Dictionary of Energy - D

D

Day-ahead and hour-ahead markets: Forward markets where electricity quantities and market clearing prices are calculated individually for each hour of the day on the basis of participant bids for energy sales and purchases.

Day-ahead schedule: A schedule prepared by a scheduling coordinator or the independent system operator before the beginning of a trading day. This schedule indicates the levels of generation and demand scheduled for each settlement period that trading day.

Daylighting controls: A system of sensors that assesses the amount of daylight and controls lighting or shading devices to maintain a specified lighting level. The sensors are sometimes referred to as "photocells."

Deadweight tons: The lifting capacity of a ship expressed in long tons (2,240 lbs.), including cargo, commodities, and crew.

Dealer tank wagon (DTW) sales: Wholesale sales of gasoline priced on a delivered basis to a retail outlet.

Decatherm: Ten therms or 1,000,000 Btu.

Decommissioning: Retirement of a nuclear facility, including decontamination and/or dismantlement.

Decontamination: Removal of unwanted radioactive or hazardous contamination by a chemical or mechanical process.

Dedicated reserves: The volume of recoverable, salable gas reserves committed to, controlled by, or possessed by the reporting pipeline company and used for acts and services for which both the seller and the company have received certificate authorization from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Reserves include both company-owned reserves (including owned gas in underground storage), reserves under contract from independent producers, and short-term and emergency supplies from the intrastate market. Gas volumes under contract from other interstate pipelines are not included as reserves, but may constitute part or all of a company's gas supply.

Dedicated vehicle: A vehicle that operates only on an alternative fuel, as when a vehicle is configured to operate on compressed natural gas. Note: A vehicle powered by an electric motor is not to be treated as dedicated.

Deepest total depth: The deepest total depth of a given well is the distance from a surface reference point (usually the Kelly bushing) to the point of deepest penetration measured along the well bore. If a well is drilled from a platform or barge over water, the depth of the water is included in the total length of the well bore.

Deferred cost: An expenditure not recognized as a cost of operation of the period in which incurred, but carried forward to be written off in future periods.

Deferred fuel costs: An expenditure for fuel that is not recognized for bookkeeping practices as a cost in the operating period incurred, but carried forward to be written off in future periods.

Deferred income tax (liability): A liability in the balance sheet representing the additional Federal income taxes that would have been due if a utility had not been allowed to compute tax expenses differently for income tax reporting purposes than for ratemaking purposes.

Deforestation: The net removal of trees from forested land.

Degasification system: The methods employed for removing methane from a coal seam that could not otherwise be removed by standard ventilation fans and thus would pose a substantial hazard to coal miners. These systems may be used prior to mining or during mining activities.

Degradable organic carbon:The portion of organic carbon present in such solid waste as paper, food waste, and yard waste that is susceptible to biochemical decomposition.

Delayed coking: A process by which heavier crude oil fractions can be thermally decomposed under conditions of elevated temperatures and pressure to produce a mixture of lighter oils and petroleum coke. The light oils can be processed further in other refinery units to meet product specifications. The coke can be used either as a fuel or in other applications such as the manufacturing of steel or aluminum.

Deliverability: Represents the number of future years during which a pipeline company can meet its annual requirements for its presently certificated delivery capacity from presently committed sources of supply. The availability of gas from these sources of supply shall be governed by the physical capabilities of these sources to deliver gas by the terms of existing gas-purchase contracts, and by limitations imposed by State or Federal regulatory agencies.

Delivered cost: The cost of fuel, including the invoice price of fuel, transportation charges, taxes, commissions, insurance, and expenses associated with leased or owned equipment used to transport the fuel.

Delivered energy: The amount of energy delivered to the site (building); no adjustment is made for the fuels consumed to produce electricity or district sources. This is also referred to as net energy.

Delivered (gas): The physical transfer of natural, synthetic, and/or supplemental gas from facilities operated by the responding company to facilities operated by others or to consumers.

Deliveries (electric): Energy generated by one system and delivered to another system through one or more transmission lines.

