SAIT Cards

Full 2025/26 set

What does the abbreviation POOH stand for in drilling and well work operations?

Pull out of hole

What is the name given to sediments with sizes less than 1/256 mm?

Clay

What are the Standard Conditions, in psia and degree Celsius.

14.7 psia; 15°C

This type of magma has low viscosity, has low silica content, and has low gas volumes.

Basaltic

In managed pressure drilling, what does RCD stand for?

Rotating Control Device

A group of oil and gas fields, discoveries, and prospects that share similar geological circumstances, such as a common reservoir-seal pair, migration pathway, and source rock

Play

This refers to natural gas contained in coal deposits, whether or not stored in gaseous phase

Coal Bed Methane

What process involves establishing a connection between reservoirs and surface facilities for production or injection?

Completion

This refers to the portion of petroleum existing in a semi-solid or solid phase in natural deposits, often requiring upgrading prior to refining.

Bitumen

What is the term for enforced contributions to the public funds, levied on persons, property, or income by governmental authority?

Taxes

What term describes a natural gas containing insufficient quantities of hydrocarbons heavier than methane to allow their commercial extraction?

Dry Gas

In oil reservoirs, this is the pressure at which natural gas begins to escape the solution.

Bubble Point Pressure

A company’s equity interest in a project before reduction for royalties or production share owed to others under the applicable fiscal terms.

Working Interest

The repair or stimulation of an existing production well for the purpose of restoring, prolonging or enhancing the production of hydrocarbons.

Workover

A contour that connects points of equal thickness.

Isopach

In Greek Mythology, Gaia means _

Earth

The accumulation of sequences by deposition in which beds are deposited successively basinward because sediment supply exceeds accommodation.

Progradation

What is a grant of access for a defined area and time period that transfers certain rights to hydrocarbons from the host country to an enterprise?

Concession

Crude oil which exceeds ____% of sulfur content is termed “sour”.

0.5 %

What is the term for those unproved reserves which analysis of geological and engineering data suggests are more likely than not to be recoverable?

Probable Reserves

A chemical that reacts with dissolved oxygen (O₂) to reduce corrosion.

Oxygen Scavenger

A measure of a curve describing the statistical frequency distribution in the region about its mode; the relative "peakedness" of the distribution.

Kurtosis

A gamma ray interaction in which the gamma ray is fully absorbed by a bound electron. If the energy transferred exceeds the binding energy to the atom, the electron will be ejected.

Photoelectric Effect

An emulsion that has a water-oil ratio of 1 is composed of ___% water and ___% oil.

50% and 50%

A self-contained combination drilling rig and floating barge, fitted with long support legs that can be raised or lowered independently of each other.

Jack-up

The group of hydrocarbon compounds that has one or more double or triple bonds between carbon atoms in the linear chain.

Olefins or Unsaturates

A specially formulated blend of lubricating grease and fine metallic particles that prevents thread galling (a particular form of metal-to-metal damage) and seals the roots of threads.

Pipe dope

What does NACE stand for?

National Association of Corrosion Engineers

How many thousand standard cubic feet (MSCF) does 1 barrel of equivalent (BOE) equivalent to?

5.6 to 6.0

Industrial term for the annulus encircling a tubing string?

Backside

Archaic slang for a geophone

Jug

Who is the British physicist whose elastic constant ratio of longitudinal stress to longitudinal strain, symbolized by E, is named after?

Thomas Young

What kind of agreement involves the host government paying the contractor for all volumes of hydrocarbons produced?

Buy Back Agreement

A normal fault that flattens with depth and typically found in extensional regimes. This flattening manifests itself as a curving, concave-up fault plane whose dip decreases with depth.

Listric Fault

The part of a gate valve that serves as a spacer between the bonnet and the operator or actuator.

Yoke

A powdered form of tannic acid extract from the bark of this tree, used as a high-pH and lime mud deflocculant. It was in widespread use until the 1950s, before a cheaper option lignosulfonate became widely used.

Quebracho

A set of equations that describes the partitioning of energy in a wavefield relative to its angle of incidence at a boundary across which the properties of the rock and fluid content changes.

Zoeppritz Equations

Natural gas found in contact with or dissolved in crude oil belongs to what category?

Associated Gas

What type of valve uses a disc or plug that seats against a ring in a winding flow path, and is commonly used for throttling?

Globe Valve

A type of Non-Newtonian fluid that exhibits more viscosity at a high shear stress

Dilatant (shear-thickening fluid)

Liquid C₁ to C₄ at 101.325 kPa and less than or equal to -160 °C are called:

Liquified Natural Gas

As long as the income exceeds expenses, an operation is known to be what?

Economic

What does ISA stand for?

International Society of Automation

What is the main source of viscosity for drilling fluids?

Bentonite

It is a general flow diagram that adds basic piping, valves, controls, pumps, and meters.

PFD / Process Flow Diagram

In the context of wellsite valves, what does the acronym SCSSV stand for?

Surface-Controlled Subsurface Safety Valve

During drilling operations, what is the best equipment to check to determine if your well is circulating or not?

Shale Shaker

If barite can potentially damage the formation, what alternative is used to increase drilling fluid density?

Calcium Carbonate (CaCO₃)

What is the main source of density for drilling fluids?

Barite

A type of Non-Newtonian fluid exhibiting low viscosity at a high shear stress

Pseudoplastic

What is the most common type of swelling clay?

