Field Operations

Planning a Workover Rig Job: From Well File to Field Ticket

A workover is a well intervention: pulling rods and pumps, recompleting zones, cleaning out sand, or repairing downhole equipment. The difference between a clean job and a costly one is decided before the rig moves. This guide covers the planning sequence that service companies run, from the well file to the final ticket.

Know the well before you move

The difference between a clean job and a costly one is decided before the rig moves.

Planning starts with the well file. Pull the completion summary, casing and tubing sizes, packer settings, H2S and CO2 history, offset well issues, and any previous workover reports. Read it before you quote the job, before you pick the rig, and before you dispatch a crew.

The file answers the questions that drive everything else. What is in the hole? What pressure is on the well? What has gone wrong on offsets? A crew that shows up without those answers makes decisions on location, and that is where jobs get expensive.

The well file is the source of truth for the job. The person quoting the work and the person running it should be reading the same numbers, and the quote should be written against the file, not against what the job usually costs.

Choosing the rig

The scope drives the rig. Workover jobs include rod and tubing pulls, pump changes, recompletions, cleanouts, fishing, and repairs. Those decisions set the equipment: single versus double mast, hook load capacity, and whether a snubbing unit or coiled tubing is part of the plan.

Match the rig to the work. An undersized rig stalls the job, and a crew sits idle waiting on equipment that cannot do the pull. An oversized rig costs more to move and more per hour than the job needs. The well file, not habit, should make the call.

Availability matters too. The right rig three weeks out beats the wrong rig tomorrow. Book the rig against the plan, and confirm the plan before the rig is committed.

The pre-job hazard analysis

The pre-job hazard assessment (JSA/JHA) covers the hazards that hurt people on these jobs: H2S and gas exposure, pressure on the well, rig-up hazards, crane and lifting, pinch points, and working at height. OSHA's oil and gas extraction guidance is the reference for the hazards that kill people on workover jobs.

The assessment is done before the job, with the crew that will run it. Every crew member signs on to the controls, not just the supervisor. The JSA is a working document. When conditions change on location, the assessment changes with them, and the crew stops work until it does.

The JSA also names the person responsible for each control. A control without an owner is a hope, not a plan.

Rig moves and location readiness

Rig moves are a planning problem of their own. Confirm the route and permits for overweight and oversize loads. Verify pad and location readiness. Coordinate with the operator for right-of-way. The move order goes out only when the location can take the rig.

A move that is not planned becomes a chain of phone calls: the permit office, the operator, the escort service, the next location. Each call costs hours. The plan answers all of it before the first truck rolls.

Pad readiness includes room for the rig, the pipe racks, the fluid tanks, and the trucks that service the job. A location that cannot stage the job safely is a location that cannot take the job.

Crew and equipment checks

Each crew position needs documented competencies and current training: orientation, H2S, fall protection, and operator-specific requirements. Check credentials before dispatch, not at the gate. A credential problem found at the gate stops the job. The same problem found in the office is a phone call. The same check applies to subcontractors, because a service crew is only as credentialed as the weakest hand on the job.

Equipment and parts: confirm tubulars, pumps, wellhead components, and service tools are staged before the rig arrives, so the job is not waiting on material. The staging list comes from the well file and the job plan, not from memory.

Keep the training records attached to the dispatch file, not scattered across email. When the operator asks for proof, the answer should be one click away.

Running the job

During the job, follow the permit-to-work and lockout/tagout controls. They are not paperwork for its own sake. They are the record that the hazards in the JSA were actually controlled before work started.

Record every step: pulls, runs, torque, test pressures, fluid volumes. The final field ticket and daily report are built from those notes, so the notes need to be complete. The person writing the ticket at the end of the day cannot remember what the gauge said at midnight. The notes can.

Daily reports go to the office the same day. The operator, the dispatcher, and the billing clerk should be reading the same version of events.

The ticket that closes it

Closeout starts with a complete field ticket: date, lease, well, work performed, equipment used, crew hours, materials, and customer signature. That ticket is what turns the job into an invoice. See the field ticket guide for the details.

Every day between the job and the ticket is a day the details fade. Write it on location, review it in the office, and get the signature before the crew leaves the lease.

Companies that log the ticket at the wellsite and approve it the same day bill faster. OpsFlo is built around that flow: tickets, dispatch, and approvals in one place.

Sources and further reading

• OSHA: Oil and Gas Extraction overview
• OSHA 29 CFR 1926.501: Duty to have fall protection
• API RP 49: Operations involving hydrogen sulfide