Content deleted Content added
Added a space between “in” and “West” under the first photograph. Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
rephrased |
||
Line 5:
An '''oil well''' is a drillhole [[boring (earth)|boring]] in [[Earth]] that is designed to bring [[petroleum]] oil [[hydrocarbons]] to the surface. Usually some [[natural gas]] is released as [[associated petroleum gas]] along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce only gas may be termed a '''gas well'''. Wells are created by drilling down into an [[Petroleum reservoir|oil or gas reserve]] that is then mounted with an extraction device such as a [[pumpjack]] which allows [[Extraction of petroleum|extraction from the reserve]]. Creating the wells can be an expensive process, costing at least hundreds of thousands of dollars, and costing much more when in hard to reach areas, e.g., when creating [[oil platform|offshore oil platforms]]. The process of modern drilling for wells first started in the 19th century, but was made more efficient with advances to oil [[drilling rig]]s during the 20th century.
Wells are frequently sold or exchanged between different oil and gas companies as an asset – in large part because during falls in price of oil and gas, a well may be unproductive, but if prices rise, even low production wells may be economically valuable. Moreover, new methods, such as [[hydraulic fracturing]] (a process of injecting gas or liquid to force more oil or natural gas production) have made some wells viable. However, [[peak oil]] and [[climate policy]]
However, the large number of neglected or poorly maintained [[wellhead]]s is a large environmental issue: they may leak [[methane emissions]] or other toxic emissions into local air, water or soil systems. This pollution often becomes worse when wells are [[Orphan wells|abandoned or orphaned]] – where wells no longer are economically viable, and no longer are maintained by a company. A 2020 estimate by Reuters suggested that there were at least 29 million abandoned wells internationally, creating a significant source of [[greenhouse gas emissions]] causing climate change.<ref name="Groom_2020">{{Cite news|date=2020-06-17|title=Special Report: Millions of abandoned oil wells are leaking methane, a climate menace|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-drilling-abandoned-specialreport-idUSKBN23N1NL|access-date=2021-04-07|vauthors=Groom N}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=13 July 2020|title=More Exposures from Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Come Into Focus|url=https://www.verisk.com/insurance/covid-19/iso-insights/more-exposures-from-abandoned-oil-and-gas-wells-come-into-focus/|website=Verisk|language=en-us|vauthors=Geller D}}</ref>
| |||