in
the reservoir, to final products or derivatives. The oil industry is make up of
multidisciplinary teams that work together to find and produce the trapped
hydrocarbon in the subsoil. This happens due to the great number of problems
and phenomena that develop both in the deposit and in the surface. The oil
engineer has the ability to interpret the data received from geologists,
geologists, geophysicists, chemists and physicists, and to develop optimal
methods for the development of the reservoirs, making use of all the new technologies
available to them. The exploration task comprises all hydrocarbon search
activities. Geologists fundamentally develop it through the application of
geophysical prospecting methods and the development of maps of surface and
subsoil, in order to infer about the configuration of the subsoil strata and
their composition, which can provide clues about the Existence of favorable
environments for the accumulation of oil or natural gas.
The data provided by geologists are then analyzed by oil
engineers, who interpret and "translate" the data they receive, and
can order the drilling of stratigraphic surveys, the purpose of which is to
take samples of the subsoil, which will be analyzed in laboratories of physics
of rocks, and to carry out records with electrical, acoustic or nuclear
methods, which will be equally interpreted by the Petroleum Engineers
specialists in the discipline of interpretation of profiles.
The
engineering of deposits is one of the most important parts in the Petroleum
engineering, since it is the nexus between the reservoir of oil or gas and the
systems of surface production.
The reservoir engineer is responsible for interpreting
the results of the exploration, studying the properties of the reservoir rock,
and planning the production or extraction of its fluids. Under its
responsibility is the development of optimal exploitation practices for each
hydrocarbon system.
The drilling of an oil well can be carried out in 3 ways,
vertical or conventional drilling, consisting of maintaining the hydrostatic
pressure of the control fluid column above the forming pressure, there is the
under-balance perforation, in which the forming pressure is greater than the
pressure of the hydrostatic column and finally the directional perforation,
which is currently being used more frequently.
Which consists of special tools to make deviations and
thus direct the string to the field, until obtaining a horizontal drilling.
They are in charge of the final stage in the exploitation of the hydrocarbons,
which is the conversion of these into commercial products of common use, which
Include fuels, medicines, clothing, and cosmetics, among others. This is make
by subjecting crude oil to chemical processes in refineries or petrochemical
plants. The petroleum engineer develops new or improved methods for the initial
treatment and refining of petroleum, designs and supervises the construction,
assembly, start-up and operation of the refinery (refineries are usually hire under
the name of process engineers, which also happens with the chemical engineers).
If you have any doubts check this references:
http://www.une.edu.mx/index.php/profesional/area-deIPN-ciencias-quimicobiologicas/ingenieria-petrolera
http://www.ipn.mx/educacionsuperior/Paginas/Ing-Petro.aspxIPN