Smectite

Term given to the space between two concentric objects where fluids can flow

Annulus

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is a grade of crude oil. In terms of lightness and sweetness, give its API and % sulfur content.

• API → 40

• Sulfer Content → 0.4%

What is the name of the rig that blew out and subsequently sunk in the ocean during the BP blowout and is the largest marine oil spill in US History?

Deepwater Horizon

In the context of rheology, what is another name for the Yield Power-Law Model?

Herschel-Bulkley Model

What was the name of the failed field in Alaska?

Mukluk

A type of inspection device used in pipelines to assess their condition from the inside.

Smart Pig

Name three ways to estimate IGIP

Material Balance; Planimetrics; Volumetrics

The maximum temperature at which liquid and vapor phases can coexist in a multicomponent fluid mixture, regardless of the pressure.

Cricondemtherm

What is the term used to define the speed at which fluids or cement moves through the annulus?

Annular Velocity

In what year did the WTI oil reach its smallest posted price?

April 2020

Acronym PDC, this is the name for a drill bit that uses industrial grade diamonds. What does PDC stand for?

Polycrystalline Diamond Compact Bit (PDC)

This casing string is the first layer of steel pipe that is inserted into a drilled oil or gas well and cemented in place to protect both the well and the surrounding environment.

Surface Casing

Which geological time period spanned from 250 to 290 million year ago?

Permian

What is the name of the global benchmark crude oil, often used as a price reference in oil trading?

Brent Crude

How many countries are members of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) as of 2026?

146

This log measures electron density using Compton scattering of gamma rays, and then converts it to bulk density

Formation Density Log

In a DFIT or mini-frac Step-down Analysis Test, which two components characterize near wellbore pressure drop?

Perforation and Tortuosity

The minimum allowable fluid pressure (or equivalent mud weight) that must be maintained inside a borehole to prevent the surrounding rock from undergoing compressive shear failure

Breakout Pressure

The pressure of a newly discovered oil reservoir is determined to be above bubble point. Classify this type of reservoir.

Undersaturated Oil Reservoir

What year did the SPE complete the merger with the Petroleum Society of Canada?

2009

In risk management and OSHA frameworks, what specific term is used to describe safety barriers—such as personal fall arrest systems or automated interlock switches—that require a technical system, human action, or a combination of both to actively detect and prevent an incident?

Active Barriers

Refineries are required by environmental regulations to remove this pollutant from products. This is a major contributor to acid rain.

Sulfer

In the context of controlling climate change, what does the acronym CCS stand for?

Carbon Capture and Storage

In the context of reservoir engineering, name the procedure that entails repeatedly running a model with a random selection of input distributions for each variable.

Monte Carlo Simulation

Unlike active protection systems, what category of OSHA engineering controls relies entirely on stationary, built-in physical structures—such as standard guardrails or floor hole covers—and requires absolutely zero human intervention to protect workers?

Passive Barriers

DMEA is a chemical used as a gas treating agent in natural gas processing and refinery operations mainly to remove acidic gases such as H2S and CO2. What does DMEA stand for?

Dimethylethanolamine

The direction in which a deviated or horizontal well is drilled relative to magnetic north.

Azimuth

SRB is a common anaerobic bacterium that convert sulfate ions into sulfur ion and hydrosulfide ion with the concomitant oxidation of carbon source. SRB is an acronym for?

Sulfate Reducing Bacteria

In the context of logging, it is the term for any reduction in the strength of a signal.

Attenuation

In the context of physics, it is the lowest point of a wave.

Trough

It is liquid petroleum, capable of flowing naturally or capable of being pumped without any further processing.

Conventional Crude Oil

Petro is a Greek word meaning _

Rock

Under OSHA's strict Hierarchy of Controls, engineering controls are generally preferred over administrative controls and PPE. Within the engineering category, which specific type of barrier is preferred by compliance officers because it automatically protects anyone in the zone without relying on technology cycles or human performance?

Passive Engineering Controls

What are the mathematical techniques dealing with the collection, analysis, and interpretation of geological, geophysical, and engineering data?

Geostatistical Methods

In a snubbing unit, these are devices that grip the pipe to control its movement.

Slips

The guide arch is a curved guide that directs coiled tubing from the reel into the injector head. What’s the common industrial term for the guide arch?

Gooseneck

The prospecting for undiscovered petroleum is termed

Exploration or Wildcatting

A concept that assumes a gas to have no intermolecular forces, are perfectly elastic, and have no molecular volume.

Ideal Gas

In 1913, a standing committee on oil and gas was created within AIME and proved to be the genesis of SPE. What is the meaning of the acronym, AIME?

American Institute of Mining Engineers

What term describes a natural gas containing insufficient quantities of hydrocarbons heavier than methane to allow their commercial extraction?

Dry Gas

Give the range of the Reynold’s number of a flow regime in the transition zone.

2000 < Re > 4000

What is the term for the permanent plugging of a dry hole or a well that no longer produces petroleum?

Well Abandonment

As an SPE member, what is the highest award one can attain?

Honorary Membership

Which country has the most natural gas reserves?

Russia

What is the term for a potential accumulation that is sufficiently well defined to represent a viable drilling target?

Prospect

Give the simplified molar composition of air.

79% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen

Maximum pressure at which the liquid and vapor phases are distinguishable.

Cricondenbar

It is a pressure-tight chamber that allows the wireline tool string to be safely introduced or retrieved in live wells.

Lubricator

In this kind of log, “free pipe” is represented as clear, parallel lines with distinct arrivals.

Variable Density Log