Oil and Gas Terms Beginning with “F” — Page 3

The volume of mudfiltrate measured after 30 minutes in API static filtration tests. The volume and cake thickness are the two data points in the test. Read more →

The process of separating components of a slurry by leaving the suspended solids as filter cake on a filter medium while the liquid passes through. The process can be either static or dynamic. Read more →

The final flow period in pressure transient well testing refers to the last production period immediately preceding a pressure buildup measurement — specifically, the flow interval during which the well produces at a… Read more →

The production rate just prior to shut-in for a buildup test. Read more →

The pressure determined at the formation face just prior to shut-in for a buildup test. This value is required to determine the skin effect. Read more →

The final shut-in period (FSIP) in well test analysis is the last production shut-in phase of a pressure transient test sequence — during which the wellbore is closed and the pressure is allowed to build up from the… Read more →

A particle size term referring in the strict sense (API Bulletin 13C) to any particle in the size range 44 to 74 microns. More generally it is used to indicate any particle not removed by the shaker screens. Read more →

In a broad sense, very small particles, either in a mud or a mud additive sample. Read more →

What Is Fines Migration? Fines migration is a formation damage mechanism in which small particles — clay minerals, silica fragments, calcite crystals, and other fine-grained solids — detach from pore walls and migrate… Read more →

A fingerboard (also called a pipe rack or setback board) is a structural component of a drilling rig's mast or derrick, positioned at the level of the monkey board (the elevated work platform where the derrickman… Read more →

Fingering in reservoir engineering and enhanced oil recovery describes the unstable, channeling flow pattern that develops when a displacing fluid (water, gas, or solvent) advances through a reservoir in narrow… Read more →

What Is a Finite Conductivity Fracture? A finite conductivity fracture is a hydraulic fracture in which the resistance to fluid flow within the fracture itself is significant compared to the resistance to flow from the… Read more →

The solution to the diffusion equation that results when the well (inner) boundary condition is treated as a cylinder of finite radius instead of treating the well as a line source. Read more →

What Is Fire Flooding? Fire flooding (also called in-situ combustion, ISC, or fire drive) is a thermal enhanced oil recovery method in which air or oxygen is injected into a heavy oil reservoir and combustion is ignited… Read more →

Fireflooding (also called in-situ combustion or ISC) is a thermal enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method in which a flame front is generated within the reservoir by igniting the oil at the sandface of an injection well and… Read more →

A firing head is the mechanical or electronic device used to detonate perforating charges in tubing-conveyed perforating (TCP), drillpipe-conveyed perforating, coiled-tubing-conveyed perforating, or slickline-conveyed… Read more →

First break in seismic data processing refers to the first arrival of seismic energy at a geophone or hydrophone receiver after the seismic source fires, representing the earliest wave to travel from the source to the… Read more →

First reading in wireline logging operations refers to the shallowest depth (closest to surface) at which a specific logging tool begins recording usable formation data as it is pulled upward through the wellbore from… Read more →

What Is First-Contact Miscibility? First-contact miscibility (also called FCM or first-contact-miscible displacement) is a condition in gas injection enhanced oil recovery in which the injected gas achieves immediate,… Read more →

A fish in oilfield drilling and well intervention operations is any object that has been unintentionally left in the wellbore and must be retrieved before drilling can continue or the well can be completed — the term… Read more →

Fish eye is a slang term used in drilling fluid engineering to describe a globule of partly hydrated polymer that forms during the polymer mixing process when the polymer addition is performed too rapidly to allow… Read more →

What Are Fishbone Wells? Fishbone wells (also called fishbone multilaterals or branched wellbores) are a horizontal well completion pattern in which multiple short lateral branches are drilled at angles from a main… Read more →

What Is Fishing in Wellbore Operations? Fishing encompasses the engineering design and field execution of a downhole intervention to retrieve, mill, or bypass a lost, stuck, or dropped object in the wellbore , using… Read more →

(noun) A cylindrical fishing tool run on the end of a drillstring or wireline to engage and retrieve small lost objects or debris from the wellbore. The bell-shaped catching mechanism is lowered over the fish and uses… Read more →

A fishing diagram is a detailed engineering drawing prepared before any fishing operation (the process of retrieving lost, stuck, or broken equipment from a wellbore) that records the major outside diameter profiles,… Read more →

A fishing neck is a machined section at the top of a downhole tool or equipment component that is specifically designed to be engaged by wireline or workover fishing tools (overshots, spears, grapples, or impression… Read more →

What Is a Fishing Tool? A fishing tool is a specialized downhole device run on drillpipe or wireline to locate, grip, and retrieve equipment that becomes lost or stuck inside a wellbore. Operators deploy fishing tools… Read more →

(noun) A mathematical or statistical model whose parameters have been calibrated to match observed data from a reservoir, well test, or production history. Fitted models are used in reservoir simulation, decline curve… Read more →

A variogram or semivariogram is said to have been fitted after the best possible model has been applied to it. Read more →

What Is a Five-Spot? Five-spot (also called a five-spot pattern or regular five-spot) is the most widely used well pattern in secondary recovery waterflooding, consisting of one injection well placed at the center of a… Read more →