Demand: See Energy demand.

Demand bid: A bid into the power exchange indicating a quantity of energy or an ancillary service that an eligible customer is willing to purchase and, if relevant, the maximum price that the customer is willing to pay.

Demand charge: That portion of the consumer's bill for electric service based on the consumer's maximum electric capacity usage and calculated based on the billing demand charges under the applicable rate schedule.

Demand charge credit: Compensation received by the buyer when the delivery terms of the contract cannot be met by the seller.

Demand indicator: A measure of the number of energy-consuming units, or the amount of service or output, for which energy inputs are required.

Demand interval: The time period during which flow of electricity is measured (usually in 15-, 30-, or 60-minute increments.)

Demand-metered: Having a meter to measure peak demand (in addition to total consumption) during a billing period. Demand is not usually metered for other energy sources.

Demand-side management (DSM): The planning, implementation, and monitoring of utility activities designed to encourage consumers to modify patterns of electricity usage, including the timing and level of electricity demand. It refers to only energy and load-shape modifying activities that are undertaken in response to utility-administered programs. It does not refer to energy and load-shaped changes arising from the normal operation of the marketplace or from government-mandated energy-efficiency standards. Demand-Side Management covers the complete range of load-shape objectives, including strategic conservation and load management, as well as strategic load growth.

Demand-side management costs: The costs incurred by the utility to achieve the capacity and energy savings from the Demand-Side Management Program.  Costs incurred by customers or third parties are to be excluded.  The costs are to be reported in thousands of dollars (nominal) in the year in which they are incurred, regardless of when the savings occur.  The utility costs are all the annual expenses (labor, administrative, equipment, incentives, marketing, monitoring and evaluation, and other incurred by the utility for operation of the DSM Program), regardless of whether the costs are expensed or capitalized.  Lump sum capital costs (typically accrued over several years prior to start up) are not to be reported.  Program costs associated with strategic load growth activities are also to be excluded.

Demonstrated reserves: See Energy reserves.

Demonstrated reserve base (coal): A collective term for the sum of coal in both measured and indicated resource categories of reliability, representing 100 percent of the in-place coal in those categories as of a certain date. Includes beds of bituminuous coal and anthracite 28 or more inches thick and beds of subbituminuous coal 60 or more inches thick that can occur at depths of up to 1,000 feet. Includes beds of lignite 60 or more inches thick that can be surface mined. Includes also thinner and/or deeper beds that presently are being mined or for which there is evidence that they could be mined commercially at a given time. Represents that portion of the identified coal resource from which reserves are calculated.

Demonstrated resources: Same qualifications as identified resources, but include measured and indicated degrees of geologic assurance and excludes the inferred.

Demonstration and test vehicles: Vehicles operated by a motor vehicle dealer solely for the purpose of promoting motor vehicle sales or permitting potential purchasers to drive the vehicle for pre-purchase or pre-lease evaluation; or a vehicle that is owned and operated by a motor vehicle manufacturer or motor vehicle component manufacturer, or owned or held by a university research department, independent testing laboratory, or other such evaluation facility, solely for the purpose of evaluating the performance of such vehicles for engineering, research and development, or quality control reasons.

Demurrage: The charge paid to the vessel owner or operator for detention of a vessel at the port(s) beyond the time allowed, usually 72 hours, for loading and unloading.

Dependable capacity: The load-carrying ability of a station or system under adverse conditions for a specified period of time.

Depletion (coal): The subtraction of both tonnage produced and the tonnage lost to mining from identified resources to determine the remaining tonnage as of a certain time.

Depletion allowance: A term for either (1) a periodic assignment to expense of recorded amounts or (2) an allowable income tax deduction that is related to the exhaustion of mineral reserves. Depletion is included as one of the elements of amortization. When used in that manner, depletion refers only to book depletion.

Book. The portion of the carrying value (other than the portion associated with tangible assets) prorated in each accounting period, for financial reporting purposes, to the extracted portion of an economic interest in wasting natural resource.

