Oil field

An oil field is an area with an abundance of oil wells extracting petroleum (oil) from below ground. Because the oil reservoirs typically extend over a large area, possibly several hundred kilometres across, full exploitation entails multiple wells scattered across the area. In addition, there may be exploratory wells probing the edges, pipelines to transport the oil elsewhere, and support facilities.

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Because an oil field may be remote from civilization, establishing a field is often an extremely complicated exercise in logistics. For instance, workers have to work there for months or years and require housing. In turn, housing and equipment require electricity and water. Pipelines in cold areas may need to be heated. Excess natural gas needs to be burned off if there is no way to make use of it, requiring a furnace and stacks, and pipes to carry it from well to furnace.

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Thus, the typical oil field resembles a small self-contained city in the midst of a landscape dotted with drilling rigs and/or the pump jacks known as "nodding donkeys" because of their bobbing arm. Several companies, such as Bechtel, Esso and Halliburton, have organizations that specialize in the large-scale construction of the infrastructure required to operate a field profitably.

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More than 40,000 oil fields are scattered around the globe, on land and offshore. The largest are the Ghawar Field in Saudi Arabia and the Burgan Field in Kuwait, with more than 60 billion barrels (10 km³) estimated in each. Most oil fields are much smaller. According to the US Department of Energy (Energy Information Administration), as of 2003 the US alone had over 30,000 oil fields.

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In the modern age, the location and proven oil reserves of oil fields are a key underlying factor in many geopolitical conflicts.

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Oil well: An oil well is a layman's term for any perforation through the Earth's surface designed to find and release both petroleum oil and gas hydrocarbons....

Petroleum: Petroleum (from Greek petra – rock and oleum – oil), crude oil, sometimes colloquially called black gold, is a thick, dark brown or greenish liquid. A widely believed myth is that the oil itself is flammable, however it is actually the gas that evaporates from the oil that is flammable. ...

Oil reservoir: An oil reservoir is a subsurface body of rock having sufficient porosity and permeability to store and transmit fluids. Sedimentary rocks are the most common reservoir rocks because they have more porosity than most igneous and metamorphic rocks and form under temperature conditions at which hydroca...

Oil field related Images and Photos (experimental)

Oil Field Baku Azerbaijan Central Asia Asia	Oil Pumps Work the Midway Sunset Oil Field West of Taft Calif.	An Aerial View of the Signal Hill Oil Field	Night View of a Plume of Fire from an Offshore Oil Rig in This Norwegian Oil Field
Field Workers	Oil Sasso	LP Field	Field Study I
Red Field	Red Field	Field Study II	Wild Field