Oil and Gas Terms Beginning with “M” — Page 8

A device for measuring the diameter of the internal wall of a casing or tubing using multiple arms. By using a large number of arms, or fingers, the caliper can detect small changes in the wall of the pipe. The main… Read more →

What Is a Multilateral Well? A multilateral well is a well configuration in which multiple lateral wellbore branches radiate from a single main wellbore, all tied back to the same wellhead and surface production… Read more →

A technique for interpreting the results from a spinner flowmeter using several logging runs of the flowmeter over the zone of interest at different speeds, both up and down. Spinner speed is a nearly linear function of… Read more →

Referring to a fluid with several different immiscible fluids (oil, water or gas). Read more →

What Is Multiphase Flow in Oil and Gas? Multiphase flow is the simultaneous flow of two or more fluid phases — oil, water, and gas — through a pipe, wellbore, or porous medium. In oil and gas production, multiphase flow… Read more →

A fluid, generally a liquid, comprising more than one phase, such as water- or oil-based liquids, solid material or gas. Multiphase fluids and their behavior are of concern in two main areas, the flow of multiphase… Read more →

The commingled flow of different phase fluids, such as water, oil and gas. Multiphasefluid flow is a complex factor, important in understanding and optimizing production hydraulics in both oil and gas wells. Four… Read more →

A record of the fractions of different fluids present at different depths in the borehole. In single-phase flow, the holdup is unity and has no meaning, so that any holdup log is, by definition, a multiphase holdup log. Read more →

A device that can register individual fluid flow rates of oil and gas when more than one fluid is flowing through a pipeline. A multiphase meter provides accurate readings even when different flow regimes are present in… Read more →

A pump that can handle the complete production from a well (oil, natural gas, water and sand, for example) without needing to separate or process the production stream near or at the wellhead. This reduces the cost… Read more →

A single wellbore having tubulars and equipment that enable production from two or more reservoir zones. In most cases, at least two tubing strings will be used to provide the necessary level of control and safety for… Read more →

Multiply reflected seismic energy, or any event in seismic data that has incurred more than one reflection in its travel path. Depending on their time delay from the primary events with which they are associated,… Read more →

Regression techniques that find relationships between two or more variables that have a complex (nonlinear) relationship. Porosity and permeability relationships are often of this form in rocks that have multiple… Read more →

A technique used for the determination of the electrical properties of a shalycore sample. The sample is flushed with brines of different salinities, and the conductivity determined after each flush. A plot of the… Read more →

A contract between a host country and an operator that specifies the services and costs of services that the operator must use in the development of a concession. Read more →

A dynamic fluid-mixing process in which an injected gas exchanges components with in situ oil until the phases achieve a state of miscibility within the mixing zone of the flood front. In a vaporizing drive, light and… Read more →

A record of the quantity of different radioactive isotopes near the borehole. The technique used is the same as for natural gamma ray spectroscopy, but measures the quantities of various short half-life radioactive… Read more →

The technique used to produce a multiple-isotope log. Read more →

Tests conducted at a series of different flow rates for the purpose of determining well deliverability, typically in gas wells where non-Darcy flow near the well results in a rate-dependent skin effect. Multiple-rate… Read more →

A technique for determining the deviation of a wellbore. The multishot tool provides more accuracy than the single-shot tool and is usually used in highly deviated wells. Read more →

To remove the contribution of selected seismic traces in a stack to minimize air waves, ground roll and other early-arriving noise. Low-frequency traces and long-offset traces are typical targets for muting. Read more →

A chemical additive for stimulation treatments that is soluble in oil, water and acid-based treatment fluids. Mutual solvents are routinely used in a range of applications, such as removing heavy hydrocarbon deposits,… Read more →

The common name for the small shrimp species Mysidopsis bahia, which is used as the test organism in a US EPA bioassay test protocol. Read more →