Oil & Gas Glossary 1.0

A tank used in the field to receive crude oil as it comes from the well. Also called a flow tank or lease tank.

Oil as it exists at atmospheric conditions in a stock tank. Stock tank oil lacks much of the dissolved gas present at reservoir pressure and temperatures.

The mud tank adjacent to the shake shaker, usually the first tank in to which mud flows after returning from the hole. Also called a shaker pit.

A hole in the side of a tank through which a man can enter the tank, also the cleanout plate.

A small section of pipe in the top of a tank through which a tank may be gaged.

The person who measures a tank to determine the volume it holds at 1/4" intervals of height.

A tank or enclosure filled with hay-like materials used to filter oil out of water.

A lease storage tank to which produced oil is run.

2. a large pipe connected to a process tank to provide a statis head that can absorb surges of fluid from the process tank.

A wall of earth built around an oil tank to hold the oil if the tank breaks or burns.

A small mud tank with a capacity of 10 to 15 barrels, usually with 1-barrel or H-barrel divisions, used to ascertain the amount of mud necessary to keep the wellbore full with the exact amount of mud that is displaced by drill pipe. When the bit comes out of the hole, a volume of mud equal to that which the drill pipe occupied while in the hole must be pumped into the hole to replace the pipe. When the bit goes back in the hole, the drill pipe displaces a certain amount of mud, and a trip tank can be used again to keep track of this volume.

The mud tank from which mud is picked up by the suction of the mud pumps. Also called a suction pit.

Process of separating, or breaking down, an emulsion into oil and water in a vessel or tank on a continuous basis (i.e., no interruption of flow of emulsion into the tank or vessel). Compare batch treating.

Also called a suction tank, sump pit, or mud suction pit. See suction tank.

See shaker tank

An opening into a tank, usually through the top deck.

The narrow walkway on top of a tank battery.

A kind of tank of filter used to separate oil and water.

A definite amount of oil, mud, acid, or other liquid in a tank or pipe.

To make repairs or modifications on a tank, pipeline, or installation without shutting down operations.

A group of production tanks located in a field to store crude oil.

2. a device fitted to the gauging hatch on a pressure tank that enables manual dipping and sampling without loss of vapor.

A pipe through which pressure is bled, as from a pressurized tank, vessel, or other pipe.

The flow lines which run from several wells to a single tank battery.

The process by which a single quantity of crude oil emulsion is broken into oil and water. The emulsion is gathered and stored in a tank or container prior to treating.

1. to assemble and join parts to form a complete unit (e.g., to make up a string of casing). 2. to screw together two threaded pieces. 3. to mix or prepare (e.g., to make up a tank of mud). 4. to compensate for (e.g., to make up for lost time).

1. an installation of identical or nearly identical pieces of equipment (such as a tank battery or a battery of meters).

See shaker tank

The force that a fluid (liquid or gas) exerts uniformly in all directions within a vessel, pipe, hole in the ground, and so forth, such as that exerted against the inner wall of a tank or that exerted on the bottom of the wellbore by a fluid. Pressure is expressed in terms of force exerted per unit of area, as pounds per square inch, or in kilopascals.

A device that prevents leakage along a piston, rod, propeller shaft, or other moving part that passes through a hole in a cylinder or vessel. It consists of a box or chamber made by enlarging the hole and a gland containing compressed packing. On a well being artificially lifted by means of a sucker rod pump, the polished rod operates through a stuffing box, preventing escape of oil and diverting it into a side outlet to which is connected the flow line leading to the oil and gas separator or to the field storage tank. For a bottomhole pressure test, the wireline goes through a stuffing box and lubricator, allowing the gauge to be raised and lowered against well pressure. The lubricator provides a pressure-tight grease seal in the stuffing box.