Tax-cost. A deduction (allowance) under U.S. Federal income taxation normally calculated under a formula whereby the adjusted basis of the mineral property is multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is the number of units of minerals sold during the tax year and the denominator of which is the estimated number of units of unextracted minerals remaining at the end of the tax year plus the number of units of minerals sold during the tax year.

Tax-percentage (for Statutory). A deduction (allowance) allowed to certain mineral producers under U.S. Federal income taxation calculated on the basis of a specified percentage of gross revenue from the sale of minerals from each mineral property not to exceed the lesser of 50 percent of the taxable income from the property computed without allowance for depletion. (There are also other limits on percentage depletion on oil and gas production.) The taxpayer is entitled to a deduction representing the amount of tax-cost depletion or percentage (statutory) depletion, whichever is higher.

Excess statutory depletion. The excess of estimated statutory depletion allowable as an income tax deduction over the amount of cost depletion otherwise allowable as a tax deduction, determined on a total enterprise basis.

Depleted resources: Resources that have been mined; include coal recovered, coal lost in mining, and coal reclassified as subeconomic because of mining.

Depleted storage field: A sub-surface natural geological reservoir, usually a depleted gas or oil field, used for storing natural gas.

Depletion factor: The multiplier applied to the tonnage produced to compute depletion. This multiplier takes into account both the tonnage recovered and the tonnage lost due to mining. The depletion factor is the reciprocal of the recovery factor in relation to a given quantity of production.

Depreciation: See definition for Amortization.

Depreciation and amortization of property, plant, and equipment: The monthly provision for depreciation and amortization (applicable to utility property other than electric plant, electric plant in service, and equipment).

Depth of deepest production: The depth of the deepest production is the length of the well bore measured (in feet) from the surface reference point to the bottom of the open hole or the deepest perforation in the casing of a producing well.

Deregulation: The elimination of some or all regulations from a previously regulated industry or sector of an industry.

Design electrical rating (capacity) net: The nominal net electrical output of a nuclear unit, as specified by the utility for the purpose of plant design.

Design head: The achieved river, pondage, or reservoir surface height (forebay elevation) that provides the water level to produce the full flow at the gate of the turbine in order to attain the manufacturer's installed nameplate rating for generation capacity.

Desulfurization: The removal of sulfur, as from molten metals, petroleum oil, or flue gases.

Development: The preparation of a specific mineral deposit for commercial production; this preparation includes construction of access to the deposit and of facilities to extract the minerals. The development process is sometimes further distinguished between a preproduction stage and a current stage, with the distinction being made on the basis of whether the development work is performed before or after production from the mineral deposit has commenced on a commercial scale.

Development costs: Costs incurred to obtain access to proved reserves and to provide facilities for extracting, treating, gathering, and storing the oil and gas. More specifically, development costs, depreciation and applicable operating costs of support equipment and facilities, and other costs of development activities, are costs incurred to:

• Gain access to and prepare well locations for drilling, including surveying well locations for the purpose of determing specific development drilling sites; clearing ground; draining; road building; and relocating public roads, gas lines, and power lines to the extent necessary in developing the proved reserves.
• Drill and equip development wells, development-type stratigraphic test wells, and service wells, including the costs of platforms and of well equipment such as casing, tubing, pumping equipment, and the wellhead assembly.
• Acquire, construct, and install production facilities such as lease flow lines, separators, treaters, heaters, manifolds, measuring devices, production storage tanks, natural gas cycling and processing plants, and utility waste disposal systems.
• Provide improved recovery systems.

Development drilling: Drilling done to determine more precisely the size, grade, and configuration of an ore deposit subsequent to when the determination is made that the deposit can be commercially developed. Not included are: (1) secondary development drilling, (2) solution-mining drilling for production, or (3) production-related underground and openpit drilling done for control of mining operations.

Development well: A well drilled within the proved area of an oil or gas reservoir to the depth of a stratigraphic horizon known to be productive. Also see Well.

Diesel-electric plant: A generating station that uses diesel engines to drive its electric generators.

