| SICP |
abbreviation: shut-in casing pressure |
| side pocket |
an offset heavy-wall sub in the production
string for placing gas lift valves, and so on. |
| sidetrack |
to use a whipstock, turbodrill, or
other mud motor to drill around broken drill pipe or casing that has
become lodged permanently in the hole.
|
| sidewall coring |
a coring technique in which core samples are
obtained from the hole wall in a zone that has already been drilled. A hollow bullet
is fired into the formation wall to capture the core and then retrieved on a flexible
steel cable. Core samples of this type usually range from 3/4 to 1-3/16 inches (20 to 30
millimeters) in diameter and from 3/4 to 4 inches (20 to 100 millimeters) in length.
This method is especially useful in soft-rock areas. |
| SIDPP |
abbreviation: shut-in drill pipe
pressure, used in drilling reports. |
| sieve analysis |
the determination of the percentage of
particles that pass through several screens of graduated fineness |
| silica gel |
highly absorbent, gelatinous form of silica
used chiefly as a dehumidifying and dehydrating agent. |
| silt |
material that exhibits little or no swelling
and whose particle size generally falls between 2 microns and API sand size, or 74 microns
(200-mesh) A certain portion of dispersed clays and barite for the most part also
fall into this same particle-size range. |
| single |
a joint of drill pipe. Compare double, thribble,
and fourable. |
| single-grip |
used to describe packers with one slip system
for supporting weight and pressure from above only. |
| single-pole rig |
a well-servicing unit whose mast consists of
but one steel tube, usually about 65 feet long. |
| sinker bar |
a heavy weight or bar placed on or near a
lightweight wireline tool. The bar provides weight so that the tool will lower
properly into the well. |
| skid |
a low platform mounted on the bottom of
equipment for ease of moving, hauling, or storing. |
| skin |
1. the area of the formation that is damaged
because of the invasion of foreign substances into the exposed section of the formation
adjacent to the wellbore during drilling and completion. 2. the pressure drop from the outer limits of drainage to the wellbore caused by
the relatively thin veneer (or skin) of the affected formation. Skin is expressed in
dimensionless units: a positive value denotes formation damage; a negative value indicate
improvement. Also called skin effect. |
| sky-top mast |
a mast on a well servicing unit that utilizes
a split traveling block and crown block, which makes it possible to pull 60-foot stands
with a 50-foot mast. |
| slack off |
to lower a load or ease up on a line. |
| sleeve valve |
a valve in the bottom of a retainer. See
wireline. |
| sliding sleeve |
a special device placed in a string of tubing
that can be operated by a wireline tool to open or close orifices to permit circulation
between the tubing and the annulus. It may also be used to open or shut off
production from various intervals in a well. Also called circulation sleeve. |
| slim-hole
drilling |
drilling in which the size of the hole is
smaller than the conventional hole diameter for a given depth. This decrease in hole
size enables the operator to run smaller casing, thereby lessening the cost of completion.
See miniaturized
completion. |
| sling |
a wire-rope loop for use in lifting heavy
equipment. |
| slip bowl |
a device in a rotary table or other tool into
which tubing, drill pipe, or slips can be inserted. |
| slip ring |
a conducting ring that gives current to or
receives current from the brushes in a generator or motor. |
| slips |
wedge-shaped toothed pieces of metal that fit
inside a bowl and are used to support tubing or other pipe. |
| slip segment |
a singular component of an entire slip system |
| slip velocity |
1. the rate at which drilled solids tend to
settle in the borehole as a well is being drilled. 2.
