The Industrial CapitalistField Terms
Plain-language explainers for the words used on the pad, the shop floor, the job site, and at the bank. Energy, manufacturing, infrastructure, power, defence, and the capital behind them.
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What is an SBA 7(a) loan?
The SBA 7(a) is the loan most small industrial businesses in America are bought and equipped with. How the guarantee works, what lenders look for, and where it fits.
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Oilfield services and rentals, explained
Most of the people on a pad work for a service or rental company, not the operator. What those businesses are, how they are paid, and what it takes to build one.
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Upstream, midstream, downstream: what the words mean
Upstream finds and produces oil and gas, midstream moves and stores it, downstream refines and sells it. A plain guide to the three segments and who works in each.
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What is dewatering and drying?
After a hydrostatic test, the water has to come out and the line has to be dried to the specification the product needs. How dewatering and drying are done with pigs, air, and nitrogen.
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What is a frac fleet?
A frac fleet is the set of pumps, blenders, sand and water systems, and crews that hydraulically fracture a well. What makes one up, why it costs what it does, and how the work is priced.
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What does a wireline company do?
Wireline companies run tools into a well on a cable to log, perforate, set plugs, and retrieve equipment. What the work is, what the equipment costs to run, and why the business is built on crews.
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What is hot shot trucking in the oilfield?
Hot shot trucking moves urgent, smaller loads to the pad on a heavy pickup and gooseneck trailer. How it works, why it exists, and what the economics look like for an owner-operator.
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What is a well pad?
A well pad is the cleared, engineered site where one or more wells are drilled, completed, and produced. What sits on a pad, who works there, and why ‘from the pad’ means what it does.
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What is pigging?
Pigging sends a device, the pig, through a pipeline under pressure to clean it, remove water, separate products, or inspect the wall. The basics of pigs, launchers, and receivers.
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What is hydrostatic testing?
Hydrostatic testing fills a pipeline or vessel with water, raises it above its working pressure, and holds it to prove it will not leak or fail. Here is how a hydrotest actually runs.