Diesel fuel: A fuel composed of distillates obtained in petroleum refining operation or blends of such distillates with residual oil used in motor vehicles. The boiling point and specific gravity are higher for diesel fuels than for gasoline.

Diesel fuel system: Diesel engines are internal combustion engines that burn diesel oil rather than gasoline. Injectors are used to spray droplets of diesel oil into the combustion chambers, at or near the top of the compression stroke. Ignition follows due to the very high temperature of the compressed intake air, or to the use of "glow plugs," which retain heat from previous ignitions (spark plugs are not used). Diesel engines are generally more fuel-efficient than gasoline engines but must be stronger and heavier because of high compression ratios.

Diffusive transport: The process by which particles of liquids or gases move from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration.

Direct access: The ability of a retail customer to purchase electricity or other energy sources directly from a supplier other than their traditional supplier.

Direct control load management: The magnitude of customer demand that can be interrupted at the time of the seasonal peak load by direct control of the system operator by interrupting power supply to individual appliances or equipment on customer premises.  This type of control usually reduces the demand of residential customers.

Direct electricity load control: The utility installs a radio-controlled device on the HVAC equipment. During periods of particulary heavy use of electricity, the utility will send a radio signal to the building in its service territory with this device and turn off the HVAC for a certain period.

Direct labor hours: Direct labor hours worked by all mining employees at a mining operation during the year. Includes hours worked by those employees engaged in production, preparation, development, maintenance, repair, shop or yard work management, and technical or engineering work. Excludes office workers. Excludes vacation and leave hours.

Direct load control: This Demand-Side Management category represents the consumer load that can be interrupted at the time of annual peak load by direct control of the utility system operator. Direct Load Control does not include Interruptible Load. This type of control usually involves residential consumers.

Direct milling cost: Operating costs directly attributable to the processing of ores or other feed materials, including labor, supervision, engineering, power, fuel, supplies, reagents, and maintenance.

Direct mining cost: Operating cost directly attributable to the mining of ore, including costs for labor, supervision, engineering, power, fuel, supplies, equipment replacement, maintenance, and taxes on production.

Direct nonprocess end use: Those end uses that may be found on commercial, residential, or other sites, as well as at manufacturing establishments. They include heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), facility lighting, facility support, onsite transportation, conventional electricity generation, and other nonprocess uses. "Direct" denotes that only the quantities of electricity or fossil fuel used in their original state (i.e., not transformed) are included in the estimates.

Direct process end use: Those end uses that are specific to the carrying out of manufacturing. They include process heating, process cooling and refrigeration, machine drive, electrochemical processes, and other process uses. "Direct" denotes that only the quantities of electricity or fossil fuel used in their original state (i.e., not transformed) are included in the estimates.

Direct use:  Use of electricity that 1) is self-generated, 2) is produced by either the same entity that consumes the power or an affiliate, and 3) is used in direct support of a service or industrial process located within the same facility or group of facilities that house the generating equipment. Direct use is exclusive of station use.

Direct utility cost: A utility cost that is identified with one of the DSM program categories (e.g. Energy Efficiency or Load Management).

Directional (deviated) well: A well purposely deviated from the vertical, using controlled angles to reach an objective location other than directly below the surface location. A directional well may be the original hole or a directional "sidetrack" hole that deviates from the original bore at some point below the surface. The new footage associated with directional "sidetrack" holes should not be confused with footage resulting from remedial sidetrack drilling. If there is a common bore from which two or more wells are drilled, the first complete bore from the surface to the original objective is classified and reported as a well drilled. Each of the deviations from the common bore is reported as a separate well.

Discharged fuel: Irradiated fuel removed from a nuclear reactor during refueling. Also see Spent Fuel.

Discrete-delivery energy sources: Energy sources that must be delivered to a site.

Dispatching: The operating control of an integrated electric system involving operations such as (1) the assignment of load to specific generating stations and other sources of supply to effect the most economical supply as the total or the significant area loads rise or fall (2) the control of operations and maintenance of high-voltage lines, substations, and equipment; (3) the operation of principal tie lines and switching; (4) the scheduling of energy transactions with connecting electric utilities.

