Drilling advances

	Vol. 225 No. 10
ROBERT E. SNYDER, EXECUTIVE ENGINEERING EDITOR

This month, we share a tongue-in-cheek gem, written by Les Skinner of Energy Personnel International. As Les says, “Most of this stuff comes from sad personal experience. Fishing and undergoing a root canal are my two favorite activities (right along with owning a drilling rig and discussing any topic with an attorney).”

How to Foul Up a Fishing Job. History has shown that a good many people don't know the correct way to really mess up a fishing job, so here's some advice on how it's done.

1. Don't inspect tools and equipment run in the hole. Oilfield tubulars, drill collars and downhole tools are very robust. They hardly ever part, leaving a fish in the hole. So there's really no reason to inspect them for cracked pins, pits, holes or other defects before running them in the well. Also, don't caliper the tools. Inside and outside diameters are well known for all size tubulars and tools. They come from the manufacturers with a whole set of specifications so there is no need to caliper them before they go in the hole.

2. Don't use corrosion inhibitors or oxygen scavengers. Most modern mud systems are just fine without these expensive chemical additives. If you put enough lime and caustic in the mud, there won't be any corrosion. Besides, this is a new string of pipe – barely a year old. Strange, though, all these little pits – now, I wonder where they came from?

3. Call the closest, least expensive fishing tool company. Always call the closest guy with an overshot. He can fish it out in no time if he has the right grapple. The fact that the overshot is the only fishing tool he owns, and he has to get his brother-in-law to go down and buy the grapple since he has no credit, is not a significant issue. If he gets tired and needs a backup man, tell him he can lie down in the pickup and get an hour's worth of sleep while the crew's running in the hole. He ought to be good for another 48 hours after that.

4. Never dress off the top of the fish. You know it's twisted off, and the bottom of the fish that was recovered looks like a train wreck, but the top of the fish still in the hole ought to be just fine. Dressing off the fish requires a skirted mill, a round-tripping of the pipe, and mixing mud so thick that a small dog could walk across the pit without leaving a track. If you don't dress off the fish, you can just go snag it and pull the thing out of the hole. If you can't snag the fish, it's only because that worthless fisherman brought the wrong grapple. Extra trips don't cost that much money. Busted grapples or leaving other tools in the hole doesn't constitute a significant risk. If the fish is stuck, hit it with jars a few times and it's bound to come loose.

5. If wireline tools are stuck, always pull out of the rope socket first. That little wireline tool will stay centered in the hole. All you need is a little bitty tool to catch the fishing neck and you can just pull it right out of the well. They always go right over the top on the first try. So, no need to slide down the wireline and catch the tool with a side-door overshot. You can have all the wire out of the hole before the fisherman gets to the location. All he has to do is go in the hole with the overshot, unless the wire parts at the surface, of course. Then he'll have to drive back to town to get a wire grab. That shouldn't take very long.

6. Believe whatever's in the well file. Well files are the lifeblood of an operating company and any information in them must be correct. Extra tools, parts or other stuff dropped in the well? Nope – not in the well file, so it can't be in the hole! Don't bother talking to the last guy working on the well. If he left something in the hole, he would surely mention it in the well file, wouldn't he?

7. Ignore the fisherman's advice. Well, all right, he's been doing this for longer than most people in the world have been alive, but he can't see any further down that hole than you can, right? He's just like any other contractor. He'll do what he's told to do and be happy as can be about it (you can't really trust contractors anyway).

8. Always rely on impression block images to select the next tool. An impression block is the most reliable indicator in the world to tell you what the top of the fish looks like. So, make that extra round trip to get a picture and don't let anyone talk you out of it. Heck, anyone can interpret an impression block image with superb accuracy!

9. Never worry about releasing from the fish. The secret to fishing is to get hold of that fish and pull like crazy. It's bound to come loose eventually! Always run tools that won't shear off or break. Also, be sure to run the jars right above the fishing tool. Don't worry about having drill collars between the jars and the fish; they just absorb some of the blow from the jars. Hit it several times. Hit it hard. If you've got the right fishing tool, you're bound to be able to beat on the fish until it pops loose. If the jars give out, they weren't any good anyway. Just back off the string somewhere above the jars and run another set. Then, hit 'er again!

10. Ignore well control issues while fishing. Don't worry about keeping the hole full or filling the pipe while going in the hole. This thing can't flow past a fish and it won't flow up the pipe either. It wouldn't dare after all the trouble we've had with it so far. We can always bullhead some heavy mud down the pipe or the annulus to kill it if the thing starts to flow. Well control is never a problem during a fishing job. Everybody knows that.

11. Don't put a time or money limit on the job. This darn fishing job is not going to defeat us no matter what! The fact that there are only a thousand barrels of reserves left in this old dog is of no consequence. This is a fight to the death! If we work real hard, we're bound to get this fish out of the hole. This isn't just a fishing job. It's a challenge to our pride and dignity. Others have advised in the past to spend only half of the value of the hole on fishing before abandoning the well, but not this time. If we just make one more run with a different fishing tool, I'm positive we can get the whole thing out of the well. We can't stop now! We're just that close to getting the thing out of the hole.

So now, one way or the other, it's done. Your boss will just love the work you've done on this fishing job. So will the investors. They're bound to call you up and congratulate you just as soon as they return from the courthouse after filing for bankruptcy. 

Les Skinner can be reached at: lskinner@ epiconsultants.com.