Technical Thesaurus oil & gas
Letter
E.I.S.
An environmental impact statement which is required by
many environ- mental authorities before a project can proceed.
Easting
The distance a craft makes good to the east. The
opposite is westing. In a cartesian reference system the value of one
coordinate, usually ex- pressed in metres used, measured from the central
meridian in east-west direction; e.g. in the UTM system.
EBCDIC
Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code. The
data format is used in the seismic industry for data acquisition and storage.
ECDIS
Electronic Chart Display and Information System.
Echo sounder
An acoustic water depth measurement instrument, hull
mounted or tracked to the hull of a vessel; raw data is corrected for water
velocity, ship draft and tidal variations, and often digitised for automated
bathymetric chart production. Recent development of multibeam or swathe
sounders are not in common use.
Echo sounding
Determination of the depth of water by measuring the
time interval between emission of a sonic or ultrasonic signal and return of
its echo from the bottom. Also called acoustic sounding. See echo sounder.
Economic
limit
The minimum rate to which the production of a well may
decline and still be profitable.
Economic
project
A project that appears likely to yield an acceptable
net income after paying all costs, royalties, taxes, etc.
Edge water
Water underlying and/or marginal to an oil or gas
reservoir.
Effective
permeability
A measure of the ability of a single fluid to flow
through a rock when the pore spaces of the rock are not completely filled or
saturated with fluid. Compare absolute permeability and relative permeability.
Effluent
Waste liquid, gas or vapour from processes.
Elastomer
The basic building block from which an elastic polymer
is made.
Elastomer
(synthetic)
An elastomer manufactured from petrochemicals.
Electric
logging
Technique, originally devised by the Schlumberger
brothers, in which electrical measurements are made and recorded to the
surface, while a series of electrodes or coils is caused to traverse a bore
hole. The resulting curves of response versus depth can be used for purposes of
geological correlation, for the recognition of some rock properties, and for
assessing the nature and amount of the fluids in the pores of the rock.
Electrical
drilling
A drilling method, used to a certain extent in the
former U.S.S.R., whereby the bit is rotated by a down-the-hole electric motor
attached to the drill pipe or hanging from a cable in the borehole.
Electrodynamic
brake
A device mounted on the end of the drawworks shaft of
a drilling rig. The electrodynamic brake (sometimes called a magnetic brake)
serves as an auxiliary to the mechanical brake when the pipe is lowered into a
well. The braking effect in the electrodynamic brake is achieved by means of an
interaction of electric currents with magnets, with other currents, or with
themselves.
Electromagnetic distance measurement (EDM)
Any process or technique of distance measurement which
depends on a comparison of signals by electromagnetic means.
Electronic
barrel
Phrase used by traders to describe crude oil or
products dealt in over the screen on a Futures or similar market. If the
contract is allowed to mature and require physical delivery it is described as
being 'wetted'
Electronic
chart
An integrated, interactive, navigation information
system, with which the user can display the hydrographic and positional
information that is required to conduct the safe navigation of his vessel. It
comprises hydrographic and cartographic data bases containing information
useful for navigation.
Element
A substance which cannot be broken down into a more
simple form.
Elevation
The vertical distance of a point or a level, on or
affixed to the surface of the Earth, measured from mean sea level. The term
elevation is sometimes used synonymously with altitude which in modern use
refers particularly to the distance of points of objects above the Earth's
surface. An area higher than its surroundings, as a hill.
Elevators
The clamps on the travelling block which are attached
to the drill pipe in order to raise or lower it.
Emulsion
An intimate mixture of two liquids which are not
miscible, e.g. oil and water.
Emulsoid
Colloidal particles which take up water.
Endothermic
process
A process accompanied by the absorption of heat.
Engineering
plastic resins
A class of petroleum-based materials which can be
moulded to form plastic artefacts or used as the basis of adhesives.
Enhanced oil
recovery
A process whereby oil is recovered other than by the
natural pressure in a reservoir. See secondary recovery, tertiary recovery.
Entrained oil
Oil occurring as part of a gas stream, but as a
relatively small percentage of total flow.
Environment
of deposition
The environment in which basin sediments were
originally deposited. The two principal environments are marine (under the sea)
and continental (inland from the sea). The paralic environment refers to the
marine borders. Glacial refers to sediments deposited by ice action in either a
marine or continental environment. Continental includes lacustrine (pertaining
to lakes) and deltaic (pertaining to river deltas) and fluviatile (pertaining
to rivers).
EPC
Name of commonly used analogue paper recorder.