difference between the annular velocity of the fluid and the rate at which a cutting is
removed from the hole. |
| sloughing (pronounced
"sluffing") |
see caving |
| slug the pipe |
to pump a quantity of heavy mud into the drill
pipe. Before hoisting drill pipe, it is desirable (if possible) to pump into its top
section a quantity of heavy mud (a slug) that causes the level of the fluid to remain
below the rig floor so that the crew members and the rig floor are not contaminated with
the fluid when stands are broken out. |
| slurry |
1. in drilling, a plastic mixture of cement
and water that is pumped into a well to harden. There it supports the casing and
provides a seal in the wellbore to prevent migration of underground fluids. 2. a mixture in which solids are suspended in a liquid. |
| slush pit |
the old term for a mud pit. See mud pit. |
| snake out |
to pull out. |
| snatch block |
a sheave or pulley that can be opened up for
putting a line over the roller or sheave. |
| snub |
1. to force pipe or tools into a high-pressure
well that has not been killed (i.e., to run pipe or tools into the well against pressure
when the weight of pipe is not great enough to force the pipe through the BOPs).
Snubbing usually requires an array of wireline bocks and wire rope that forces the pipe or
tools into the well through a stripper head or blowout preventer until the weight of the
string is sufficient to overcome the lifting effect of the well pressure on the pipe in
the preventer. In workover operations, snubbing is usually accomplished by using
hydraulic power to force the pipe through the stripping head or blowout preventer. 2. to tie up short with a line. |
| snubber |
1. a device that mechanically or hydraulically
forces pipe or tools into the well against pressure. 2. a device within some hooks that acts as a shock absorber in eliminating the
bouncing action of pipe as it is picked up. |
| soap |
the sodium or potassium salt of a
high-molecular weight fatty acid. Commonly used in drilling fluids to improve
lubrication, emulsification, sample size, and defoaming. |
| soda ash |
see sodium
carbonate |
| sodium |
one of the alkali metal elements with a
valence of 1, an atomic number of about 23. Numerous sodium compounds are used as
additives to drilling fluids. |
| sodium
bicarbonate |
the half-neutralized sodium salt of carbonic
acid, used extensively for treating cement contamination and occasionally other calcium
contamination in drilling fluids. |
| sodium bichromate |
Also called sodium dichromate. See chromate. |
| sodium carbonate |
used extensively for treating various types of
calcium contamination. Also called soda ash. |
| sodium
carboxymethyl cellulose |
see carboxymethyl
cellulose |
| sodium chloride |
common table salt. It is sometimes used
in cement slurries as an accelerator or a retarder, depending on the concentration. |
| sodium chromate |
See chromate,
caustic soda. |
| sodium
polyacrylate |
a synthetic high-molecular-weight polymer of
acrylonitrile used primarily as a fluid loss control agent |
| sodium silicate
muds |
special class of inhibited chemical muds using
as their bases sodium silicate, salt, water, and clay |
| soft rope |
a small loose fiber rope. |
| soft shut-in |
in well-control operations, closing the BOP's
with the choke and HCR, or fail-safe, valves open. Compare hard shut-in. |
| soft water |
water that is free of calcium or magnesium
salts. Compare hard water |
| sol |
a general term for colloidal dispersions, as
distinguished from true solutions. |
| solids
concentration |
total amount of solids in a drilling fluid as
determined by distillation. Includes both the dissolved and the suspended or undissolved
solids. |
| solubility |
the degree to which a substance will dissolve
in a particular solvent. |
| solute |
a substance that is dissolved in another (the
solvent). |
| solution |
single, homogenous liquid, solid, or gas phase
that is a mixture in which the components (liquid, gas, solid, or combinations thereof)
are uniformly distributed throughout the mixture. In a solution, the dissolved
substance is called the solute; the substance in which the solute is dissolved is called
the solvent. |
| solvent |
a substance, usually liquid, in which another
substance (the solute) dissolves. |
| sonde |
a logging tool assembly, especially the device
in the logging assembly that senses and transmits formation data. |
| sonic log |
a type of acoustic log that records the travel
time of sounds through objects, cement, or formation rocks. Often used to determine
whether voids exist in the cement behind the casing in a wellbore. |
