Polymer Science Applications in Oil and Gas Industry

Polymer chemists study large, complex molecules that are built up from many smaller units. They study how the monomers combine, and create useful materials with specific characteristics by manipulating the molecular structure of the monomers/polymers used, the composition of the monomer/polymer combinations, to a large extent, affect the properties of the final product by applying chemical and processing techniques.

Chemicals:

The chemical industry is crucial to modern world economies, and works to convert raw materials such as oil, natural gas, air, water, metals, and minerals into more than 80,000 different products. To make consumer products, as well as in the manufacturing, service, construction, agriculture, and other industries those base products are used. Majority of the chemical industry’s output is polymers and polymer-related, including elastomers, fibers, plastics, adhesives, coatings, and more. Rubber and plastic products, textiles, apparel, petroleum refining, pulp and paper, and primary metals are the major industries served.

Oil & Gas

The entire oil and gas industry chain, from upstream oil and gas production activities, to midstream, and finally downstream refinery production of fuels, uses the polymeric materials only. Solid-state polymers such as plastics, fibers, and elastomers for use in oil well sites and off-shore platforms, with applications including construction of structures such as pipelines, propellants in hydraulic fracturing, and as coatings. Polymeric additives are used in upstream oil production applications as well stimulants, drilling fluids, corrosion inhibitors, scaling inhibitors, and viscosity modifiers. They are even used as components of cements used in protecting casings down hole.

In downstream operations, polymeric additives are used to overcome operational issues in the refinery, distribution systems, and storage tanks and in different fuel transport and combustion applications. Finally to improve performance features. To resolve specific issues at a refinery, polymers may be used as stand-alone products, and combined with other products to create a multi-functional package for use in finished fuels for the automotive industry.  Some specific examples of polymeric additives used in downstream applications include synthetic base stocks for lubricants, pipeline drag reducers, cold flow improvers, demulsifiers, deposit control additives, dispersants, friction modifiers, corrosion inhibitors, antifoamants, and viscosity improvers. 

Offshore and Onshore Oil Drilling

Oil drilling is classified into two main categories: offshore and onshore drilling. The location of the drilling is the most obvious difference, but the two categories are vary in different areas, including cost, profits, time duration for drilling and processes. Both types of drilling have certain advantages over the other, but both are actively used to extract oil to meet the levels of popularity of the world.

Offshore Drilling:

As the name recommends, this type of oil drilling takes place off the shore in ocean waters. About 30% of the global oil production comes from offshore drilling.

Drilling an offshore well is similar to the onshore process, initially well is drilled and concrete lines the hole. The oil is pumped up out of the hole using different systems depending on the specific type of platform used for the operation.

For shallow water drilling fixed platform anchored to the ocean floor. To carry the oil to the surface, rigid tubes connect the wellhead to the platform. Deep water drilling requires a floating platform that uses flexible risers for the movement. For extraction of oil, the setup includes risers used to push water and gas down. Other risers extract the oil from water. The risers are designed to keep the oil warm because of the temperature of the water, so it continues flowing freely. Once pumped, the oil is stored or sent directly to the shore through pipelines, depending on the setup.

Onshore oil drilling:

Onshore drilling encompasses all of the drilling sites located on dry land. Onshore drilling accounts for 70% of the worldwide oil production.

Onshore oil production requires the drilling of deep holes down into the earth’s surface to reach the oil below, Onshore drilling similar like offshore drilling but without the difficulty of deep water between the platform and the oil. Since the ground offers a solid platform, the drilling structures and storage areas are built directly on the soil.

To prevent contamination new well first requires the crew to drill below the water table. Once extraction process begins the hole is then encased in cement to prevent the oil from seeping into the soil or groundwater supply. Based on the specific depth of the oil trap in that area, Drilling continues to the appropriate depth. Once drilling completed, the well uses liquids pumped into the ground at high pressure levels to remove the oil from the rocks.  

Innovations in Exploration, Mining, and Processing

The three major components of mining (exploration, mining, and processing) overlap sometimes. After a mineral deposit has been identified through exploration, the industry must make a considerable investment in mine development before production starts. Farther exploration near the deposit and more development drilling within the deposit are done while the mining is processing. In-situ mining, which is a special case that combines aspects of mining and processing but does not require the excavation, comminution, and waste disposal steps. Innovatively combined the main components, such as when in-situ leaching of copper is undertaken after conventional mining has rubblized ore in underground block-caving operations.

