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Natural Gas Glossary
Natural Gas volume abbreviations:
- Mcf: one thousand cubic feet of natural gas
- Mmcf: one million cubic feet of natural gas
- Bcf: one billion cubic feet of natural gas
- Tcf: one trillion cubic feet of natural gas
- Mmcf/d: millions of cubic feet of gas per day
BTU: British Thermal Unit; the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one Fahrenheit degree.
Completion: The procedure by which a well is readied for production after drilling is completed.
Compressor station: Stations located along natural gas pipelines which recompress gas to obtain a desired flow.
Conventional Resource: Natural gas resource accumulations created when gas is trapped in a discrete area by hydrodynamic processes. Conventional resources are typically extracted through vertical wells.
Cubic foot: The amount of natural gas required at room temperature at sea level to fill a volume of one cubic foot.
Drilling Rig: A steel structure used to drill the wellbore.
Directional drilling: A technique that enables drilling at an angle to reach a particular underground formation.
Drilling permit: Authorization from a regulatory agency to drill a well.
Drillbit: A tool used to crush or break rock to enable underground drilling.
Flaring: The controlled and safe burning of gas which cannot be used for commercial or technical reasons.
Fracturing or fraccing: The pumping of crude oil, diesel, water or chemicals into a reservoir with such force that the reservoir rock is cracked and results in greater flow of oil or gas from the reservoir.
Gas processing plant: A facility which extracts liquefiable hydrocarbons or sulfur from natural gas and/or fractionates a liquid stream.
Gathering: The process of collecting natural gas flowing from numerous wells and bringing it together so it can be put into larger transmission lines and sold.
Gathering lines: Pipelines that move natural gas or petroleum from wells to processing or transmission facilities.
Horizontal drilling: An advanced form of directional drilling in which the lateral hole is drilled horizontally.
Landman: The individual in an oil and gas company who negotiates and secures leases
LDC: Local Distribution Company; A company engaged primarily in the retail sale and delivery of natural gas through pipelines to end users.
Lease: An agreement in which a property owner allows another person to exploit any oil or gas deposits on the land for a certain period of time in exchange for a payment and/or royalty interest.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG): Natural gas that has been cooled into a liquid state so that it takes up only 1/600 of the volume of natural gas, often for transport purposes.
Mineral interest: An ownership of the minerals beneath a tract of land, including oil and natural gas.
Natural gas: a gaseous, combustible mixture of hydrocarbons, primarily methane (CH4) but also including ethane (C2H6), Propane (C3H8), Butane (C4H10) and Pentane (C5H12)
Natural gas liquids (NGL ): A general term for liquid hydrocarbons separated from natural gas in a gas processing plant. These include propane, butane, ethane and pentane.
Operator: The party responsible for exploration, development or production projects.
Pipeline: A system of pipes providing a route for natural gas to travel from the wellhead to market.
Plug: A permanent plug, usually cement, set in a borehole to block the flow of fluids, to isolate sections of the well or to permanently plug a dry hole or depleted well.
Porosity: The percentage of open space within a rock that can contain fluids (such as natural gas).
Processing: The separation of oil, gas and natural gas liquids and the removal of impurities.
Proved Reserves: The quantity of oil and natural gas estimated to be recoverable from known fields under existing economic and operating conditions. This is determined on the basis of drilling results, production and historical trends.
Reservoir: Porous, permeable rock containing oil and natural gas; enclosed or surrounded by layers of less permeable or impervious rock.
Royalty: The share of production or proceeds reserved to a mineral owner under the terms of a mineral lease.
Seismic: A tool for identifying underground accumulations of oil or natural gas by sending and measuring the return of energy or sound waves. It is a computer-assisted process that maps sedimentary structures to assist in planning drilling programs.
Shales: Gas reserves found in unusually nonporous shale formations, requiring special drilling and completion techniques.
Shut In Well: A well which is producing or capable of producing but is not produced. Reasons for wells being shut in may be lack of pipeline access to market or economically unfavorable market prices.
Spacing: The distance between wells in a drilling program. Spacing is based on what is deemed to be the amount of acreage that can be efficiently and economically drained by a well and on local regulations.
Spud: The commencement of drilling operations.
Wellhead: The control equipment fitted to the top of the well, consisting of outlets, valves, blowout-prevention equipment, etc.
Working Interest: An ownership share in an oil and gas well that bears the cost of development and production.
Unconventional Resource: A regional, diffuse accumulation of natural gas without an obvious geological seal or trap. Unconventional resources are typically found in shales, tight sands, and coal-bed formations and are typically extracted through horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. |
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