Oil & Gas Glossary 1.0

A device that increases the pressure on a fluid or raises it to a higher level. Various types of pumps include the bottomhole pump, centrifugal pump, hydraulic pump, jet pump, mud pump, reciprocating pump, rotary pump, sucker rod pump, and submersible pump

The downhole assembly used to lift fluid to the surface by the reciprocating action of the sucker rod string. Basic components are barrel, plunger, valves, and hold-down. Two types of sucker rod pumps are the tubing pump, in which the barrel is attached to the tubing, and the rod, or insert, pump, which is run into the well as a complete unit.

An undesirable whipping motion in the sucker rod string that occurs when the string is not properly attached to the sucker rod pump or when the pump is operated at a resonant speed.

To install a pump or pumping unit, sucker rods, and bottom-hole pump.

A sucker rod pump in which the barrel is attached to the tubing. See sucker rod pump.

A special steel pumping rod. Several rods screwed together make up the mechanical link from the beam pumping unit on the surface to the sucker rod pump at the bottom of a well. Sucker rods are threaded on each end and manufactured to dimension standards and metal specifications set by the petroleum industry. Lengths are 25 or 30 feet (7.6 or 9.1 meters); diameter varies from 1/2 to 1-1/8 inches (12 to 30 millimeters). There is also a continuous sucker rod (tradename: Corod).

A short length of sucker rod that is attached to the top of the sucker rod pump

A sucker rod string, that is, the entire length of sucker rods, which usually consist of several single rods screwed together. The rod string serves as a mechanical link from the beam pumping unit on the surface to the sucker rod pump near the bottom of the well.

1. a basic component of the sucker rod pump that serves to draw well fluids into the pump.

A tube mounted at the bottom of a sucker rod pump and inside a gas anchor to provide a conduit into the pump for well fluids that contain little or no gas.

A sucker rod pump that is run into the well as a complete unit.

A special wrench designed for use in connecting the cage of a sucker rod pump to the sucker rod string.

See sucker rod pump

A tubular, perforated device attached to the bottom of sucker-rod pump that helps to prevent gas lock. The device works on the principle that gas, being lighter than oil, rises. As well fluids enter the anchor, the gas breaks out of the fluid and exits from the anchor through perforations near the top. The remaining fluids enter the pump through a mosquito bill (a tube with the anchor), which has an opening near the bottom. In this way, all or most of the gas escapes before the fluids enter the pump.

A machine designed specifically for sucker rod pumping. An engine or motor (prime mover) is mounted on the unit to power a rotating crank. The crank moves a horizontal member (walking beam) up and down to produce reciprocating motion. This reciprocating motion operates the pump. Compare pump jack

A large, high-pressure reciprocating pump used to circulate the mud on a drilling rig. A typical mud pump is a two-cylinder, double-acting or a three-cylinder, single-acting piston pump whose pistons travel in replaceable liners and are driven by a crankshaft actuated by an engine or a motor. Also called a slush pump.

A reciprocating pump with two pistons or plungers and used extensively as a mud pump on drilling rigs.

A heavy-duty steel, T-shaped pipe fitting that is screwed or flanged to the top of a pumping well. The polished rod works through a stuffing box on top of the tee and in the run of the tee to operate a sucker rod pump in the well. Pumped fluid is discharged through the side opening of the tee.

To pump so rapidly that the oil level drops below the standing valve on the pump.

A mechanical arrangement that prevents the upward movement of certain pieces of equipment installed in a well. A sucker rod pump may use a mechanical hold-down for attachment to a seating nipple.

2. the cylindrical part of a sucker rod pump in which the piston-like plunger moves up and down. Operating as a piston inside a cylinder, the plunger and barrel create pressure energy to lift well fluids to the surface.

A fixed ball-and-seat valve at the lower end of the working barrel of a sucker rod pump. The standing valve and its cage do not move, as does the traveling valve. Compare traveling valve.

1. a sucker rod, shorter than usual, used to make up a sucker rod string of desired length. Pony rods are usually placed just below the polished rod.

Any little pump; used for many kinds of small temporary pumping operations.

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.

