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

Bilinear flow is a transient pressure response regime that develops in hydraulically fractured wells when fluid moves simultaneously in two perpendicular linear directions — from the formation matrix into the vertical… Read more →

A billion cubic feet ( Bcf , also written 10⁹ cf or 10⁹ scf ) is a volumetric unit for natural gas equal to 1,000,000,000 standard cubic feet measured at 60°F (15.6°C) and 14.73 psia (101.56 kPa), and it functions as… Read more →

A billion cubic feet per day ( Bcf/d , also written Bcf/day or 10⁹ scf/d ) is a volumetric flow rate for natural gas equal to the rate at which one billion standard cubic feet measured at 60°F (15.6°C) and 14.73 psia… Read more →

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 an electrolyte — such as… Read more →

In petroleum engineering, bimetallism refers to the deliberate design and construction of wellbore components, surface processing equipment, and pipeline systems using two dissimilar metals whose combined properties… Read more →

In petroleum engineering and oilfield operations, bin carries three distinct but related meanings depending on context: (1) a particle size bin — the fraction of particles retained between two adjacent sieve mesh sizes… Read more →

Bioaccumulation is the progressive concentration of a chemical substance in the tissues of a living organism to levels above those in the surrounding water, sediment, or food — driven by the organism's uptake rate from… Read more →

A bioassay (also called a toxicity test or bioassay test ) is a laboratory procedure that quantifies the biological effect of a chemical substance, effluent, or physical stressor on a defined population of test… Read more →

Biochemical oxygen demand ( BOD , commonly reported as BOD5 for the standard 5-day test) is a measure of the dissolved oxygen consumed by aerobic microorganisms while decomposing the organic matter in a water sample… Read more →

Biodegradation of petroleum, in the context of geological reservoir assessment and petroleum engineering, is the microbial alteration of crude oil in the subsurface by anaerobic or aerobic bacteria that preferentially… Read more →

A biopolymer is a high-molecular-weight polymer produced by living organisms through biological synthesis — typically microbial fermentation or plant biosynthesis — as distinct from synthetic polymers manufactured by… Read more →

Biostratigraphy is the branch of stratigraphy that uses the temporal and spatial distribution of fossils — primarily microfossils such as foraminifera, dinoflagellates, spores, pollen, ostracods, and conodonts — to… Read more →

Biphasic flow is the simultaneous co-movement of two distinct fluid phases through a conduit or porous medium; in petroleum engineering the term refers almost exclusively to gas-liquid two-phase flow in producing… Read more →

In marine seismic acquisition, a bird is a hydrodynamic depth-control device clamped at regular intervals along a towed seismic streamer to maintain the cable at a precise target depth below the sea surface, typically… Read more →

Birefringence (also called double refraction or optical anisotropy) is the property of certain crystalline materials in which the refractive index of light varies depending on the polarization direction of the light ray… Read more →

A drill bit is the rotating cutting tool mounted at the bottom of the drill string that destroys rock at the borehole face through one of three mechanisms — shearing, crushing, or abrasion — to advance the wellbore… Read more →

A bit box in petroleum drilling refers to two distinct but related concepts that share the same name. In the context of threaded connection engineering, a bit box is the female (box) end of the API threaded pin-and-box… Read more →

A bit breaker is a heavy steel plate or machined adapter, typically 25-50 mm thick and cut to fit the rotary table opening, that holds a drill bit stationary against the torque applied by the rotary tongs when making up… Read more →

A 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, providing the precision-sized orifice through… Read more →

A bit record (also called a bit log or bit run summary ) is a chronological drilling document maintained throughout a well's drilling phase that captures, for every drill bit used in the well, the complete set of… Read more →

Bit resistivity is a logging-while-drilling (LWD) resistivity measurement acquired by sensors located within 0.5-1.5 m of the drill bit — as close to the borehole face as current LWD tool architecture permits —… Read more →

A bit trip (also called a round trip or simply a trip ) is the complete operation of pulling the entire drill string from the wellbore to surface to inspect or replace the drill bit, then running the string back to… Read more →

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

Bivariate analysis in petroleum geoscience and reservoir engineering is the quantitative examination of the statistical relationship between exactly two variables, using graphical tools (crossplots, scatter plots,… Read more →

A bland coring fluid (also called preserved coring mud , spiked coring mud , or low-invasion coring fluid ) is a specially formulated drilling fluid used exclusively during conventional and pressure coring operations to… Read more →

Blank pipe (also called blank tubing , solid liner , or blind pipe ) is a section of plain, non-perforated, non-slotted tubular installed in a wellbore completion string to bridge non-producing intervals, isolate shale… Read more →

Blanket gas (also called tank blanketing gas , pad gas , or inert gas blanket ) is a low-pressure gaseous atmosphere maintained under positive pressure in the vapor space above the liquid surface inside a fixed-roof… Read more →

Blast joint (also called an erosion joint , wear joint , or heavy-wall tubing joint ) is a section of production tubing or completion liner manufactured with substantially greater wall thickness than standard API 5CT… Read more →

Bleed-off (also called bleeding down or controlled pressure reduction ) is the deliberate, metered release of wellbore pressure by routing fluid or gas through the choke manifold to a flare, mud-gas separator, or… Read more →

Bleed-off line (also called a choke line , kill line branch connection, or well control vent line ) is a high-pressure-rated piping assembly connecting the BOP stack body or wellhead to the choke manifold, providing the… Read more →