EPIRB
Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon. An
emergency electronic signaling device that can be detected by a satellite and
over-flying aircraft.
Epoxide
resins
Resins used as the resin components of surface
coatings of various sorts. They are usually made by condensation of
epichlorohydrin with a polyvalent alcohol or phenol. Examples are the epikote
resins called epon in the
Equity
capital
Capital raised by issuing shares to investors.
Error
The difference between an observed or computed value
of a quantity and the ideal or true value of that quantity.
Error (gross)
The result of carelessness or a mistake; may be
detected through repetition of the measurement. Also called blunder.
Error
(standard)
The square root of the arithmetic mean of squared
deviations from the mean. Also called standard deviations, when the deviations
do not represent errors, or root mean square error.
Error
(systematic)
An error whose magnitude changes in proportion to
known changes in observational conditions. Also called regular error.
Escape
capsule:
A smaller completely enclosed vessel used as a
lifeboat for offshore structures.
Escape line
An inclined wireline running from a point above the
monkey or fourble board of the derrick down to a ground anchor.
Escarpment
A cliff or relatively steep slope that separates level
or gently sloping areas of land.
Ethane
The saturated hydrocarbon (alkane) with two carbon
atoms in its molecule (C2H6); the second member of the paraffin series -a gas
under normal conditions.
Ethanol
(ethyl alcohol)
A chemical produced by fermentation or synthesised
from ethane (C2H5OH); used as a raw material in a wide range of industrial and
chemical processes, e.g. the production of acetaldehyde (CH3CHO).
Ethene
(ethylene)
The simplest member of the alkene series, containing
two carbon atoms connected by a double (unsaturated) bond (C2H4); an important
raw material in the chemical and plastics industries.
Ethyl
(radical, group)
The organic radical (or group) formed by the removal
of a single hydrogen atom from ethane (C2H5).
Ethylthioethanol
One of a class of sulphur-containing compounds used
widely in the synthesis of pesticides.
Evaporation
Conversion of a liquid to vapour, without necessarily
reaching the boiling point.
Evening tour
The shift of duty on a drilling rig that starts in the
afternoon and runs through the evening. Compare daylight tour and graveyard
tour.
Events
Data is recorded during the inspection of a Structure
through Events. Each Event has it's own template through which data may be
recorded. Each template ensures that data is recorded quickly, accurately and
using a consistent terminology. There are 29 Events, which come preconfigured
with Inspection Manager Eventing Module. You may create your own customised
Events to supplement this. e.g. Some of the Events provided with Inspection
Manager Eventing Module are: Anode, Burial, CP Reading, Debris, Flooded Member,
Marine Growth, Weld and Concrete.
Exothermic
process
A process in which energy in the form of heat is
released.
Expansion
factor
The radio location, factor representing the degree to
which the hyperbolae belonging to a given group of hyperbolic lines of position
move apart as the distance from the base line increases.
Expansion
joint
A section of piping constructed in such a way as to
allow for expansion and contraction of the pipe connections without damaging
the joints. Specially fabricated accordion-like fittings are used as expansion
joints in certain in-plant hook-ups where there are severe temperature changes.
Expansion
loop
A circular loop (omega shaped) put in a pipeline to
absorb expansion and contraction caused by heating and cooling, without
exerting a strain on pipe or valve connections.
Exploitation
well
A well drilled to permit more effective extraction of
oil from a reservoir. It is sometimes called a development well. See
development well.
Exploration
drilling
Drilling carried out to determine whether hydrocarbons
are present in a particular area or structure.
Exploration
licence
A licence to explore for oil or gas in a particular
area issued to a company by the governing State.
Exploration phase
The phase of operations in which a company searches
for oil or gas by carrying out detailed geological and geophysical surveys
followed up where appropriate by exploratory drilling in the most promising
places.
Exploration
rig
A structure used to carry the equipment needed for
exploratory drilling. See jack-up drilling rig, semi-submersible rig and
drillship.
Exploration
well
See wildcat.
Explosion
A violent, uncontrolled release of pressure causing
noise and possibly accompanied by fire or evolution of gases.
Exposed
location single-buoy mooring (ELSBM)
A floating chamber anchored near a production platform
in order to serve as a flexible connection to a tanker taking on oil from the
platform; such a system has no storage capacity. Also known as a single-buoy
mooring (SBM) and single-point mooring (SPM).
Extender oil
An oil used to alter the physical characteristics of
synthetic rubber.
Extraction
The removal of a substance from a mixture by the use
of a selective solvent.
Extrapolation
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