A Newcomer's Guide to Oil and Gas: The Upstream Zoo
Drilling rigs are sophisticated machines – so sophisticated that some of them can even "walk." Nevertheless, some components of these advanced devices that can access hydrocarbons thousands of feet below the earth's surface are described in a decidedly "low-tech" fashion. Consider the abundance of "animal" terms below in this installment of "A Newcomer's Guide to Oil and Gas."
What Is a Doghouse?
In oil and gas parlance, the doghouse is not an enclosure where Spot, Fido or Rover takes a nap or where husbands spend the night when they screw up. Instead, it's a small building located on a rig floor that serves as the driller's "office" or a storehouse for small objects. It can also house the driller's controls on a modern, semi-automated rig. This page on the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) website features a small photo of a doghouse.
What Is a Catwalk?
In this context, a catwalk is not a raised platform on which fashion models parade the latest – and sometimes bizarre – styles from Paris, Milan and New York. Rather, it is a horizontal ramp at right angles to a drilling rig's Vee-door (remember that term?) used as a staging area for tubulars or drilling tools to be raised to or lowered from the derrick floor with the cathead and catline. The cathead, part of the drawworks, resembles a capstan and a catline is a rope that wraps around the rotating cathead. OSHA's website shows a photo of a catwalk.
What Is a Monkey Board?
A monkey board is an elevated platform on a drilling rig where a crew member called a derrickman works while running the drillstring – a string of drill pipe – into the borehole or pulling it out.
What Is a Muleshoe?
A muleshoe is an open-ended section of pipe run at the bottom of the drillstring or tubing used to circulate or cement the hole. It resembles a horseshoe or muleshoe when cut at an angle.
What Is a Pony Joint?
Also known as a pup joint, a pony joint is a short joint of drill pipe, drill collar, casing or tubing used to adjust the length of the drill string.
What Is a Rabbit?
A rabbit is a steel gauge made with a high degree of accuracy that is run through casing or tubing to confirm or check the minimum bore.
What Is a Nodding Donkey?
Deviating from drilling terminology and moving into production, a nodding donkey is a pump jack that raises and lowers the pump rods in a low-pressure oil well. Nodding donkeys are arguably the most familiar pieces of oilfield equipment in the eyes of people outside the oil and gas industry. The end of the pump jack beam on a nodding donkey is called the horsehead.
(Special thanks go out to intrepid Rigzone subscriber and retired BP drilling pro Jim Jenner, who suggested a discussion of "animal" terms and provided detailed descriptions of each.)
WE NEED YOU! Please submit your simple, easily answerable oil and gas technical questions to Rigzone Senior Editor Matthew Veazey at mveazey@rigzone.com.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.
- ExxonMobil Racks Up Discoveries in Guyana Block Eyed by Chevron
- Oil Market Sentiment Has Improved Significantly
- EU, US Eye Collaboration on Nuclear Materials
- EU Electricity Export to Ukraine Up 94 Percent in Two Years
- China Coal Output Falls for First Time since Government Ordered More
- USA Driving Activity to Increase to All-Time Highs
- BP Pulse Buys One of Europe's Largest Truck Stops
- UK CCUS Plans Outdated: Think Tank
- TC Energy to Sell Prince Rupert Gas Pipeline Project to First Nation
- I Squared Eyes Full Ownership of Europe Gas Storage Firm
- Norway Regulator Blasts Proposal to Halt New Oil and Gas Permits
- Chinese Mega Company Makes Major Oilfield Discovery
- EIA Drops 2024 Henry Hub Gas Price Forecast
- EIA and Standard Chartered Offer Up Latest Oil Price Predictions
- Red Sea Region Sees Another Watershed Incident
- Chevron Oil Project in Kazakhstan to Cost $48.5B
- OPEC Voices Encouragement after IEA Affirms Support for Oil Security
- Biden Govt Bares Strategy for Freight Charging, Hydrogen Fueling Infra
- Ukraine Hits Third Russian Refinery In Escalating Drone Strikes
- Rystad Looks at the Buzz Around White Hydrogen
- VIDEO: Missile Attack Kills Crew Transiting Gulf of Aden
- Norway Regulator Blasts Proposal to Halt New Oil and Gas Permits
- Chinese Mega Company Makes Major Oilfield Discovery
- What Is the Biggest Risk to Offshore Oil and Gas Personnel in 2024?
- Is Peak Oil Demand Close?
- Vessel Sinks in Red Sea After Missile Strike
- JP Morgan, Standard Chartered Reveal Latest Oil Price Forecasts
- Exxon Rights in Stabroek Do Not Apply to Hess Merger with Chevron: Hess
- Rystad Forecasts Net Production of Top Permian Producers in 2024
- Analysts Reveal Latest Oil Price Outlook Following OPEC+ Cut Extension