Glossary

Glossary

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

Refinery:
Plant where crude oil is separated and transformed into marketable products.
Reforming:
Reforming consists in raising the octane number of the naphtha obtained by distillation.
Reserves (of a field):
Volume of oil trapped in a rock.
Reservoir characteristics:
All of the features that serve to characterize the hydrocarbons (viscosity, density, etc.) and the rock containing them (porosity, permeability, etc.).
Reservoir rock:
See oil reservoir.
Richter scale:
a scale used to measure the amount of energy released by an earthquake (magnitude). Measurements are recorded by seismographs using a logarithmic scale from 1 to 10 in which each whole number step corresponds to the release of about 31 times more energy.
Rig:
a drilling platform.
Rotary:
Drilling method consisting of drilling rocks with bits turning about their axis. The rocky debris is continuously evacuated to the surface by a flow of mud under pressure.
Rotary table:
Circular plate in a drilling rig that transmits the rotational motion to the drill pipes through the drive pipe.