Oil and Gas Terms Beginning with “B” — Page 6

Bilinear flow is a transient flow regime that occurs in hydraulically fractured wells when fluid moves simultaneously in two perpendicular linear directions: from the formation matrix into the fracture plane, and from… Read more →

What Is a Billion Cubic Feet (Bcf)? Billion cubic feet (Bcf) (also called one billion standard cubic feet or 10⁹ scf ) is a volumetric unit of measurement for natural gas equal to one billion cubic feet of gas measured… Read more →

What Is Billion Cubic Feet per Day (Bcf/d)? Billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) (also called gigacubic feet per day or Gscf/d) is a volumetric flow rate unit for natural gas equal to one billion standard cubic feet… Read more →

What Is Bimetallic Corrosion? Bimetallic corrosion (also called galvanic corrosion) is an accelerated electrochemical corrosion process that occurs when two dissimilar metals are in electrical contact in the presence of… Read more →

The electromagnetic force created by two different metals in contact with each other. If two such metals are in contact in a logging tool, and also communicate along a conductive borehole, then a potential drop is… Read more →

To sort seismic data into small areas according to the midpoint between the source and the receiver, reflection point or conversion point prior to stacking. Read more →

The concentration of a particular substance in a living organism, possibly with harmful effects. The likelihood of this occurring is expressed as the bioaccumulation potential and can be estimated by the octanol/water… Read more →

A laboratory test or other assessment utilizing a living organism, such as mysid shrimp, to determine the effect of a condition to which the organism is exposed. Such tests are performed under controlled environmental… Read more →

The amount of oxygen consumed by biodegradation processes during a standardized test. The test usually involves degradation of organic matter in a discarded waste or an effluent. Read more →

Biodegradation, in the context of petroleum geology and reservoir engineering, is the alteration of crude oil by microbial organisms, primarily bacteria, that preferentially metabolize lighter hydrocarbon fractions and… Read more →

A biopolymer is a polymer produced by living organisms through biological processes rather than by conventional synthetic polymerization chemistry. In the oil and gas industry, biopolymers serve as critical… Read more →

Biostratigraphy is the branch of stratigraphy that uses the temporal distribution of fossils to date, correlate, and interpret sedimentary rock sequences. In petroleum geoscience, it is an indispensable tool for… Read more →

Referring to the flow of two immiscible fluids, oil and water, oil and gas, or gas and water. Read more →

A device containing a magnetometer and possibly other instruments that can be towed by an aircraft during aeromagnetic surveying or in a marine seismic streamer to provide dynamic information about the streamer position. Read more →

The splitting of an incident wave into two waves of different velocities and orthogonal polarizations. Birefringence occurs in optical mineralogy (see petrography) when plane-polarized light passes through an… Read more →

The tool used to crush or cut rock. Everything on a drilling rig directly or indirectly assists the bit in crushing or cutting the rock. The bit is on the bottom of the drillstring and must be changed when it becomes… Read more →

A container, usually made of steel and fitted with a sturdy lock, to store drill bits, especially higher cost PDC and diamond bits. These bits are extremely costly but often small in size, so they are prone to theft. Read more →

What Is a Bit Breaker? Bit breaker is a heavy steel plate or adapter machined with a profiled recess that matches the body shape of a specific drill bit. Placed in the rotary table opening on the rig floor, the bit… Read more →

What Is a Bit Nozzle? Bit nozzle (also called a jet nozzle or simply a jet ) is an interchangeable tungsten carbide insert threaded or press-fit into the water course passages of a drill bit to control the velocity and… Read more →

What Is a Bit Record? Bit record (also called a bit log or bit run summary ) is a chronological drilling log maintained on the rig documenting every drill bit used in a well. For each bit run, the record captures bit… Read more →

Bit resistivity is the resistivity measurement acquired at the drill bit by a logging-while-drilling (LWD) or measurements-while-drilling (MWD) tool mounted on the bottomhole assembly (BHA) immediately behind the bit.… Read more →

The process of pulling the drillstring out of the wellbore for the purpose of changing a worn or underperforming drill bit. Upon reaching the surface, the bit is usually inspected and graded on the basis of how worn the… Read more →

Bitumen is a naturally occurring, extremely viscous to solid mixture of complex polycyclic hydrocarbons with negligible vapour pressure at ambient conditions and an API gravity typically below 10 degrees (density… Read more →

Analysis of two data sets that determines whether or not the data are related and describes the best relationship between them. Crossplots are often used to visualize potential bivariate relationships. Regression… Read more →

What Is a Bland Coring Fluid? Bland coring fluid (also called preserved coring mud or low-invasion coring fluid ) is a specially formulated drilling fluid used exclusively during conventional and pressure coring… Read more →

What Is Blank Pipe? Blank pipe (also called blank tubing or solid liner ) is a section of plain, non-perforated, non-slotted tubing or liner used in wellbore completions to isolate non-producing intervals, provide… Read more →

What Is Blanket Gas? Blanket gas (also called tank blanketing gas or vapor blanket ) is an inert or hydrocarbon gas maintained under low positive pressure above the liquid surface inside a fixed-roof storage tank,… Read more →

What Is a Blast Joint? Blast joint (also called an erosion joint or jet-blast protector) is a heavy-wall, erosion-resistant section of production tubing installed in the tubing string at the precise depth interval… Read more →

What Is Bleed-Off in Well Control? Bleed-off (also called bleeding down or controlled pressure reduction) in well control is the deliberate, controlled release of wellbore pressure by venting or circulating fluid… Read more →

What Is a Bleed-Off Line? Bleed-off line (also called a choke line bleed-off or vent line in some contexts) is a high-pressure piping connection on the choke manifold or wellhead assembly that provides a controlled path… Read more →