| tie-down |
a device to which a guy wire or
brace may be attached, such as the anchoring device for the deadline of a hoisting-block
arrangement. |
| tighten up |
to add oil to a system, which
causes the oil to break out and rise to the surface. |
| tight
formation |
a petroleum- or water-bearing
formation of relatively low porosity and permeability. |
| titration |
a chemical analysis process where
drops of a standard solution are added to another solution or substance to obtain a
response: color change, precipitation, or conductivity change, for measurement and
evaluation. |
| tongs |
the large wrenches used to make up
or break out drill pipe, casing, tubing, or other pipe; variously called casing tongs,
pipe tongs, and so forth, according to the specific use. Power tongs are
pneumatically or hydraulically operated tools that serve to spin the pipe up tight and, in
some instances, to apply the final makeup torque. |
| tool hand |
the tool man; a packer hand; a
service company hand. |
| toolhouse |
a building for storing tools |
| tool joint |
a heavy coupling element for drill
pipe. It is made of special ahoy steel and has coarse, tapered threads and seating
shoulders designed to sustain the weight of the drill stem, withstand the strain of
frequent coupling and uncoupling, and provide a leakproof seal. The male section of
the joint, or the pin, is attached to one end of a length of drill pipe, and the female
section, or box, is attached to the other end. The tool joint may be welded to the
end of the pipe, screwed on, or both. A hard-metal facing is often applied in a band
around the outside of the tool joint to enable it to resist abrasion from the walls of the
borehole. |
| toolpusher |
an employee of a drilling
contractor who is in charge of the entire drilling crew and the drilling rig. Also
called a drilling foreman,, rig manager, rig superintendent, or rig supervisor. |
| top drill |
a drillable tool configuration
allowing the opening of formation pressure, during drillout, prior to cutting through the
tools slips. |
| top off |
to fill a wellbore up to the
surface. |
| top sub |
a component of a packer to which
the tubing is connected. |
| torque |
the turning force that is applied
to a shaft or other rotary mechanism to cause it to rotate or tend to do so. Torque
is measured in units of length and force (footpounds, newton-meters). |
| torque
converter |
a hydraulic device connected
between an engine and a mechanical load such as a compound. Torque converters are
characterized by an ability to increase output torque as the load causes a reduction in
speed. Torque converters are used on mechanical rigs that have compounds. |
| total
depth (TD) |
the maximum depth reached in a
well. |
| tour
(pronounced "tower") |
a working shift for drilling crew
or other oilfield workers. The most common tour is 8 hours; the three daily tours
are called daylight, evening (or afternoon), and graveyard (or morning). Sometimes
12-hour tours are used, especially on offshore rigs; they are called simply day tour and
night tour. |
| transfer |
to lower pipe or tubing onto a
downhole tool, transferring all or part of the hook load. |
| traveling
block |
an arrangement of pulleys, or
sheaves, through which drilling line is reeved and which moves up and down in the derrick
or mast. See block. |
| traveling
valve |
one of the two valves in a sucker
rod pumping system. It moves with the movement of the sucker rod string. On
the upstroke, the ball member of the valve is seated, supporting the fluid load. On
the downstroke, the ball is unseated, allowing fluid to enter into the production column.
Compare standing valve. |
| treater |
a vessel in which oil is treated
for the removal of S&W or other objectionable substances by the addition of chemicals,
heat, electricity, or all three. |
| tree |
the wellhead. |
| tree
saver tool |
a tubular device employed as an
isolation tool inside the Christmas tree, to increase the tree's pressure rating during
stimulation. |
| trip |
the operation of hoisting the
drill stem from and returning it to the wellbore. v: shortened form of "make a
trip." |
| trip gas |
gas that enters the wellbore when
the mud pump is shut down and pipe is being pulled from the wellbore. The gas may
enter because of the reduction in bottomhole pressure when the pump is shut down, because
of swabbing, or because of both. |
| triplex
pump |
a reciprocating pump with three
pistons or plungers |
| trip margin |
the small amount of additional mud
weight carried over that needed to balance formation pressure to overcome the
pressure-reduction effects caused by swabbing when a trip out of the hole is made. |
| tripping |
the operation of hoisting the
drill stem out of and returning it to the wellbore. See make a trip. |
| trip tank |
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. |
| truck-mounted
rig |
a well-servicing and workover rig
that is mounted on a truck chassis. |
| tubing |
relatively small-diameter pipe
that is run into a well to serve as a conduit for the passage of oil and gas to the
surface. |
| tubing
anchor |
a device that holds the lower end
of a tubing string in place by means of slips, used to prevent tubing movement when no
packer is present. |
| tubing
elevators |
a damping apparatus used to pull
tubing. The elevators latch onto the pipe just below the top collar. The
elevators are attached to the hook by steel links or bails. |
| tubing
hanger |
an arrangement of slips and
packing rings used to suspend tubing from a tubing head. |
| tubing head |
a flanged fitting that supports
the tubing string, seals off pressure between the casing and the outside of the tubing,
and provides a connection that supports the Christmas tree. |
| tubing job |
the act of pulling tubing out of
and running it back into a well. |
| tubingless
completion |
a method of producing a well in
which only production casing is set through the pay zone, with no tubing or inner
production string used to bring formation fluids to the surface. This type of
completion has its best application in low-pressure, dry-gas reservoirs. |
| tubing pump |
a sucker rod pump in which the
barrel is attached to the tubing. See sucker
rod pump. |
| tubing
slips |
slips designed specifically to be
used with tubing. |
| tubing
spider |
a device used with slips to
prevent tubing from falling into the hole when a joint of pipe is being unscrewed and
racked. |
| tubing
tester |
a mechanically operated (tubing
rotation) valve u used to shut off formation pressure above a packer, thus testing all
connections form the packer to the tree. |
| tubing
tongs |
large wrenches used to break out
and make up tubing. They may be operated manually, hydraulically, or pneumatically. |
| tubular
goods |
any kind of pipe. Oilfield tubular
goods include tubing, casing, drill pipe, and line pipe. Also called tubulars. |
| tubulars |
shortened form of tubular goods. |
| tungsten
carbide |
a fine, very hard, gray
crystalline powder, a compound of tungsten and carbon. This compound is bonded with
cobalt or nickel in cemented carbide compositions and used for cutting tools, abrasives,
and dies. |
| turbodrill |
a downhole motor that rotates a
bit by the action of the drilling mud on turbine blades b built into the tool. When
a turbodrill is used, rotary motion is imparted only at the bit; therefore, it is
unnecessary to rotate the drill stem. Although straight holes can be drilled with
the tool, it is used most often in directional drilling. |
| turbulent
flow |
the erratic, nonlinear flow of a
fluid, caused by high velocity. Characterized by random eddying flow patterns
superimposed on the general flow progressing in a given direction. |
| turnkey
contract |
a drilling contract that calls for
the payment of a stipulated amount to the drilling contractor on completion of the well.
In a turnkey contract, the contractor furnishes all material and labor and controls
the entire drilling operation, independent of operator supervision. A turnkey
contract does not, as a rule, include the completion of a well as a producer. |
| twistoff |
a complete break in pipe caused by
metal fatigue. v: to break something in two or to break apart, such as the head of a
bolt or the drill stem. |
