<Given the shortage of oil rigs . . . . The Oil Drum The back side of the curve>

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rtz on November 9, 2005 - 10:24pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I don't understand how the decline could be so small?

If I pump 5000 gallons a day; what could prevent me or limit me to only be able to pump 4500 a day instead?  Is the other 500 gallons water, air, sand, or mud?

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MikeCotton on November 11, 2005 - 4:07am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
'Pump' is a relative term in the oil business.  In primary recovery, you don't 'pump' anything out of the well.  You stick a pipe down a hole and let what flows flow.  The internal pressure of the rock does the 'pumping'.  That's where gushers come from.  So, if the related infrastructure can handle 5000 bpd, and only 4500 comes out of the pipe, you just suck it up and deal.

Beyond that, you can actually pump oil out of the well.  The pumps in question are where the TOD graphic at the top of the page comes from.  But you can't pump something that isn't there, so you only pump as fast as the well will fill.  If the fill rate slows down, you slow down the pump.  Repriming those things is not fun.

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