Appraisal Drilling: Drilling carried out following the discovery of a new field to determine the physical extent, amount of reserves and likely production rate of the field.
Aromatics: Hydrocarbons that have at least one benzene ring as part of their structure. Aromatics include benzene, toluene and xylenes.
Barrels of Oil Equivalent (BOE): A term used to quantify oil and natural gas amounts using the same measurement. Gas volumes are converted to barrels on the basis of energy content – 6,000 cubic feet of gas equals one barrel of oil.
Coke: A solid carbon product produced by thermal cracking.
Coker: A refinery unit that processes heavy residual material into solid carbon (coke) and lighter hydrocarbon materials through thermal cracking. The light materials are suitable as feedstocks to other refinery units for conversion into higher value transportation fuels.
Commercial Field: An oil or natural gas field that, under existing economic and operating conditions, is judged to be capable of generating enough revenues to exceed the costs of development.
Condensate: Light liquid hydrocarbons. As they exist in nature, condensates are produced in natural gas mixtures and separated from the gases by absorption, refrigeration and other extraction processes.
Cost-Advantaged Crude: Lower quality crude oil that is price advantaged in the market due to the limited amount of complex refining capacity available to run it. Typically used to describe crude oils that are dense, high in sulfur content or highly acidic.
Cyclohexane: The cyclic form of hexane used as a raw material to manufacture nylon.
Deepwater: Water depth of at least 1,000 feet.
Directional Drilling: A technique whereby a well deviates from vertical in order to reach a particular part of a reservoir or to safely drill around well bores in highly congested areas.
Distillates: The middle range of petroleum liquids produced during the processing of crude oil. Products include diesel fuel, heating oil and kerosene.
Downstream: Refining, marketing and transportation operations.
Ethylene: Basic chemical used to manufacture plastics (such as polyethylene), antifreeze and synthetic fibers.
Exploitation: Focused, integrated effort to extend the economic life, production and reserves of an existing field.
Feedstock: Crude oil, natural gas liquids, natural gas or other materials used as raw ingredients for making gasoline, other refined products or chemicals.
Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) Vessel: A floating facility for production, storage and offloading of oil. Oil and associated gas from a subsea reservoir are separated on deck, and the oil is stored in tanks in the vessel’s hull. This crude oil is then offloaded onto shuttle tankers to be delivered to nearby land-based oil refineries, or offloaded into large crude oil tankers for export to world markets. The gas is exported by pipeline or reinjected back into the reservoir.
Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCC): A refinery unit that cracks large hydrocarbon molecules into lighter, more valuable products such as gasoline components, propanes, butanes and pentanes, using a powdered catalyst that is maintained in a fluid state by use of hydrocarbon vapor, inert gas or steam.
Gas-to-Liquids (GTL): A process that converts natural gas to clean liquid fuels.
Hydrocarbons: Organic chemical compounds of hydrogen and carbon atoms that form the basis of all petroleum products.
Improved Recovery: Technology for increasing or prolonging the productivity of oil and gas fields. This is a special field of activity and research in the oil and gas industry.
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG): Gas, mainly methane, that has been liquefied in a refrigeration and pressure process to facilitate storage or transportation.
Liquids: An aggregate of crude oil and natural gas liquids; also known as hydrocarbon liquids.
Margins: Difference between sales prices and feedstock costs, or in some instances, the difference between sales prices and feedstock and manufacturing costs.
Midstream: Natural gas gathering, processing and marketing operations.
Natural Gas Liquids (NGL): A mixed stream of ethane, propane, butanes and pentanes that is split into individual components. These components are used as feedstocks for refineries and chemical plants.
Olefins: Basic chemicals made from oil or natural gas liquids feedstocks; commonly used to manufacture plastics and gasoline. Examples are ethylene and propylene.
Paraxylene: An aromatic compound used to make polyester fibers and plastic soft drink bottles.
Polyethylene: Plastic made from ethylene used in manufacturing products including trash bags, milk jugs, bottles and pipe.
Polypropylene: Basic plastic derived from propylene used in manufacturing products including fibers, films and automotive parts.
Reservoir: A porous, permeable sedimentary rock formation containing oil and/or natural gas, enclosed or surrounded by layers of less permeable or impervious rock.
Return on Capital Employed (ROCE): A ratio of income from continuing operations, adjusted for after-tax interest expense and minority interest, to the yearly average of total debt, minority interest and stockholders’ equity.
Styrene: A liquid hydrocarbon used in making various plastics by polymerization or copolymerization.
Syncrude: Synthetic crude oil derived by upgrading bitumen extractions from mine deposits of oil sands.
Tallow: Animal byproduct fat recovered during food processing; can be used as feedstock to produce biodiesel.
Throughput: The average amount of raw material that is processed in a given period by a facility, such as a natural gas processing plant, an oil refinery or a petrochemical plant.
Total Recordable Rate: A metric for evaluating safety performance calculated by multiplying the total number of recordable cases by 200,000 then dividing by the total number of work hours.
Upstream: Oil and natural gas exploration and production, as well as gas gathering activities.
Vacuum Unit: A more sophisticated crude unit operating under a vacuum, which further fractionates gas oil and heavy residual material.
Wildcat Drilling: Exploratory drilling performed in an unproven area, far from producing wells.