oilpatch

oil +‎ patch

oilpatch (plural oilpatches)

1. A patch or puddle of oil.
   • 2002, Martin Legassick, Armed Struggle and Democracy: The Case of South Africa, page 24:

     This minority establishes itself at the most vulnerable zone of the national territory, and then slowly spreads like an oilpatch, propagating itself in concentric ripples through the peasant masses, to the smaller towns, and finally to the capital.

2. (informal) The oil and gas industry.
   • 1959 November 16, The Billboard, page 50:

     "Texas Oil Patch Songs": [...] Willet [...] sings a dozen of his own songs having to do with oil workers [...]

   • 2005, Martin S. Raymond, William L. Leffler, Oil & Gas Production in Nontechnical Language:

     Fracturing the formation in the lingo of the oil patch is to perform a frac job.

   • 2008 February 26, Edmonton Sun:

     "Alberta won't plug oilpatch"

• oil patch, oil-patch