Exploration:

Mineral exploration has been driven mostly by Modern technology. Many mineral discoveries can be attributed to geophysical and geochemical technologies developed by both industry and government. New technology, such as tomographic imaging is newly applied to mineral exploration. Basic geological sciences, geophysical and geochemical methods, and drilling technologies Research could improve the effectiveness and productiveness of mineral exploration. These fields sometimes overlap, and developments in one area are likely to cross-fertilize research and development in other areas.

Geological Methods:

Underlying physical and chemical processes of formation are common to many metallic and non-metallic ore deposits. A geologic database would be beneficial not only to the mining industry but also to environmental scientists.

Most of the metallic ore deposits are formed through the interaction of an aqueous fluid and host rocks. Along the fluid flow pathway through the Earth’s crust, the fluids encounter changes in physical or chemical conditions at some point. That causes the dissolved metals to precipitate. In research on ore deposits, the focus has traditionally been on the location of metal depositions, i.e., the ore deposit itself.

Geochemical and Geophysical Methods:

Analyzing the soil, rock, water, vegetation, and vapor the Surface geochemical prospecting is involved. For example mercury and hydrocarbons in soil gas, for trace amounts of metals or other elements that may indicate the presence of a buried ore deposit.

In the discovery of numerous mineral deposits, geochemical techniques have played a key role, and they continue to be a standard method of exploration.

Revolutionary technique for the rapid on-site detection and quantification of petroleum hydrocarbons

The technique implies that the presence of hydrocarbons would now be able to be evaluated basically by utilizing a hand-held infrared spectrometer to take readings at the site of enthusiasm, without the need to take tests or perform any sort of preparing.

The strategy could be utilized for oil exploration purposes. It will likewise be especially helpful in evaluating and observing contaminated sites, for example, coastal land following off-shore oil slicks and mechanical locales got ready for urban redevelopment. Oil hydrocarbons are a significant asset, however can likewise be really frightful ecological contaminants. They can stay in the earth for expanded timeframes and can be destructive to wildlife, plants and people. Better apparatuses to distinguish them make a fast reaction conceivable.

The method utilizes an infrared signal to identify the presence of oil hydrocarbons in tests. By differentiate, current strategies utilize inspecting and handling procedures that are work escalated, tedious, require sensitive equipment and are not appropriate to nearby on-site analysis. The capacity of this new procedure to quickly distinguish the presence of contaminants at the site can possibly give significant cost points of interest, as far as reduced testing costs and the avoidance of delays.

Quick examination enables prompt measures to be embraced to anticipate facilitate tainting or to constrain contaminant spread." A huge part of the time and money related costs associated with evaluating and remediating contaminated sites is devoured by checking and analysis. By diminishing investigation time and decreasing costs this new method can aid the quick and compelling distinguishing proof of oil and other oil based products in the earth, and additionally treatment and insurance of ecological resources threatened by petroleum contamination.

Conference sessions include Oil and Gas Technology, Oil and Gas Exploration and Production, Petroleum Geology and Geoscience, Drilling and Mining Engineering, Enhanced Oil Recovery, Bio Fuels Refining, Catalytic Cracking, Petroleum Distillation and Refining, Energy Conversion and Storage, Petro chemistry and Polymer Science, Catalysts for Heavy Oil Extraction, Chemical Applications in Oil and Gas, Recent Development in Oil and Gas Industries, Environmental hazards in oil and gas Industry, Entrepreneurs Investment Meet, On shore and off shore operations, Geophysical and Remote Sensing Techniques, Petroleum Engineering and Chemical Engineering, Innovations in Upstream and downstream operations, Nanotechnology Applications in Petroleum Refining.

Overview of Data Mining Applications in Oil and Gas Exploration

Oil and gas supply chain consists of four main phases: 1) Extraction and Exploration, 2) Refining, 3) Transportation, and 4) Distribution and Marketing. In the context of cost reduction, exploration is the act of minimizing the expenses associated with finding commercial oil and gas deposits. These expenses increases from the mentioned main elementary activities satellite Infrared /Radar/Microwave Surveying, Aerial Imaging, Geo Botany prospecting and Geo chemical Exploration; Aerial magnetic, Electromagnetic & Gravity Surveying, Seismic Surveying and Exploratory wells.

The technology applied in oil and gas exploration is Data Mining that can create cost reductions and bring about considerable financial benefits. By applying the advanced techniques, such as pattern recognition, and particular identification to a more comprehensive set of data collected during seismic acquisition, Geologists may be able to identify potentially productive seismic trace signatures that have been overlooked in newly acquired or archived data. Application of data mining in oil and gas exploration is in the experimental stage with much of the efforts focused on data-intensive computing. Oil and Gas Companies, Business Analytics service providers and Academic institutions are working on various applications. The categories are: structural geology and reservoir property-issues.

