underbalanced

Adjective.  Describing a method of drilling for petroleum in which the pressure in the wellbore is kept lower than that of the formation being drilled, thus allowing fluid to enter the well as soon as it is found.

This is an unmodified, but possibly outdated, definition from Wiktionary and used here under the Creative Commons license. Wiktionary is a great resource. If you like it too, please donate to Wikimedia.

This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.