What is unconventional oil?

Crude oil extracted using techniques other than the standard vertical healthy approach is called “unconventional oil” in the oil and gas sector. These techniques include, but are not limited to, the development of oil sands, directional drilling, hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” Due to recent technological advancements and economic factors that make unconventional oil more lucrative and cost-effective, its use is growing in popularity. On the other hand, some individuals worry that environmentally hazardous unconventional oil extraction techniques might be used.

The Workings of Unconventional Oil

Unconventional oil has grown more widespread in recent years for two main reasons. The first concerns the state of the oil extraction sector’s economy. For example, businesses are pressured to create innovative technical methods for more effective oil extraction at low prices.

This entails improving the equipment’s speed and dependability, decreasing the need for human labor by boosting automation, creating novel methods that eliminate the need for people or equipment, or a combination of those above. The techniques employed for oil extraction may diverge significantly from the standard vertical wells used in oil extraction due to all of these advancements. For example, directional drilling methods have enabled businesses to reach numerous subterranean deposits with a single vertical well, previously only possible with several vertical drill sites.

When oil prices are consistently high, the same holds. Under certain conditions, oil reservoirs previously thought too difficult to extract economically may become feasible targets for commercial extraction. Rising oil prices aided in developing what is now known as hydraulic fracturing, which uses chemical, gas, and steam injections to fracture rock formations and release the hydrocarbons they contain.

In the end, it seems inevitable that an increasing proportion of methods used for oil extraction would be seen as “unconventional” by historical standards. The energy sector always strives to increase the efficiency of its production processes. Thus, methods for extracting oil will likely continue to develop as it becomes rare and faces competition from renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and nuclear power.

Fracking is one example of unconventional oil.

Stanolind Oil and Gas Corporation engineers first developed hydraulic fracturing in 1947, and it is perhaps the most well-known example of unconventional oil production. Hydraulic fracturing is based on the idea that hydrocarbons in underground rock formations may be released, opening up untapped oil riches.

To do this, a well is filled with highly pressured fracking fluid, which causes cracks in the subsurface rock formation. Consequently, oil seeps out of the fractures and progressively rises through the well toward the low-pressure surface. In addition to utilizing chemical injections to change the oil’s viscosity, artificially raising the pressure within the underground reservoir speeds up oil flow toward the surface.

Oil Sands are one kind of unconventional oil.

Oil sands are another example. These soil and rock materials, referred to as “tar sands,” are made chiefly of crude bitumen, a thick, sticky type of crude oil. Specific extraction techniques are required because bitumen is too thick to flow. Because of this, extracting usable crude oil from oil sands is a complex and costly process. But over time, technical advancements have reduced the cost, and this kind of unconventional oil becomes economical when market prices for oil are high.

The Athabasca, Cold Lake, and Peace River regions of northern Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada, and parts of Venezuela, Kazakhstan, and Russia are the central locations for oil sands. There are two ways to obtain and process bitumen: in situ processing and mining.

Conclusion

• Unconventional oil is oil extracted using relatively modern and sophisticated techniques.
• In the past, unconventional oil has been linked to times when oil prices were comparatively high, making more expensive techniques financially feasible.
• However, it is becoming more common for traditional oil production methods to include the technical advancements made possible by unconventional oil extraction, including directional drilling techniques.