| bob tail |
any short truck. |
| body lock
ring |
an internal mechanism employed in
certain tools to lock cones to the mandrel |
| boiler |
a closed pressure vessel with a
furnace to burn coal, oil, or gas, used to generate steam from water. |
| boilerhouse |
to make up or fake a report
without actually doing the work. |
| boll weevil |
any inexperienced worker or
"hand". |
| bomb |
a thick-walled container, usually
steel, used to hold devices that determine and record pressure or temperature in a
wellbore. See bottomhole pressure. |
| bomb hanger |
a device set in tubing, particular
collars, to facilities the landing of pressure bombs (recorders). |
| bonnet |
the part of a valve that packs off
and encloses the valve stem. |
| boomer |
a link and lever mechanism which
is used to tighten a chain holding a load on a truck. |
| boot |
1. a tubular device placed in a
vertical position, either inside or outside a larger vessel, and through which well fluids
are conducted before they enter the larger vessel. A boot aids in the separation of
gas from wet oil. 2. a large pipe connected to
a process tank to provide a statis head that can absorb surges of fluid from the process
tank. |
| boot basket |
see boot
sub |
| boot sub |
a device made up in the drill stem
above the mill to collect bits of junk ground away during a milling operation.
During milling, drilling mud under high pressure forces bits of junk up the narrow space
between the boot sub and the hole wall. When the junk reaches the wider annulus
above the boot sub and pressure drops slightly, the junk falls into the boot sub. A boot
sub also can be run above the bit during routine drilling to collect small pieces of junk
that may damage the bit or interfere with its operation. |
| BOP |
abbreviation:
blowout preventer. |
| bopd |
abbreviation: barrels of
oil per day. |
| BOPE |
abbreviation: blowout
preventer equipment |
| BOP stack |
the assembly of blowout preventers
installed on a well |
| borehole |
a hole made by drilling or boring;
a wellbore. |
| borehole
pressure |
total pressure exerted in the
wellbore by a column of fluid and/or back-pressure imposed at the surface. |
| bottleneck |
an area of reduced diameter in
pipe caused by excessive longitudinal strain or by a combination of longitudinal string
and the swagging action of a body. A bottleneck may result if the downward motion of
the drill pipe is stopped with the slips instead of the brake. |
| bottle-type submersible rig |
a mobile submersible drilling
structure constructed of several steel cylinders, or bottles. When the bottles are
flooded, the rig submerges and rests on bottom; when water is removed from the bottles,
the rig floats. The latest designs of this type of rig drill in water depths up to 100
feet (30.5 meters). |
| bottom
water |
water occurring in a producing
formation below the oil or gas in that same formation. |
| bottomhole
choke |
a device with a restricted opening
placed in the lower end of the tubing to control the rate of flow. See choke. |
| bottom-hole
pressure |
the pressure at the bottom of a
well. |
| bottomhole
pressure bomb |
a pressure-fight container (bomb)
used to record the pressure in a well at a point opposite the producing formation |
| bottomhole pressure gauge |
a device to measure bottomhole
pressure. See bottomhole pressure
bomb. |
| bottomhole
pressure test |
a test that measures the reservoir
pressure of the well, obtained at a specific depth or at the midpoint of the producing
zone. A flowing bottomhole pressure test measures pressure while the well continues
to flow; a shut-in bottomhole pressure test measures pressure after the well has been shut
in for a specified period of time. See bottomhole
pressure, bottomhole pressure
gauge. |
| bottom sub |
the lowest extremity of the tool
to which accessories or other tools can be coupled. |
| bottoms up |
a complete trip from the bottom of
the wellbore to the top |
| bottom-supported offshore drilling rig |
a type of mobile offshore drilling
unit that has a part of its structure in contact with the seafloor when it is on site and
drilling a well. The remainder of the rig is supported above the water. The
rig can float, however, allowing it to be moved from one drill site to another.
Bottom-supported units include submersible rigs and jackup rigs. See mobile offshore drilling unit. |
| bottom
water |
water found below oil and gas in a
producing formation |
| Bourdon
tube |
a pressure-sensing element
consisting of a twisted or curved rube of non-circular cross section, which tends to
straighten when pressure is applied internally. By the movements of an indicator
over a circular scale, a Bourdon tube indicates the pressure applied. |
| bowl |
a device into which fit the slips
or wedges which support tubing. |
| box |
the female section of a
connection. See tool joint. |
| box tap |
old-style tap with longitudinal
grooves across the threads. See tap,
taper tap. |
| bpd or BPD |
abbreviation: barrels per
day. |
| brackish
water |
water that contains relatively low
concentrations of soluble salts. Brackish water is saltier than fresh water but not
as salty as salt water. |
| bradenhead |
an obsolete term for a casinghead. |
| bradenhead
gas |
commonly called casinghead gas;
gas that is produced with oil or from the casing head of an oil well. |
| bradenhead
squeeze |
a process used to repair a hole in
the casing by pumping cement down tubing or drill pipe. First, the casinghead, or
bradenhead, is closed to prevent fluids from moving up the casing. Then the rig's
pumps are started. Pump pressure moves the cement out of the tubing or pipe and,
since the top of the casing is closed, the cement goes into the hole in the casing.
