Barnyard on the Rig??

There are many old terms and jargons that the people in the oilfield use worldwide. You can practically use these terms anywhere in the world and people in the oil patch will understand them. They are also normally based on parts of animals or are called after certain animals, for god knows what reason. Here are some we use on the drilling rig:

Rabbit: A tool use to drift pipes
Cathead: A device to tighten tubulars
Hawkjaw: A device to tighten tubulars
Sharkjaw: A device that secures anchors on vessels
Mousehole: A temporary space for tubulars to be placed before being picked up by a top drive Rathole: Access meterage drilled in the well for the purpose of reciprocating the string in the hole
Monkey board: Where the derrick man works to sort pipes in the derrick
Pig: A piece of heavy-duty vulcanized rubber used to clean pipelines
Possum Belly, Cow's Cunt



There are also terms that sound funny or silly but are used extensively:

Rough neck or Roustabout: The general labor on the rig
Shooting Nipple, X-Nipple, XN-Nipple, etc (notice that the term nipple is widely used)
Christmas Tree: A set of valves used to control the flow of the well and ensures integrity of the well
Mud: Drilling Fluid
Tool Pusher: The senior supervisor in charge of rig personnel and operations
Camp Boss: The man in charge of catering and house keeping. This is THE man to make friends with.
Dope: Lubricant used on pipe threads
Jar: The act of hammering using a device to add weight onto the string in the hole. This produces either an upward or downward force.
Dutchman: A tubing stump or a cut casing in the well
Mudline: Seabed


Widow Maker: A walkway to connect a platform to a tender-assisted platform rig (TAPR) or semisub in TAPR mode (the bridge in the upper right corner)

The terms used are also simple enough and straight forward to describe the work they do:

Driller: The main guy on the rig making things happen - he controls the brakes on the top drive, which is a massive crane-type device that carries all the tubulars in and out of a well
Motor man: The mechanic on the rig to fix motors
Pump man: The personnel in charge of pumps on the rig
Derrick man: The guy in the derrick sorting pipes
Company man: The Operator representative on the rig (the rig is normally owned by a 3rd party Contractor and the personnel are also from the same company. The Operator rep is responsible to supervise operations conducted by them)