The rights of ownership, conveyed by deed, of gas, oil, and other minerals beneath the surface of the earth.

In the united states, mineral rights are the property of the surface owner unless disposed of separately.

Abbreviation: mobile offshore drilling unit.

A drilling rig that is used exclusively to drill offshore exploration and development wells and that floats upon the surface of the water when being moved from one drill site to another.

It may or may not float once drilling begins.

Two basic types of mobile offshore drilling units are used to drill most offshore wildcat wells: bottom-supported drilling rigs and floating drilling rigs.

Abbreviation: minerals management service

Naturally occurring special lignite, e.g., leonardite, that is produced by strip mining from special lignite deposits.

The active ingredient is the humic acids.

Mined lignins are used primarily as thinners, which may or may not be chemically modified; however, they are also widely used as emulsifiers.

A walled round hole or well in the hull of a drill ship (usually in the center) through which the drilling assembly and other assemblies pass while a well is being drilled, completed, or abandoned from the drill ship.

A unit of length equal to one millionth part of a meter, or one thousandth part of a millimeter.

An agency of the u.s.

Department of the interior that establishes requirements through the code of federal regulations (cfr) for drilling while operating on the outer continental shelf of the united states.

The agency regulates rig design and construction, drilling procedures, equipment, qualification of personnel, and pollution prevention.

Abbreviation: a trademark name for multiple formation evaluation; a dst.

A measure of fineness of a woven material, screen, or sieve; e.g., a 200-mesh sieve has 200 openings per linear inch.

A 200-mesh screen with a wire diameter of 0.0021 in.

(0.0533 mm) has an opening of 0.074 mm, or will pass a particle of 74 microns.

See micron.

See rotary shoe, burn shoe.

A method of improved oil recovery in which chemicals dissolved in water are pumped into a reservoir through injection wells to mobilize off left behind after primary or secondary recovery and to move it toward production wells.

The chemical solution includes surfactants or surfactant-forming chemicals that reduce the interfacial and capillary forces between oil and water, releasing the oil and carrying it out of the pores where it has been trapped.

The solution may also contain cosurfactants to match the viscosity of the solution to that of the oil to stabilize the solution and to prevent its absorption by reservoir rock.

An electrolyte is often added to aid in adjusting viscosity.

Injection of the chemical solution is followed by a slug of water thickened with a polymer, which pushes the released oil through the reservoir, decreases the effective permeability of established channels so that new channels are opened, and serves as a mobility buffer between the chemical solution and the final injection of water.

See oil-emulsion water.

The tool used in the operation of milling.

See mill.

One-millionth of a meter, a metric unit of measure of length equal to 0.001 meter.