Disposition, natural gas: The removal of natural, synthetic, and/or supplemental gas, or any components or gaseous mixtures contained therein, from the responding company's facilities within the report State by any means or for any purpose, including the transportation of such gas out of the report State.

Disposition, petroleum: A set of categories used to account for how crude oil and petroleum products are transferred, distributed, or removed from the supply stream. The categories include stock change, crude oil losses, refinery inputs, exports, and products supplied for domestic consumption.

Distillate fuel oil: A general classification for one of the petroleum fractions produced in conventional distillation operations. It includes diesel fuels and fuel oils. Products known as No. 1, No. 2, and No. 4 diesel fuel are used in on-highway diesel engines, such as those in trucks and automobiles, as well as off-highway engines, such as those in railroad locomotives and agricultural machinery. Products known as No. 1, No. 2, and No. 4 fuel oils are used primarily for space heating and electric power generation.

No. 1 Distillate: A light petroleum distillate that can be used as either a diesel fuel (see No. 1 Diesel Fuel) or a fuel oil. See No. 1 Fuel Oil.

• No. 1 Diesel Fuel: A light distillate fuel oil that has distillation temperatures of 550 degrees Fahrenheit at the 90-percent point and meets the specifications defined in ASTM Specification D 975. It is used in high-speed diesel engines, such as those in city buses and similar vehicles. See No. 1 Distillate above.

• No. 1 Fuel Oil: A light distillate fuel oil that has distillation temperatures of 400 degrees Fahrenheit at the 10-percent recovery point and 550 degrees Fahrenheit at the 90-percent point and meets the specifications defined in ASTM Specification D 396. It is used primarily as fuel for portable outdoor stoves and portable outdoor heaters. See No. 1 Distillate above.

No. 2 Distillate: A petroleum distillate that can be used as either a diesel fuel (see No. 2 Diesel Fuel definition below) or a fuel oil. See No. 2 Fuel oil below.

• No. 2 Diesel Fuel: A fuel that has distillation temperatures of 500 degrees Fahrenheit at the 10-percent recovery point and 640 degrees Fahrenheit at the 90-percent recovery point and meets the specifications defined in ASTM Specification D 975. It is used in high-speed diesel engines, such as those in railroad locomotives, trucks, and automobiles. See No. 2 Distillate above.

• Low Sulfur No. 2 Diesel Fuel: No. 2 diesel fuel that has a sulfur level no higher than 0.05 percent by weight. It is used primarily in motor vehicle diesel engines for on-highway use.

• High Sulfur No. 2 Diesel Fuel: No. 2 diesel fuel that has a sulfur level above 0.05 percent by weight.

• No. 2 Fuel oil (Heating Oil): A distillate fuel oil that has distillation temperatures of 400 degrees Fahrenheit at the 10-percent recovery point and 640 degrees Fahrenheit at the 90-percent recovery point and meets the specifications defined in ASTM Specification D 396. It is used in atomizing type burners for domestic heating or for moderate capacity commercial/industrial burner units. See No. 2 Distillate above.

No. 4 Fuel: A distillate fuel oil made by blending distillate fuel oil and residual fuel oil stocks. It conforms with ASTM Specification D 396 or Federal Specification VV-F-815C and is used extensively in industrial plants and in commercial burner installations that are not equipped with preheating facilities. It also includes No. 4 diesel fuel used for low- and medium-speed diesel engines and conforms to ASTM Specification D 975.

No. 4 Diesel Fuel and No. 4 Fuel Oil: See No. 4 Fuel above.

Distillation unit (atmospheric): The primary distillation unit that processes crude oil (including mixtures of other hydrocarbons) at approximately atmospheric conditions. It includes a pipe still for vaporizing the crude oil and a fractionation tower for separating the vaporized hydrocarbon components in the crude oil into fractions with different boiling ranges. This is done by continuously vaporizing and condensing the components to separate higher oiling point material. The selected boiling ranges are set by the processing scheme, the properties of the crude oil, and the product specifications.

