About Us

Glossary

barrel/bbl

The standard unit of measurement for oil production and sales. One barrel = 159 litres (or 35 imperial gallons).

bcf

Billion cubic feet, where a billion is 1,000,000,000.

boe

Barrels of oil equivalent. This is used to convert volumes of different hydrocarbon production to the equivalent measured in barrels of oil.

bopd

Barrels of oil per day.

contingent resources

Amounts of hydrocarbons which are estimated to be potentially recoverable from known accumulations, but which are not considered to be commercially recoverable at the time of making the estimation. These may be significant resources, but constraints to development, such as technical, environmental or political barriers, prevent their booking as reserves.

D, D & A

Depreciation, depletion and amortisation of building, plant and equipment, exploration and development expenditure.

delineation well

May be either:

  • A near-field exploration well is drilled near existing fields/discoveries and has a higher expectation of success than a wildcat exploration well. These wells test independent structures or traps and have a higher risk of failure than appraisal or development wells.
  • An appraisal well is drilled to identify extensions to known fields or discoveries.

development well

A well designed to deliver from a gas or oil field within a proven productive reservoir defined by exploration or appraisal drilling.

EBIT

Earnings before interest and tax.

EBITDA

Earnings before interest and tax, depreciation, depletion and amortisation of building, plant and equipment, exploration and development expenditure and amortisation of goodwill.

finding cost per barrel of oil equivalent

Annual exploration and delineation expenditure divided by reserve additions (net of acquisitions and divestments).

hydrocarbons

Compounds of hydrogen and carbon. They may be solid, liquid or gas 

LNG

Liquefied natural gas.

LPG

Liquefied petroleum gas - propane and butane in their liquid state.

mbbls

Thousand barrels.

mean resource potential

The average of the recoverable resources.

mmbbls

Million barrels.

mmboe

Million barrels of oil equivalent.

mmscf/d

Million standard cubic feet per day.

petroleum liquids

Crude oil, condensate (or its derivative, naphtha),propane and butane.

PJ

Petajoules. Joule is metric unit of measurement for energy. A petajoule is 1,000,000,000,000,000 joules. The equivalent imperial measure to joules is British Thermal Units (BTU). 

Note also that a  terajoule equals 1,000,000,000,000 joules.

Proven reserves (1P)

Reserves that are recoverable with a degree of certainty greater than 90%. There is relatively little risk associated with these reserves. 

Proven developed reserves

Reserves that can be recovered from existing wells with existing infrastructure and operating methods. By contrast, proven undeveloped reserves require development.

Proven plus Probable reserves (2P)

Reserves that are more likely than not to be recoverable based on analysis of geological and engineering data. There is at least a 50% probability that reserves recovered will exceed Proven plus Probable reserves.

Proven, Probable plus Possible reserves (3P)

Reserves that, to a low degree of certainty (10% confidence), are recoverable. There is relatively high risk associated with these reserves.

PSC

Production sharing contract.

reserve replacement cost per barrel of oil equivalent

Annual exploration, delineation and development expenditure divided by reserve additions (net of acquisitions and divestments). Development includes all development and fixed asset expenditure net of stay-in-business and corporate capital expenditure.

resource potential

The amount of hydrocarbons yet to be discovered.

ROAE

Return on average equity.

ROACE

Return on average capital employed.

seismic survey

A survey using geophysical and geological data to assist in the understanding of structures beneath the earth’s surface.

tcf

Trillion cubic feet.

total recordable case frequency rate (TRCFR)

A statistical measure of safety performance. Total recordable case frequency rate is the total number of recordable cases (medical treatment injuries and lost time injuries) per million hours worked.

wildcat exploration

Exploration wells away from current fields.