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Oil Authority›Glossary›U›upstream

upstream — Oil & Gas Glossary

Pertaining to equipment, facilities or systems located in the wellbore or production train above the surface choke or Christmas tree.

In the News

Ghana Secures $3.5 Billion in Offshore Upstream Investment as Tullow Oil and Kosmos Energy Plan 20 New Jubilee and TEN Wells

OffshoreApr 20, 2026

BP CEO Meg O'Neill Unveils Upstream-Downstream Restructuring, Reversing 2020 Green Pivot Under Elliott Management Pressure

Exploration & ProductionApr 17, 2026

Canada's Oil Patch Records C$37.8 Billion M&A Wave in 2025 as Cenovus, Ovintiv and Whitecap Transform the Upstream Map

Mergers & AcquisitionsMar 30, 2026
← All “U” termsBrowse full glossary

Related Terms

U-tube effect

In a U-tube manometer, the height of one leg of fluid changed by altering the density of some of the fluid in the other

ULCC

Abbreviation for ultralarge crude carrier.

Udden-Wentworth scale

A grade scale for classifying the diameters of sediments. Particles larger than 64 mm in diameter are classified as cobb

Universal Transverse Mercator grid (UTM)

A worldwide grid system of rectangular map coordinates that uses metric (SI) units. A location is specified on the basis

Upper Kelly Cock

A valve installed above the kelly that can be closed manually to protect the rotary hose from high pressure in the drill

ultra heavy oil

(noun) Crude oil with an API gravity of less than 10 degrees and a viscosity typically exceeding 10,000 centipoise at re

ultra-long spaced electrical log

A conventional electrical log with very long electrode spacing. The ultralong-spaced electrical log (ULSEL) is a normal

ultrafine

Referring to any particle in the size range 2 to 44 microns.

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