Lexicon of Terms

Learn how to talk like an Oilman
417 Oil & Gas and related investment terms defined.

Independent producer — 1. A person or corporation that produces oil for the market, who has no pipeline system or refining. 2. An oil entrepreneur who secures financial backing and drills his own wells

Infill drilling — Wells drilled to fill in between established producing wells to increase production.

Injection well — A well employed for the introduction into an underground stratum of water, gas or other fluid under pressure. Injection well are employed for the disposal of salt water produced with oil or other waste. They are also use for a variety of other purposes: 1) Pressure maintenance, to introduce a fluid into a producing formation to maintain underground pressures which would otherwise be reduced by virtue of the production or oil or gas, 2)Secondary recovery operations, to introduce a fluid to decrease the viscosity of oil, reduce its surface tension, lighted its specific gravity, and drive oil into producing wells, resulting in greater production of oil.

Intangible drilling costs — Expenditures, deductible for federal income tax purposes, incurred by an operator for labor, fuel, repairs, hauling, and supplies used in drilling and completing a well for production.

Initial potential — Flow rate measured during the initial completion of a well in a specific reservoir (initial daily rate of production).

In situ — In its original place. Refers to methods of producing synfuels underground, such as underground gasification of a coal seam or heating oil shale underground to release its oil.

Investment Tax Credit (ITC) — A credit against income taxes, usually computed as a percent of the cost of investment in certain types of assets.

Isopachous map — A geological map showing the thickness and shape of underground formations. A tool used to determine underground oil and gas reservoirs.

Lexicon of Terms

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