| sonic logging |
see acoustic
well logging. |
| sour |
containing or caused by hydrogen sulfide or
another acid gas (e.g., sour crude, sour gas, sour corrosion). |
| sour corrosion |
embrittlement and subsequent wearing away of
metal caused by contact of the metal with hydrogen sulfide. |
| sour crude |
oil containing hydrogen sulfide or another
acid gas. |
| sour gas |
gas containing an appreciable quantity of
hydrogen sulfide and/or mercaptans. |
| sour hole |
a wellbore or formation known to contain
hydrogen sulfide gas. |
| SP |
abbreviation: spontaneous potential or
self-potential. |
| spacing |
distance between wells producing from the same
pool (usually expressed in terms of acres, e.g., 10-acre spacing). |
| space out |
the act of ensuring that a pipe ram preventer
will not close on a drill pipe tool joint when the drill stem is stationary. A pup
joint is made up in the drill string to lengthen it sufficiently. |
| space-out joint |
the joint of drill pipe that is used in
hang-off operations so that no tool joint is opposite a set of preventer rams. |
| spacing clamp |
a clamp used to hold the rod string in pumping
position when the well is in the final stages of being put back on the pump. |
| spacing-out |
position the correct number of feet or joints
of pipe from the packer to the surface tree, or from the rig floor to the stack. |
| spaghetti |
very small tubing or pipe. |
| spear |
a fishing tool used to retrieve pipe lost in a
well. The spear is lowered down the hole and into the lost pipe. When weight,
torque, or both are applied to the string to which the spear is attached, the slips in the
spear expand and tightly grip the inside of the wall of the lost pipe. Then the
string, spear, and lost pipe are pulled to the surface. |
| specific gravity |
see relative
density |
| specific heat |
the amount of heat required to cause a unit
increase in temperature in a unit mass of a substance, expressed as numerically equal to
the number of calories needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of a substance by 1
degree C. |
| speed kit |
a dual-speed traveling block, which permits
one elevator to pick up stands as they are broken out while the traveling bock continues
to move. |
| spider |
a circular steel device that holds slips
supporting a suspended string of drill pipe, casing, or tubing. A spider may be
split or solid. |
| spinning chain |
a Y-shaped chain used to spin up (tighten) one
joint of drill pipe into another. One end of the chain is attached to the tongs,
another end to the spinning cathead, and the third end left free. The free end is
wrapped around the tool joint, and the cathead pulls the chain off the joint, causing the
joint to spin rapidly and tighten up. After the free end of the chain is pulled off
the joint, the tongs are secured in the spot vacated by the chain and continued pull on
the chain (and thus on the tongs) by the cathead makes up the joint to final tightness. |
| spiral grapple |
a helically shaped gripping mechanism that is
fitted into an overshot to retrieve fish from the borehole. See grapple. |
| spontaneous
potential |
one of the natural electrical characteristics
exhibited by a formation as measured by a logging tool lowered into the wellbore.
Also called self potential or SP. |
| spool |
the drawworks drum. Also a casinghead or
drilling spool.; to wind around a drum |
| spot |
to pump a designated quantity of a substance
(such as acid or cement) into a specific interval in the well. For example, 10
barrels of diesel oil may be spotted around an area in the hole in which drill collars are
stuck against the wall of the hole in an effort to free the collars. |
| spotting |
the pumping of a substance such as oil into an
interval in the well. |
| spring collet |
a spring-actuated metal band or ring(ferrule)
used to expand a liner patch when making casing repairs. See liner patch. |
| spud |
1. to move the drill stem up and down in the
hole over a short distance without rotation. Careless execution of this operation
creates pressure surges that can cause a formation to break down, resulting in lost
circulation. 2. to force a wireline tool or
tubing down the hole by using a reciprocating motion.
3. to begin drilling a well; i.e., to spud in. |
| spudder |
a portable cable-tool drilling rig, sometimes
mounted on a truck or trailer. |
| spud in |
to begin drilling; to start the hole. |
| spud mud |
the fluid used when drilling starts at the
surface, often a thick bentonite-lime slurry. |
| spurt loss |
the initial loss of mud solids by filtration,
making formations easier to drill. See
filtration loss. |
