Glossary

Glossary

This glossary more specifically relates to oil and gas exploration and production terms.

Particle (elementary):
A fundamental component of matter. The "elementary" concept changes with time as new particles are discovered.
Permeability:
Propensity of a medium to allow liquid or gaseous fluid to pass through it.
Petroleum:
From the Latin petra oleum, meaning "stone oil", an inflammable oily liquid varying in color from yellow to black, consisting of widely varying hydrocarbons, found in sedimentary strata of the earth's crust.
Petroleum architect:
His job is to design and propose a variety of possible reservoir development architectures (wells, surface installations, effluent treatment, and shipment or transmission for commercialization), having due regard to safety and environmental issues.
Photon:
A stable particle with no measurable mass, corresponding to an elementary particle of light. It travels at 300,000 km/s (180,000 miles per second) in a vacuum, which is the speed of light.
Pipe:
Steel tube of a standard length (about nine meters). Can be bolted together using special connections to form a drill string.
Pipeline:
Pipe carrying oil.
Platform:
Set of facilities rising above the sea, used to operate sea fields.
Porosity:
Ratio of the volume of interstices of a material to the volume of its mass. In oil fields, the oil and gas are contained in pores in the rock.
Pressure:
Force acting over a given surface (measured in bars).
Production:
Commercial operation phase of an oil field.
Production sharing (contract):
Contract by which the production of a field is shared between the host government and the oil company operating the field. The company is paid in the form of "cost oil", to cover the exploration and development expenses borne by it alone, and "profit oil", which represents its profit on the venture.
Production well:
Well used when producing oil.
Proppant:
a material (such as sand or ceramic) used in hydraulic fracturing operations to keep open the cracks induced by high-pressure injections of water.
Prospect:
Underground area in which geologists think there is a chance of finding oil.
Proton:
A particle carrying a positive electric charge and made up of three quarks. A proton is one component of the nucleus of an atom.