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Oil, Gas & Mining vocabulary · Drilling & Wells

Drill bit

Meaning in oil, gas & mining, with examples

/ˈdrɪl bɪt/nounCore term

In oil, gas & mining, drill bit means: The cutting tool at the bottom of the drill string that breaks and crushes rock as it turns, making the hole deeper.

In Turkish: matkap, sondaj matkabı, matkap ucu

How it is used

Usually just 'the bit'. Drillers discuss bit type (roller cone or PDC), bit size in inches, bit wear and rate of penetration (ROP). When a bit is worn out, the crew pulls the string out of the hole to change it.

Example sentences

  1. The drill bit was badly worn when we pulled it out at 2,100 metres.

  2. Switching to a PDC drill bit doubled our rate of penetration in the shale.

Common collocations

  • change the drill bit
  • PDC bit
  • roller cone bit
  • bit wear
  • rate of penetration (ROP)
  • drill stringThe long column of connected drill pipe, heavy collars and tools that runs from the rig down to the bit, turning it and carrying drilling mud to the bottom of the hole.
  • 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.
  • tripTo pull the drill string out of the well or run it back in, for example to change a worn bit or a tool. The whole operation is called a trip.
  • 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.

More terms: Drilling & Wells

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