Oil & Gas Glossary 1.0

See propping agent

A granular substance (sand grains, aluminum pellets, or other material) that is carried in suspension by the fracturing fluid and that serves to keep the cracks open when fracturing fluid is withdrawn after a fracture treatment.

Material or chemical agent that enhances flocculation.

A material that causes water and oil to form an emulsion. Water normally occurs separately from oil; if, however, an emulsifying agent is present, the water becomes dispersed in the oil as tiny droplets. Or, rarely, the oil may be dispersed in the water. In either case, the emulsion must be treated to separate the water and the oil.

See emulsifying agent

See surfactant.

Any chemical that prevents of lessens frothing or foaming in another agent.

A chemical or combination of chemicals that, when added to a drilling mud, reduces its viscosity.

A synthetic high-molecular-weight polymer of acrylonitrile used primarily as a fluid loss control agent

A South American tree that is a source of tannin extract, which was extensively used as a thinning agent for drilling mud, but is seldom used today.

A moisture-absorbing chemical compound, or desiccant used to accelerate setting times in cement and as a drying agent.

A clay to which an agent has been added to increase its initial yield

Highly absorbent, gelatinous form of silica used chiefly as a dehumidifying and dehydrating agent.

A drilling technique that uses air or gas to which a foaming agent has been added.

A substance or composition that, when added to a liquid, increases the spreading of the liquid on a surface or the penetration of the liquid into a material.

Any of various materials, such as mica flakes or walnut hulls, that cure lost circulation. See lost circulation, lost circulation material.

A chemical used to lighten the water column in gas wells, in oilwells producing gas, and in drilling wells in which air or gas is used as the drilling fluid so that the water can be forced out with the air or gas to prevent its impeding the production or drilling rate.

A method of stimulating production by opening new flow channels in the rock surrounding a production well. Often call a frac job. Under extremely high hydraulic pressure, a fluid (such as distillate, diesel fuel, crude oil, dilute hydrochloric acid, water, or kerosene) is pumped downward through production tubing or drill pipe and forced out below a packer or between two packers. The pressure causes cracks to open in the formation, and the fluid penetrates the formation through the cracks. Sand grains, aluminum pellets, walnut shells, or similar materials (propping agents) are carried in suspension by the fluid into the cracks. When the pressure is released at the surface, the fracturing fluid returns to the well. The cracks partially close on the pellets, leaving channels for oil to flow around them to the well. See explosive fracturing, hydraulic fracturing.