Oil and Gas Terms Beginning with “B” — Page 9

Breaker in hydraulic fracturing fluid chemistry is a chemical additive incorporated into or injected after a polymer-based fracturing fluid (crosslinked guar, hydroxypropyl guar [HPG], carboxymethyl hydroxypropyl guar… Read more →

Breakout (also called borehole breakout or wellbore breakout) in geomechanics refers to the stress-induced compressive failure and spalling of the borehole wall that occurs at the azimuth of minimum horizontal stress… Read more →

Breakout cathead (also called the breakout drum or tong-line cathead) is the continuously rotating steel drum mounted on the drawworks or an auxiliary power unit of a drilling or service rig that provides the mechanical… Read more →

Breakout tongs (plural) refers to the complete manual pipe disconnection system used on drilling rigs and service rigs without iron roughnecks — the coordinated simultaneous operation of the breakout tong (the upper,… Read more →

Breakthrough in petroleum reservoir engineering describes the arrival of the displacing fluid (injected water in a waterflood, injected gas in a gas flood or WAG enhanced oil recovery scheme, or CO2 in a CCUS-EOR… Read more →

Bridge plug is a downhole mechanical tool set inside a casing string or open hole to create a pressure-tight barrier isolating the wellbore below the plug from pressure and fluid communication with the wellbore above… Read more →

Bridge-off (also written as bridgeoff or pack-off ) in drilling operations describes the progressive or sudden blockage of the annular space between the drill string and the borehole wall by accumulated drill cuttings,… Read more →

Bridge plug as a mechanical tool is distinguished from bridge plugs as a completion strategy by the engineering of its component systems: the slip mechanism that anchors the plug body against the casing wall, the packer… Read more →

Bridge off in the context of lost circulation control refers to the deliberate, engineered placement of bridging materials (lost circulation materials, LCM) across the opening of a fracture, vug, or highly permeable… Read more →

Bridging material (also called lost circulation material, LCM) encompasses the range of granular, flake, fibrous, and composite solid additives — including walnut shell, calcium carbonate, graphite, mica flakes, cedar… Read more →

Bridle in wireline well intervention is the short, specially constructed cable assembly — typically 3-15 m long — that connects the wireline cable head (the termination fitting at the bottom of the main wireline cable… Read more →

Bright spot in seismic reflection interpretation is an anomalously high-amplitude reflection event on a seismic section that indicates the presence of a gas-saturated reservoir — the high-reflectivity interface between… Read more →

Brine in petroleum production engineering is an aqueous solution containing dissolved salts — most commonly sodium chloride (NaCl), calcium chloride (CaCl2), magnesium chloride (MgCl2), potassium chloride (KCl), and… Read more →

Bring in the well (also written as "well bring-in" or "initial production") describes the operational sequence of commissioning a newly completed well and establishing its first production flow — the critical transition… Read more →

Broach in downhole well servicing is a slickline- or coiled-tubing-conveyed tool used to restore the internal diameter (ID) of production tubing or casing where mechanical deformation, scale buildup, or minor wellbore… Read more →

Broadside array in applied geophysics refers to a sensor configuration in which the receiver array (geophones, hydrophones, or electromagnetic receivers) is oriented perpendicular to the direction of energy propagation… Read more →

Bromide brine in well completion and workover operations is a clear, solids-free, high-density aqueous solution formulated from water-soluble inorganic bromide salts, including sodium bromide (NaBr), calcium bromide… Read more →

Bromocresol green in drilling fluid analysis is a sulfonphthalein pH indicator dye that changes color from yellow at pH values below 3.8 through a blue-green transition zone near pH 4.6 to a definitive blue color above… Read more →

Brownfield in the petroleum industry refers to a mature producing oil or gas field where hydrocarbons have already been discovered, delineated, and produced under an initial development program, and where a second or… Read more →

Brute stack in seismic data processing is a preliminary, rapidly generated stacked seismic section produced in the early stages of data processing using approximate normal-moveout (NMO) velocities and minimal processing… Read more →

Bubble count in wellsite mud logging is the qualitative or semi-quantitative observation and recording of gas bubbles appearing in drilling fluid returns at the bell nipple, flow line, or shale shaker during drilling… Read more →

Bubble effect in pressure transient analysis is the anomalous inflection and slope change observed on the Horner semilog plot during a pressure buildup test conducted in an oil well that has been producing with a… Read more →

Bubble flow in multiphase wellbore hydraulics is the flow pattern that exists in a vertical or near-vertical production tubing string when gas is present in relatively small volumes as discrete, dispersed bubbles rising… Read more →

Bubble point in reservoir fluid PVT analysis is the thermodynamic state of a liquid-phase hydrocarbon mixture at which the first infinitesimally small bubble of gas forms when pressure is reduced isothermally at… Read more →

Bubblepoint in production engineering refers to the saturation pressure of the reservoir oil as it controls well inflow performance, artificial lift selection, and completion design for WCSB oil wells that are producing… Read more →

What Is a Bucking Coil? A bucking coil is an oppositely wound receiver coil in an induction logging tool. Its job is to cancel direct transmitter-to-receiver coupling so the tool can measure the much smaller signal… Read more →

What Is Bucking Current? Bucking current is the focusing current sent through guard electrodes in a laterolog or focused-resistivity tool. It keeps guard electrodes at about the same potential as the main survey… Read more →

What Is a Buffer? A buffer is a chemical system that resists pH change. In oilfield fluids, buffers keep drilling muds, frac fluids, acid systems, produced-water tests, and lab reagents inside the pH range where the… Read more →

What Is a Buffer Solution? A buffer solution is a water-based chemical standard or reagent made to hold pH near a chosen value. It usually contains a weak acid or weak base and its matching salt. Oilfield labs use… Read more →

What Is Buffered Mud? Buffered mud is drilling fluid formulated to resist rapid pH and alkalinity changes while drilling. It carries reserve chemistry from lime, caustic, bicarbonate, carbonate, clay surfaces, or other… Read more →