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PPDM Glossary
The following set of terms and definitions
has been accumulated (informally) by the Association
over the years. It is offered as a convenience and is not meant to supercede
the Petroleum Industry Data Dictionary (PIDD).
There are several other industry related glossaries available:
Indexed Glossary List
Unindexed Glossary List
You can search for a term below by moving the mouse over the index letters and selecting a term from the pop-up window. You may also navigate to other other web recources related to the term by moving your mouse over the term.
[A]¾[B]¾[C]¾[D]¾[E]¾[F]¾[G]¾[H]¾[I]¾[J]¾[K]¾[L]¾[M]¾[N]¾[O]¾[P]¾[Q]¾[R]¾[S]¾[T]¾[U]¾[V]¾[W]¾[Z]¾| Abundance | The number of individuals or specimens of a particular species in a sample. |
| Abyssal | The bathymetric or paleobathymetric environment deeper than 2000 metres. |
| Acme | The highest abundance of a species, often used as a paleo top or paleo marker. Usually the maximum (peak) number of individuals, appearing at one stratigraphic level, as opposed to typical faunal increases of the species over its stratigraphic range. |
| Acme zone | The body of strata in which the maximum abundance of a particular species is found. |
| Acre | A measure of land equal to 160 square rods, or 4,840 square yards or 43, 560 square feet or 4047 hectares. |
| Acritarchs | Spherical microfossils with thick complex organic walls (fossil cysts) composed of spores or pollen, probably the resting stage of planktic algae. First appeared about 1600 Ma. Primarily used as biostratigraphic and paleoecologic markers in Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks. |
| Administrator | One appointed by the court to administer the estate of a decedent. His principal duties are to collect the properties of the estate, pay the debts of the decedent, and distribute the estate to the people entitled to it. An administrator is appointed if the decedent failed to appoint an executor in his will, or died without a will. The feminine form of administrator is administratrix. |
| AFE | Application for expenditure. |
| Agency | That relationship between principle and agent which arises out of a contract, either expressed or implied, written or oral, wherein an agent is employed and authorized by a principal or do certain acts on behalf of the latter in dealing with a third party |
| Air Drilling | is rotary drilling that uses compressed air instead of a circulating mud system. |
| Alias | Two or more names for the same stratigraphic unit. |
| Allochthonous assemblage | An assemblage that is out of place, representing a biofacies that has been transported (shelf community transported by turbidites into deep water). Can be derived either from reworking or a thanatocoenosis. |
| Alpha Testing | Data model testing undertaken by a PPDM work group to test the modeläs adherence to the business requirements developed, to prepare user documentation, to create a sample data set and to make recommendations for changes. |
| Amendment | Occurs when the crown changes a lease by withdrawing the rights to certain parts of the land, specific zones or substances. This is not the same as deep rights reversion, which does not occur until after the end of the primary term. An amendment can occur at any time. |
| Annual Rental | The monetary amount agreed upon for the right to use real estate and paid on a yearly basis |
| annulus | the space between the drill pipe and the well bore (during drilling operations), the casing and the wellbore (during production) or casing and one or more tubulars (during production) |
| Area | The common name used internally by an organization to describe the area governed by the contract. |
| Assemblage zone | A grouping of fossils that are found to occur together in a sample. Can be autochthonous or allochthonous. Generally used interchangeably with the term biofacies. Assemblage zones are usually environmentally controlled and are useful only in local correlation. In a given sample, such as one collected over a thirty-foot interval, several biofacies may be grouped together; the sample is identified by the oldest biofacies, a characteristic fossil or an index fossil. |