Petroleum oil is a vital human resource, but we haven’t always used it just to fuel our cars. Ancient civilizations once used this black gold to burn their lights, waterproof their belongings, and build their structures.

Back in those days, people often stumbled upon it bubbling out of the ground, but such deposits are too rare to supply modern society. Our extraction methods are much more sophisticated in the modern age, though, and allow us to reach reservoirs deep in the earth. How is crude oil extracted today?

Let’s take a brief look at the methods for acquiring oil and gas needed for petroleum-based products.

How Is Crude Oil Extracted?

There are two primary methods for extracting crude oil out of the earth: drilling and fracking. Oil drilling most often occurs in oil rigs that sit offshore, or at major harvesting sites, with fracking mostly on land. Let’s take a look at both methods.

Oil Drilling

Most oil is trapped deep underground in massive crude oil reserves. These are inaccessible without drilling a well deep into the Earth to pull it out.

Once experts have identified a good site, they drill down and pull up samples. Should the rock contain traces of crude oil, this is usually evidence that there is a deposit down below. It’s then that they can set up a site and begin a harvesting operation.

In the case of conventional drilling, the oil is usually under Earth’s natural pressure down at those depths. This allows a pump to siphon it out as if it were an oil tank.

Different Drilling Techniques

The drill you use will depend on the type of sedimentary rock you need to break through, especially the harder bedrock. There may also need to be a change in orientation, such as horizontal directional drilling. One example of the drill tech in modern use is the mud motor.

What is a mud motor, you ask? This is an alternative drill assembly that doesn’t rely as much on the drill’s momentum and poor maneuvering.

Oil Fracking

Fracking involves drilling but works for deposits that are mixed into the surrounding bedrock. Companies drill down to the level of the oil and then pump the area full of fracking fluid. Then, using pressure, they push the oil back up through the hole drilled in the rock.

Fracking is able to extract both oil and natural gas, making it one of the more versatile drilling methods. That said, it does come with significantly more environmental impacts than conventional drilling. This is because fracking tends to happen near residential areas and leads to a direct impact on the usability of water.

Find Out More About Crude Oil Extraction

How is crude oil extracted? In the majority of cases, it involves drilling to a natural deposit and simply pumping whatever they can reach up to the surface. Fracking is a more complicated method that allows for the extraction of fragmented deposits, especially hard-to-reach natural gas.