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Oil, Gas & Mining vocabulary · Drilling & Wells

Blowout

Meaning in oil, gas & mining, with examples

/ˈbloʊaʊt/nounCore term

In oil, gas & mining, blowout means: An uncontrolled release of oil, gas or water from a well after the pressure control systems fail. It can cause fires, deaths and serious pollution.

In Turkish: kuyu patlaması, kontrolsüz akış, erüpsiyon

How it is used

The worst event in well operations, so well control training is built around preventing it. A kick that is not controlled can turn into a blowout. People talk about a well blowout, blowout risk and blowout prevention.

Example sentences

  1. The Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 killed eleven workers.

  2. Good kick detection is our first line of defence against a blowout.

Common collocations

  • well blowout
  • blowout preventer (BOP)
  • prevent a blowout
  • blowout risk
  • kickAn unwanted flow of gas, oil or water from the rock into the well, which happens when the formation pressure is higher than the pressure of the mud column.
  • blowout preventer (BOP)A large stack of heavy valves fitted on top of a well that can be closed quickly to seal the well and stop oil or gas escaping during drilling.
  • drilling mudA specially mixed fluid pumped down the drill pipe and back up the hole to cool the bit, carry rock cuttings to the surface and control well pressure.
  • oil spillAn accidental release of crude oil or oil products into the sea, rivers or onto land, for example from a tanker, pipeline or well.

More terms: Drilling & Wells

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