Spudding

In a drilling report of an oil company, we often come accross a term called 'spud', as in this statement:

"Well 1 spudded on June 200X"

What does it mean?

In petroleum/oil industry:

• "spudding" means the very start of drilling on a new well.
• "Spudding in", or to "spud" a well, means to inniciate drilling operations.