A reciprocating pump with three pistons or plungers

A surface unit similar to a pumping unit but having no individual power plant. Usually, several pump jacks are operated by pull rods or cables from one central power source. Commonly, but erroneously, beam pumping units are called pump jacks. Compare beam pumping unit.

Descriptive of any tool or device that can be pumped down a wellbore. Pump-down tools are not lowered into the well on wireline; instead, they are pumped down the well with the drilling fluid.

An electric or hydraulic pump on an accumulator that pumps hydraulic fluid under high pressure to the blowout preventers so that they may be closed or opened.

One of the two valves in a sucker rod pumping system. It moves with the movement of the sucker rod string. On the upstroke, the ball member of the valve is seated, supporting the fluid load. On the downstroke, the ball is unseated, allowing fluid to enter into the production column. Compare standing valve.

Gas that enters the wellbore when the mud pump is shut down and pipe is being pulled from the wellbore. The gas may enter because of the reduction in bottomhole pressure when the pump is shut down, because of swabbing, or because of both.

The relatively small amount of gas that enters a well when the mud pump is stopped for a connection to be made. Since bottomhole pressure decreases when the pump is stopped, gas may enter the well.

A pump with an impeller or rotor, an impeller shaft, and a casing, which discharges fluid by centrifugal force.

A device that prevents leakage along a piston, rod, propeller shaft, or other moving part that passes through a hole in a cylinder or vessel. It consists of a box or chamber made by enlarging the hole and a gland containing compressed packing. On a well being artificially lifted by means of a sucker rod pump, the polished rod operates through a stuffing box, preventing escape of oil and diverting it into a side outlet to which is connected the flow line leading to the oil and gas separator or to the field storage tank. For a bottomhole pressure test, the wireline goes through a stuffing box and lubricator, allowing the gauge to be raised and lowered against well pressure. The lubricator provides a pressure-tight grease seal in the stuffing box.

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.

A device used to pull or to run sucker rods.

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.

A device used to hang sucker rods on the mast or in the derrick

To loosen a tight joint as in line pipe or sucker rods.

A fishing tool used to recover a pared string of sucker rods from a well.

A pump consisting of a piston that moves back and forth or up and down in a cylinder. The cylinder is equipped with inlet (suction) and outlet (discharge) valves. On the intake stroke, the suction valves are opened, and fluid is drawn into the cylinder. On the discharge stroke, the suction valves close, the discharge valves open, and fluid is forced out of the cylinder.

To lower the drill stem, tubing, casing, or sucker rods in to the wellbore.

A ram device used to close the annular space around the polished rod or sucker rod in a pumping well.

All the devices used to accomplish the moving of sucker rods form the elevators to the racking platform.

The driller or head well puller in charge of operations on a well servicing rig that is used to pull sucker rods or tubing

Said of a well that is being pumped.

2. the rod joined to the connecting rod and piston rod in a mud pump

2. the rod that serves as a piston in a reciprocating pump.

Drill pipe, tubing, sucker rods, and so forth with the diameter near the top of the well larger than the diameter below.

Tongs that are actuated by air or hydraulic fluid and are used for making up or breaking out sucker rods

To suspend sucker rods in a derrick or mast on rod hangers rather than horizontally on a rack.

To pull the bottom end of a sucker rod away from a well when laying rods down.

A pressure-multiplier-type well servicing mobile pump.

Clamps that grip a stand of casing, tubing, drill pipe, or sucker rods so that the stand can be raised or lowered into the hole.

Connection of treating line during well servicing, from pump trucks to tree/well

The main parts of the valves in a plunger-type oil-well pump.

The part of a pump valve which holds the ball to limit its movement.

3. trying to pump out a gas influx before the expansion of gas reduces pressure allowing the well to kick.

In sucker rod pumping, the difference between the polished rod peak load on the upstroke and the minimum load on the downstroke.

Sucker rods that have been broken and separated in a pumping well because of corrosion, improper loading, damaged rods, and so forth.

The topmost portion of a string of sucker rods. It is used for lifting fluid by the rod-pumping method. It has a uniform diameter and is smoothly polished to seal pressure effectively in the stuffing box attached to the top of the well.

A spherical object used to pump down the drill string or tubing to trip, release, or otherwise operate certain hydraulic-type tools.

