There are lots of different types of oil wells. On land, offshore, subsea, multi zone smart wells etc. For clarity, I'm going to keep this as straight forward and generic as possible, without getting in to the detailed differences between oil well types. If I've missed something obvious, let me know in the comments.

Planning

Discussions take place with field owner(s) and government, followed by geological surveys. Based on the information gained from the geological surveys, an estimation as to the likely viability of the reservoir. This will decide whither to go ahead with the next very expensive stage or shelf the project.

The various components that make up a completed well will be planned, agreed and costed. This will likely involve companies like a drilling contractor and service companies.

Exploration

A drilling contractor will be booked in advance to carry out an exploratory drill hole. The hole will be cased in steel pipe that is cemented in to place. A geological team will be on board to analyse material coming up from the well as it is drilled. Many wells will not get passed this stage often due to their being less oil than anticipated. In this case, the drilled hole will be cemented and abandoned. The information gathered from the whole process will be saved for the future, but may never be required. If there is a viable oil reservoir in the well, the next stage is completion.

Completion

The well will have production equipment installed down-hole by a service company to aid in flowing the oil safely and keeping it flowing.

Production

Now, after a lot of time and investment, the oil company can at last reap the rewards for all the effort. Oil will be controlled to flow from the well as per the oil companies requirements. On going maintenance is required to keep the oil flowing. Typically, they could see their investment returned in less than 2 years and the oil keep flowing for a further 10 to 15 years without any further major expense. After which time, assuming there is still retrievable oil in the reservoir, they may need to renew the completion equipment and perhaps drill a little bit more. This latest expense will be recouped in 6 months to a year and they can again enjoy another 15 years of profit.

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Richard Johnson
Chewells Contributor

Richard is one of our main oil industry contributors. He likes fast cars, motor boats and... »

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