Distributed Generator: A generator that is located close to the particular load that it is intended to serve.  General, but non-exclusive, characteristics of these generators include:  an operating strategy that supports the served load; and interconnection to a distribution or sub-transmission system (138 kV or less).

Distributed/point-of-use water-heating system: A system for heating hot water, for other than space heating purposes, which is located at more than one space within a building. A point-of-use water heater is located at the faucet and heats water only as required for immediate use. Because water is not heated until it is required, this equipment is more energy-efficient.

Distribution: The delivery of energy to retail customers.

Distribution system: The portion of the transmission and facilities of an electric system that is dedicated to delivering electric energy to an end-user.

Distribution use: Natural gas used as fuel in the respondent's operations.

Distributor: A company primarily engaged in the sale and delivery of natural and/or supplemental gas directly to consumers through a system of mains.

District chilled water: Chilled water from an outside source used as an energy source for cooling in a building. The water is chilled in a central plant and piped into the building. Chilled water may be purchased from a utility or provided by a central physical plant in a separate building that is part of the same multibuilding facility (for example, a hospital complex or university).

District heat: Steam or hot water from an outside source used as an energy source in a building The steam or hot water is produced in a central plant and piped into the building. The district heat may be purchased from a utility or provided by a physical plant in a separate building that is part of the same facility (for example, a hospital complex or university).

Diversity: The electric utility system's load is made up of many individual loads that make demands upon the system usually at different times of the day. The individual loads within the customer classes follow similar usage patterns, but these classes of service place different demands upon the facilities and the system grid. The service requirements of one electrical system can differ from another by time-of-day usage, facility usage, and/or demands placed upon the system grid.

Diversity exchange: An exchange of capacity or energy, or both, between systems whose peak loads occur at different times.

Divestiture: The stripping off of one utility function from the others by selling (spinning-off) or in some other way changing the ownership of the assets related to that function. Stripping off is most commonly associated with spinning-off generation assets so they are no longer owned by the shareholders that own the transmission and distribution assets.

Docket: A formal record of a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proceeding. These records are available for inspection and copying by the public. Each individual case proceeding is identified by an assigned number.

DOE: Department of Energy.

Domestic: See United States.

Domestic inland consumption: Domestic inland consumption is the sum of all refined petroleum products supplied for domestic use (excludes international marine bunkers). Consumption is calculated by product by adding production, imports, crude oil burned directly, and refinery fuel and losses, and then subtracting exports and charges in primary stocks (net withdrawals is a plus quantity and net additions is a minus quantity).

Domestic uranium industry: Collectively, those businesses (whether U.S. or foreign-based) that operate under the laws and regulations pertaining to the conduct of commerce within the United States and its territories and possessions and that engage in activities within the United States, its territories, and possessions specifically directed toward uranium exploration, development, mining, and milling; marketing of uranium materials; enrichment; fabrication; or acquisition and management of uranium materials for use in commercial nuclear power plants.

Domestic vehicle producer: An Original Vehicle Manufacturer that assembles vehicles in the United States for domestic use. The term "domestic" pertains to the fifty states, the District of Columbia, commonwealths, territories, and possessions of the United States.

Double circuit line: A transmission line having two separate circuits. Because each carries three-phase power, at least six conductors, three per circuit, are required.

Drainage basin: The land drained by a river system.

Drawdown: The lowering of the water level of a reservoir as a result of withdrawing water.

Drawdown (maximum): The distance that the water surface of the reservoir is lowered from the normal full elevation to the lowest allowable elevation as the result of the withdrawal of water for the purposes of generating electricity.

Dredge mining: A method of recovering coal from rivers or streams.

Drift mine: A mine that opens horizontally into the coal bed or coal outcrop.

Drilling: The act of boring a hole (1) to determine whether minerals are present in commercially recoverable quantities and (2) to accomplish production of the minerals (including drilling to inject fluids).

