Oil & Gas Glossary 1.0

B=nominal catalog breaking strength of the wire rope, and

W = calculated total static load. Also called design factor.

A measurement of load safety for wire rope obtained by using the following formula: Safety Factor - B/W where:

B=nominal catalog breaking strength of the wire rope, and

W = calculated total static load. Also called design factor.

A cable composed of steel wires twisted around a central core of fiber or steel wire to create a rope of great strength and considerable flexibility. Wire rope is used as drilling line (in rotary and cable-tool rigs), coring line, servicing line, winch line, and so on. It is often called cable or wireline; however, wireline is a single, slender metal rod, usually very flexible. Compare wireline.

Broken or frayed strands of the steel wire that makes up the outer wrapping of wire rope.

A rope or cable used to steady a mast or pole.

An equipment's working pressure times a safety factor.

A wire-rope loop for use in lifting heavy equipment.

To have rigged up wire rope and sheaves or blocks for hoisting.

To flatten and spread the strands in a wire rope.

1. an arrangement of pulleys and wire rope or chain used for lifting heavy objects; a winch or similar device.

To string a wire rope drilling line through the sheaves of the traveling and crown blocks to the hoisting drum.

A wire rope used to support the drilling tools. Also called the rotary line.

The section of a drawworks drum grooved for angle control and in which the wire rope crosses over to start a new wrap. Also called an angle-control section.

An accessory to a fishing tool, placed above it. if the tool cannot be disengaged from the fish, the safety joint permits easy disengagement of the string of pipe above the safety joint. Thus, part of the safety joint and the tool attached to the fish remain in the hole and become part of the fish.

A small loose fiber rope.

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.

A valve that opens at a preset pressure to relieve excessive pressures within a vessel or line. Also called a relief valve, safety valve, or safety relief valve.

The ratio of the actual volume of gas at a given temperature and pressure to the volume of gas when calculated by the ideal gas law.

2. an observed change, usually uncontrolled, in meter performance, meter factor, etc., that occurs over a period of time.

Abbreviation: surface safety valve.

See recovery efficiency

A storm choke

A tubing safety valve.

A device to connect the wireline to the tool string.

To pass (as a rope) through a hole or opening in a block or similar device.

Abbreviation: surface-controlled subsurface safety valve.

Chain or rope used to tie down loads of equipment, or the "boomer" used to tighten the chains.

A spool-shaped attachment on a winch around which rope is wound for hoisting and pulling.

A special valve installed below the kelly. Usually, the valve is open so that drilling fluid can flow out of the kelly and down the drill stem. It can, however, be manually closed with a special wrench when necessary. In one case, the valve is closed and broken out, still attached to the kelly to prevent drilling mud in the kelly from draining onto the rig floor. In another case, when kick pressure inside the drill stem exists, the drill stem safety valve is close to prevent the pressure from escaping up the drill stem.

The recoverable amount of original or residual hydrocarbons in place in a rese4rvoir, expressed as a percentage of total hydrocarbons in place. Also called recovery factor.

N. 1. a piece of cloth, rope or nylon strand used to mark the wireline when swabbing or bailing.

A U-bolt or similar device used to fasten parts of a wire cable together.

An emergency mechanism component enabling the retrieval of a packer (or tubing) if stuck.

A piece of wood or concrete, usually buried, to which a wire guy line is attached for bracing a mast or tower.

An interval device commonly found in subsurface safety valves used to protect the tool's closure mechanism from the wellbore media.

See lost circulation. lower kelly cock n: see drill stem safety valve

See lost circulation. lower kelly cock n: see drill stem safety valve

A device used to suspend a rod string after the pump has been spaced or when the weight of the rod string must be taken off the pumping equipment.

A device to which a guy wire or brace may be attached, such as the anchoring device for the deadline of a hoisting-block arrangement.

A small hydraulic line used to communicate fluid from the surface to a downhole tool, such as a subsurface safety valve.

A device placed on a piece of equipment that is lowered into a wellbore so that the equipment may be retrieved by wire line.

2. a valve installed at the top of the drill stem to prevent flow out of the drill pipe if a kick occurs during tripping operations.

See trip margin

A pipe that is perforated and often arranged with a wire wrapping to act as a sieve to prevent or minimize the entry of sand particles into the wellbore. Also called a screen pipe.

A method of well completion in which a slotted or perforated liner, often wire-wrapped, is placed in the well and surrounded by gravel. If open hole, the well is sometimes enlarged by underreaming at the point where the gravel is packed. The mass of gravel excludes sand from the wellbore but allows continued production.

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.

A device used to control the rate of flow in a line to open or shut off a line completely, or to serve as an automatic or semiautomatic safety device. Those used extensively include the check valve, gate valve, globe valve, needle valve, plug valve, and pressure relief valve.

A device that is fastened to the outside of casing to remove mud cake from the wall of a hole to condition the hole for cementing. By rotating or moving the casing string up and down as it is being run into the hole, the scratcher, formed of stiff wire, removes the cake so that the cement can bond solidly to the formation.

1. an automatic valve that opens or closes when an abnormal condition occurs (e.g., a pressure relief valve on a separator that opens if the pressure exceeds the set point, or the shutdown valve at the wellhead that closes if the line pressure becomes too high or too low).