Approved Drilling and Production Practice in Oklahoma and Kansas

The task of recovering most of the contents of an oil and gas reservoireconomically presents many and varied problems. In order to attemptintelligently a solution of these problems, an understanding of fundamentalphysical laws is essential. As the pertinent facts needed in applying theselaws to recovery problems are not readily obtainable, observation must be madeand the data tabulated. Here, good judgment must be exercised, for at best theinformation is meager. The engineer is well fitted to undertake the task of solving this problem.In my opinion, the decision on the part of some production executives to allowthe engineer to cope with the oil recovery situation and other problems is anoutstanding example of improvement in production methods. The executive headmust make this decision or the qualified engineer will be working under asevere handicap with the present system of supervising the production of oiland gas. A qualified engineer should have not only the required technical trainingbut also enough field experience to enable him to understand the difficultiesencountered in producing oil and gas. Such a man tactfully cooperating with thepractical oil man can greatly improve present methods of oil recovery. Therealization that Nature's forces have not been efficiently controlled in pastrecovery of petroleum deposits has recently brought distinct improvement inproduction methods. Papers are to be presented at this meeting discussing in detail improvedmethods of conserving gas in both flowing and pumping wells, and also methodsof lifting oil after Nature's supply of gas has proved inadequate. Theapplication of back-pressure to producing oil wells has not, to my knowledge, been extensively applied in Oklahoma or Kansas up to the present time. Most ofthe flowing wells are allowed to flow through the casing until the rockpressure has been dissipated. However, some flowing wells have been tubedbefore the well stopped flowing through the casing. Recording pressure-gagescan be installed to study well performance.