Oil Exploration Process Explained

The numerous activities involved in oil and gas production can be categorized into two groups: upstream activities, which include exploration and production, and downstream activities, which include refining, distribution, and marketing.

Oil exploration has lately become a flourishing business, and a large part of the credit for this goes to the ever-increasing demand for oil products in the international market. That being said, the exploration process is not as easy as it seems.

Failure at the very first attempt is something that most of the firms are familiar with. It takes sound knowledge of this process in order to hit the jackpot.

Oil exploration is the foremost attribute of the petroleum value chain, owing to which we get our two 'necessities', gasoline and natural gas. It is basically the process in which petroleum geologists and geophysicists try to locate hydrocarbon deposits, i.e., oil and natural gas reserves, beneath the Earth's crust.

Due to this, the oil exploration process is also referred to as 'hydrocarbon exploration'. It involves a range of activities right from the identification of a suitable oil drilling site to the actual process of oil drilling.

Though there is no dearth of regions that boast of rich oil deposits, it is necessary to identify the right one from the lot. Oil drilling sites can either be developed onshore, i.e., on land, or offshore, i.e., on the ocean floor, depending on the presence of crude oil beneath.

Gas oozes, oil seeps, and crater formations as a result of gas leak are the most obvious signs of presence of oil in a particular region. Many factors come into play in the process of identification of a potentially attractive site for oil drilling; economic viability being one of the most important.

Having another major discovery or a dried-up operating well somewhere in the vicinity of the identified area is an added advantage.

Once the initial studies confirm the presence of oil in a particular area, advanced technology is used to survey this area in order to find out the depth and the quantity of oil available. This needs to be given a serious thought, as the initial investment required to set up an oil drilling plant is high.

These attributes are determined by the help of various geological processes, including the seismic reflection survey and gravity survey. Depending on the results of these surveys, a test well is dug as a final measure of determining whether the project is really feasible or not.

Digging a test well can itself require a decent amount of investment and hence, it is kept as one of the last steps in the process of exploration. After all of these studies yield the desired results, the oil field is finally given a nod and handed over to a company in the open market.

On the whole, the entire process can take as long as three years to complete. Taking that into consideration, most of the companies have multiple projects being executed at the same time. As the oil exploration industry continues to swell, several new players are entering the arena, thus making the competition even more fierce.

Today, several independent companies are involved actively in the business of oil exploration. Once they confirm the presence of oil at a particular site, the site is handed over to a company involved in refining and distributing the finished product.