• Exploratory. Drilling to locate probable mineral deposits or to establish the nature of geological structures; such wells may not be capable of production if minerals are discovered.
• Developmental. Drilling to delineate the boundaries of a known mineral deposit to enhance the productive capacity of the producing mineral property.
• Directional. Drilling that is deliberately made to depart significantly from the vertical.

Drilling and equipping of wells: The drilling and equipping of wells through completion of the "christmas tree."

Drilling arrangement: A contractual agreement under which a working interest owner (assignor) assigns a part of a working interest in a property to another party (the assignee) in exchange for which the assignee agrees to develope the property. The term may also be applied to an agreement under which an operator assigns fractional shares in production from a property to participants for cash considerations as a means of acquiring cash for developing the property. Under a "disproportionate cost" drilling arrangement, the participants normally pay a greater total share of costs than the total value of the fractional shares of the property received in the arrangement.

Dry bottom boiler: No slag tanks at furnace throat area. The throat area is clear. Bottom ash drops through the throat to the bottom ash water hoppers. This design is used where the ash melting temperature is greater than the temperature on the furnace wall, allowing for relatively dry furnace wall conditions.

Dry (coal) basis: Coal quality data calculated to a theoretical basis in which no moisture is associated with the sample. This basis is determined by measuring the weight loss of a sample when its inherent moisture is driven off under controlled conditions of low temperature air-drying followed by heating to just above the boiling point of water (104 to 110 degrees Centigrade).

Dry gas: See Dry natural gas below.

Dry hole: An exploratory or development well found to be incapable of producing either oil or gas in sufficient quantities to justify completion as an oil or gas well. Also see Well.

Dry hole charge: The charge-off to expense of a previously capitalized cost upon the conclusion of an unsuccessful drilling effort.

Dry hole contribution: A payment (either in cash or acreage) that is required by agreement only if a test well is unsuccessful and that is made in exchange for well test and evaluation data.

Dry natural gas: Natural gas which remains after: 1) the liquefiable hydrocarbon portion has been removed from the gas stream (i.e., gas after lease, field, and/or plant separation); and 2) any volumes of nonhydrocarbon gases have been removed where they occur in sufficient quantity to render the gas unmarketable. Note: Dry natural gas is also known as consumer-grade natural gas. The parameters for measurement are cubic feet at 60 degrees Fahrenheit and 14.73 pounds per square inch absolute. Also see Natural gas.

Dry natural gas production: The process of producing consumer-grade natural gas. Natural gas withdrawn from reservoirs is reduced by volumes used at the production (lease) site and by processing losses. Volumes used at the production site include (1) the volume returned to reservoirs in cycling, repressuring of oil reservoirs, and conservation operations; and (2) gas vented and flared. Processing losses include (1) nonhydrocarbon gases (e.g., water vapor, carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen sulfide, and nitrogen) removed from the gas stream; and (2) gas converted to liquid form, such as lease condensate and plant liquids. Volumes of dry gas withdrawn from gas storage reservoirs are not considered part of production. Dry natural gas production equals marketed production less extraction loss.

Dry production: See Dry natural gas production above.

Dual fuel vehicle (1): A motor vehicle that is capable of operating on an alternative fuel and on gasoline or diesel fuel. These vehicles have at least two separate fuel systems which inject each fuel simultaneously into the engine combustion chamber.

Dual fuel vehicle (2): A motor vehicle that is capable of operating on an alternative fuel and on gasoline or diesel fuel. This term is meant to represent all such vehicles whether they operate on the alternative fuel and gasoline/diesel simultaneously (e.g., flexible-fuel vehicles) or can be switched to operate on gasoline/diesel or an alternative fuel (e.g., bi-fuel vehicles).

Dual-fired unit: A generating unit that can produce electricity using two or more input fuels. In some of these units, only the primary fuel can be used continuously; the alternate fuel(s) can be used only as a start-up fuel or in emergencies.

Dump energy: Energy generated in a hydroelectric plant by water that cannot be stored or conserved and which energy is in excess of the needs of the system producing the energy.