The tubing or pipe is pulled from the well and the cement allowed to harden. The
hardened cement seals the hole in the casing. Although the term "bradenhead
squeezing" is still used, the term "bradenhead" is obsolete. See annular space, casinghead, squeeze. |
| brake band |
a part of the brake mechanism
consisting of a flexible steel band lined with a material that grips a drum when
tightened. On a drilling rig, the brake band acts on the flanges of the drawworks
drum to control the lowering of the traveling block and its load of drill pipe, casing, or
tubing. |
| break
circulation |
to start the mud pump for
restoring circulation of the mud column. Because the stagnant drilling fluid has
thickened or gelled during the period of no circulation, high pump pressure is usually
required to break circulation. |
| breaking
down |
unscrewing the drill stem into
single joints and placing them on the pipe rack. The operation takes place on
completion of the well, or in changing from one size of pipe to another. |
| break out |
to loosen a tight joint as in line
pipe or sucker rods. |
| breakout
cathead |
a device attached to the catshaft
of the drawworks that is used as a power source for unscrewing drill pipe; usually located
opposite the driller's side of the drawworks. See cathead. |
| bridge |
1. an obstruction in the borehole,
usually caused by the caving in of the well or the borehole or by the intrusion of a large
boulder. 2. a tool place in the hole to retain
cement or other material; it may later be removed, drilled out, or left permanently. |
| bridge over |
a phenomenon that sometimes occurs
when a well blows out. Rocks, sand, clay, and other debris clog the hole and stop
the blowout. |
| bridge plug |
a downhole tool, composed
primarily of slips, a plug mandrel, and a rubber sealing element, that is run and set in
casing to isolate a lower zone while an upper section is being tested or cemented. |
| bridging
materials |
the fibrous, flaky, or granular
material added to a cement slurry or drilling fluid to aid in sealing formations in which
lost circulation has occurred. See
lost
circulation additives,
lost
circulation material. |
| brine |
water that has large
quantity of salt, especially sodium chloride, dissolved in it, salt water. |
| bring in
a well |
to complete a well and put it on
producing status. |
| broaching |
blowing out of formation fluids
outside the casing and under the rig |
| bromine
value |
the number of centigrams of
bromine that are absorbed by 1 gram of oil under certain conditions. This is a test
for the degree of unsaturatedness of a given oil. |
| Brownian
movement |
the random movement exhibited by
microscopic particles when suspended in liquids or gases. It is caused by the impact
of molecules of fluid surrounding the particle. |
| BS or
BS&W |
basic sediment, or basic sediment
and water. |
| buck up |
to tighten a threaded connection. |
| buffer |
any substance or combination of
substances that, when dissolved in water, produces a solution that resists a change in its
hydrogen ion concentration on the addition of acid or base. |
| bullet
perforator |
a tubular device that, when
lowered to a selected depth within a well, fires bullets through the casing to provide
holes through which the formation fluids may enter the wellbore. |
| bullheading |
1. forcing gas back into a
formation by pumping into the annulus from the surface. 2. any pumping procedure in which fluid is pumped into the well against pressure. |
| bull plug |
a threaded nipple with a rounded,
closed end used to stop up a hole or close off the end of a line. |
| bump down |
to have too long a length of rods
between the pumping unit and the pump seat so that the pump hits bottom on the down
stroke. |
| bumper jar |
a device made up in the drill
string that, when actuated, delivers a heavy downward blow to the string. A bumper
jar has a hollow body that moves upward when the drill string is picked up. When the
string is dropped quickly, the jar body produces a sharp downward blow on the tubing or
pipe made up below the jar. If downward blows can free a fish, a bumper jar can be
very effective. |
| bumper sub |
a percussion tool run on a fishing
string to jar downward or upward on a stuck fish to knock it free. The bumper sub body
moves up and down on a mandrel. |
| Bund-N |
a nitrile rubber used throughout
the oilfield as an elastometer seal, i.e., in O-rings, V-rings. |
| buoyancy |
the apparent loss of weight of an
object immersed in a fluid. If the object is floating, the immersed portion
displaces a volume of fluid the weight of which is equal to the weight of the object. |
| burn shoe |
a milling device attached to the
bottom of washpipe that mills or drills debris accumulated around the outside of the pipe
being washed over. usually, a burn shoe has pieces of very hard tungsten carbide
embedded in it. Also called a rotary
shoe. See washpipe. |
| burn over |
to use a mill to remove the
outside area of a permanent downhole tool. |
| bury barge |
a vessel used to bury pipeline
beneath the seafloor. The barge moves itself forward by means of anchors. A jet sled
is lowered over the pipeline, and as the barge pulls it over the pipe, high-pressure jets
of water remove soil from beneath the pipe, allowing the pipe to fall into the jetted-out
trench. |
| bushing |
1. a pipe fitting on which the
external thread is larger than the internal thread to allow two pipes of different sizes
to be connected. 2. a removable lining or
sleeve inserted or screwed into an opening to limit its size, resist wear or corrosion, or
serve as a guide. |
| butane |
a paraffin hydrocarbon, a gas in
atmospheric conditions but is easily liquefied under pressure. It is a constituent
of liquefied petroleum gas. See commercial
butane,
normal butane. |
| button up |
to secure the wellhead or other
components. |
| button slip |
a slip employing tungsten-carbide
"buttons" in lieu of conventional wicker-type teeth to set tools in very hard
casing. |
| buttress |
a special threaded connection |
| bypass |
1. a pipe connection around a
valve or other control mechanism that is installed to permit passage of fluid through the
line while adjustments or repairs are being made on the control. 2. a delivery of gas to a customer by means of a pipeline other than
that customer's traditional supplier. For example, delivery of gas to an end user
directly off a transmission pipeline without moving the gas through the end user's
traditional local distribution company supplier. |
