Describe the following upstream activities: Exploration Development Production

Exploration: This involves the search for potential oil and gas reserves in a specific area. This can include geological surveys, seismic testing, and drilling test wells to determine the presence and extent of oil and gas deposits.

Development: Once potential reserves have been identified through exploration, the development phase involves planning and constructing the infrastructure needed to extract the oil and gas. This can include drilling wells, building pipelines, and setting up production facilities.

Production: This is the phase where oil and gas are extracted from the ground and brought to the surface for processing. This can involve drilling new wells, maintaining existing wells, and transporting the extracted oil and gas to refineries for further processing.

Exploration

- Overview: The process of searching for and evaluating potential hydrocarbon deposits.
- Activities:
- Seismic surveys (using sound waves to map geological formations)
- Drilling exploratory wells
- Analyzing well logs and samples to determine reservoir characteristics

Development

- Overview: The process of preparing a hydrocarbon deposit for production.
- Activities:
- Establishing drilling and production platforms
- Installing pipelines and other infrastructure
- Constructing processing facilities
- Drilling production wells

Production

- Overview: The process of extracting hydrocarbons from the reservoir and bringing them to market.
- Activities:
- Operating production wells
- Controlling reservoir pressure and flow
- Separating hydrocarbons from water and other impurities
- Transporting hydrocarbons to refineries or other markets
- Implementing enhanced oil recovery techniques (e.g., waterflooding, chemical injection) to increase production