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Oil, Gas & Mining vocabulary · Drilling & Wells

blowout preventer (BOP)

Meaning in oil, gas & mining, with examples

nounCore term

In oil, gas & mining, blowout preventer (BOP) means: 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.

In Turkish: patlama önleyici (BOP), kuyu patlama önleyici, BOP

How it is used

Almost always called 'the BOP' (B-O-P). A BOP stack contains annular preventers and ram preventers (pipe rams, blind rams, shear rams). It is regularly pressure-tested and function-tested, and closing it is the first step when a kick is detected.

Example sentences

  1. The blowout preventer was pressure-tested before we drilled out of the casing shoe.

  2. The driller closed the blowout preventer as soon as he saw the pit gain.

Common collocations

  • BOP stack
  • close the BOP
  • BOP test
  • shear rams
  • subsea BOP
  • blowoutAn uncontrolled release of oil, gas or water from a well after the pressure control systems fail. It can cause fires, deaths and serious pollution.
  • 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.
  • wellheadThe steel equipment at the top of a well, at the surface or on the seabed, that holds the casing and tubing and connects the well to valves and flowlines.
  • drilling rigThe complete set of machinery used to drill a well, including the tower, engines, pumps, hoisting system and the equipment that turns the drill pipe.

More terms: Drilling & Wells

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