An arrangement of valves and piping that permits a wide choice in the routing of suction and discharge fluids among two or more pumps

A rapid increase in n pressure downhole that occurs when the drill stem is lowered too fast or when the mud pump is brought up to speed after starting.

A special type of elevator designed to accommodate the end of a sucker rod. it allows the derrickman to transfer the rod to the racking platform from the regular elevator being used to lift the rod out of the well.

A vertical pipe rising along the side of the derrick or mast, which joins the discharge line leading from the mud pump to the rotary hose and through which mud is pumped going into the hole.

A device used to form a seal around a reciprocating or rotating rod (as in a pump) to prevent fluid leakage. Specifically, the movable part of a stuffing box by which the packing is compressed.

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.

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 wheel-shaped wrench that is attached to the sucker rod string at the surface and is manually turned to unscrew the string to allow it to be pulled from the well.

The maintenance work performed on an oil or gas well to improve or maintain the production from a formation already producing. It usually involves repairs to the pump, rods, gas lift valves, tubing, packers, and so forth

A fishing tool that is attached to tubing or drill pipe and lowered over the outside wall of pipe or sucker rods lost or stuck in the wellbore. A friction device in the overshot, usually either a basket or as spiral grapple, firmly grips the pipe, allowing the fish to be pulled from the hole.

A device to provide running the tubing dry with a packer released by elevating tubing pressure, thereby opening the tubing to formation pressure.

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.

A small platform with finger-like steel projections attached to the side of the mast on a well servicing unit. When a string of sucker rods or tubing is pulled from a well, the top end of the rods or tubing is placed (racked) between the steel projections and held in a vertical position in the mast.

The equipment included in the drilling fluid circulating system of a rotary rig. Basically, the components consist of the mud pump, rotary hose, swivel, drill stem, bit, and mud return line.

A cylindrical, accurately machined, metallic section that forms the working barrel of some reciprocating pumps. Liners are an inexpensive means of replacing worn cylinder surface, and in some pumps they provide a method of conveniently changing the displacement and capacity of the pumps.

1. to collect a mass of sticky consolidated material, usually drill cuttings, on drill pipe, drill collars, bits, and so forth. A bit with such material attached to it is called a balled-up bit. Balling up is frequently the result of inadequate pump pressure or insufficient drilling fluid.

2. the amount of pressure indicated by a drill pipe pressure gauge when drilling fluid is being circulated by the mud pump. Pressure losses occur as the fluid is circulated.

A method of killing a well in which the mud level in the pits is held constant while the choke size is reduced and the pump speed slowed. It is not effective, and therefore, is not recommended, because casing pressure increases to the point at which the formation fractures or casing ruptures, and control of the well is lost.

A portable servicing or workover outfit, usually mounted on wheels and self-propelled. A well servicing unit consists of a hoist and engine mounted on a wheeled chassis with a self-erecting mast. A workover rig is basically the same, with the addition of a substructure with rotary, pump, pits, and auxiliaries to permit handling and working a drill string.

A large, hook-shaped device from which the swivel is suspended. It is designed to carry maximum loads ranging from 100 to 650 tons (90 to 590 tonnes) and turns on bearings in its supporting housing. A strong spring within the assembly cushions the weight of a stand (90 feet, about 27 meters) of drill pipe, thus permitting the pipe to be made up and broken out with less damage to the tool join threads. Smaller hooks without the spring are used for handling tubing and sucker rods. See stand and swivel.

V: 1. to operate a swab on a wireline to bring well fluids to the surface when the w4ell does not flow naturally. Swabbing is a temporary operation to determine whether the well can be made to flow. If the well does not flow after being swabbed, a pump is installed a a permanent lifting device to bring the oil to the surface.

To pump drilling fluid into the wellbore while the pipe is being withdrawn to ensure that the wellbore remains full of fluid even though the pipe is withdrawn. Filling the hole lessens the danger of a kick or of caving of the well or the wellbore.

A cycle, or down the hole and back, is the time required for the pump to move the drilling fluid in he hole. The cycle in minutes equals the barrels of mud in the hole divided by barrels per minute.

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.