In oil and gas exploration process, Structural Geology is accurately surveying the top, bottom and lateral extent of geological structures is important as these structures might produce hydrocarbons. This locating, in presence of oil and gas, assists in determining the thickness of the hydrocarbon bearing (rock) layers and consequentially in deciding the economic viability of the reserve. Furthermore, using accurate mapping, by the optimal placement of the wells, production in multi-layered reservoirs, where shale and sand layers are laminated, can be carried out from and combined into a single well, and, therefore, result in cost savings.

Reservoir Property-Issues The earliest discoveries of oil and gas deposits were based on determining the structural traps. But now a different type of trap became important, that is stratigraphic traps. Stratigraphic traps are one must go beyond the structure and deduce possible lithology (identifying rock layers in the subsurface) and probable presence of oil and gas. Horizontal lithological analysis is known as lithofacies analysis.

Polymer Science Applied to Petroleum Production:

The petroleum industry is composed of various upstream and downstream segments, from prospecting for oil to production of petrochemicals. The Petrochemical sector produces polymers and monomers, which are applied in a wide range of sectors, including the petroleum industry which uses a wide array of oligomer and polymer products.

The polymer materials used in the oil industry can be classified into two large categories: first one is solid-state polymers, such as engineering materials, and second one is polymers in solution, employed as components of fluids or additive formulations. Engineering materials include those classified as plastics, fibers, and elastomers in general, for use on offshore platforms, construction of pipelines and floating structures, among others. In solution, polymers are added to either fluids or formulations to increase their properties and are used in many oil production operations, such as drilling, cementing, completion, production itself, and treatment of oil and water. Generally various polymers, oligomers, and macromolecules have been evaluated for their efficiency in specific functions.

The development of a polymer additive with specific performance generally requires synthesis, characterization, and evaluation of its properties are physical, chemical, and/or physicochemical besides application tests. Based on the experience acquired in synthesis and characterization of copolymers, as well as in studying their physicochemical properties and behaviour of their interfaces, our research group is dedicated to the development of the new polymers for application in the solution in the petroleum industry.

The knowledge gained about oil operations, allied with the scientific and technological education offered by the Institute of Macromolecules, has permitted a focus on macromolecules applied to the oil and gas sector in the postgraduate courses in polymer science and technology. oil production operations are drilling, cementing, completion, production - divergence - well stimulation - control of deposits - control of hydrates - oil recovery,  treatment of oil , treatment of systems contaminated with oil, compatibility of polymer additives It is important to mention that, despite the production of the majority of polymers being a petrochemical process widely used all over the world.

Oil and Petroleum

Natural oil and gas are found beneath the Earth's surface and are exceedingly prized as wellsprings of both fuel and as beginning materials for some business items, including generally plastics. Oil designing is the utilization of science, material science, math, geography, and Engineering standards to find a financially savvy approach to distinguish promising zones for investigation, get to this normal asset, and refine it into attractive items. Scientists in the oil and oil industry work with unrefined petroleum and the products obtained from it.

The Industry is separated into both "upstream" and "downstream" parts, contingent upon how far from the well the work is. The upstream exercises incorporate investigation and creation and the downstream exercises incorporate refining and showcasing contains the oil Industry. This industry requires Geologists, synthetic architects, natural, logical, inorganic, physical scientists, organic chemists, and geochemists, and also specialized in tracer science, informatics, and is the limit from there. Natural chemistry is essential in the creation of oil since microscopic organisms change the nature of oil after some time, meddling with generation and causing downstream erosion issues and harmful risks, for instance. Inorganic scientific experts, natural physicists, investigative scientists, and concoction designs all assume a part in impetus science, innovation, and advancement, which is critical for the oil and petrochemical ventures.

There is a green side to oil science also. Consenting to ecological controls is basic to the Industry, and researchers should dependably know about how a procedure or product will influence nature, and how that effect can be limited. Physicists are continually searching for approaches to supplant existing refinery procedures and items with cleaner, more secure and more effective ones.

World Congress on Oil, Gas and Petroleum Refinery Sessions include: Oil and Gas Technology, Oil and Gas Exploration and Production, Petroleum Geology and Geoscience, Drilling and Mining Engineering, Enhanced Oil Recovery, Bio Fuels Refining, Catalytic Cracking, Petroleum Distillation and Refining, Energy Conversion and Storage, Petro chemistry and Polymer Science, Catalysts for Heavy Oil Extraction, Chemical Applications in Oil and Gas, Recent Development in Oil and Gas Industries, Environmental hazards in oil and gas Industry.