In wireline, it’s not the catastrophic blowouts or lost strings that haunt you—it’s the close calls. The near misses. The little moments when the job should’ve been shut down, but momentum kept it going. I’ve seen plenty, but one of the most sobering happened during a pump down perforating run when we nearly left 30 feet of logging cable in the hole because we skipped one simple step: visually inspecting the greasehead after a pumpoff.

This story changed the way we handle every wireline and perforating job. It forced us to reevaluate what it really means to confirm “tools are out.” And it led to a new SOP that’s now required in all our cased hole wireline operations, especially when working under pressure.

The Setup – High Stakes, Night Shift, No Margin for Error

We were running a late-stage perforation well, standard horizontal wireline setup. Nothing exotic: high-pressure gas well, multiple gun stages, wireline truck fully rigged with pressure control equipment, lubricator stack in place, and the grease injection system set for return.

After firing the stage, we began pulling out. Around the balance point, we got pumped off.

Now, if you’ve ever been pumped off a well, you know the feeling. The line rips out of the wellhead like spaghetti, snapping through the top sheave, curling around the lube, the ground, the BOP. It’s chaos. And in the dark, it’s worse. You’re just standing back, letting the pressure have its way.

We watched the line spill out and assumed—wrongly—that everything had come back.

The Mistake: Shutting the Well Before Visual Confirmation

From the ground, it looked like the wireline was gone. We assumed it was all out. But instead of sending someone up in the lift to check the top of the greasehead, we closed the wellhead valve and began to rig down.

When we removed the lubricator, there it was—wireline dangling from the bottom, cut clean. We had closed the valve on a live strand of line. The measurement on the surface showed about 30 feet of logging cable still in the well. Just 30 feet, but enough to spark a full-blown fishing wire line operation if we hadn’t caught it.

The Root Cause: Visibility and Assumptions Don’t Mix

During night operations, especially after a pullout or pumpoff, the situation at the greasehead becomes unpredictable. Line can loop. It can hang. It can get caught under BOP flanges or wrap around the wireline pressure control equipment. From the ground, it all blends together.

In this case, we had no clear visual of the top of the grease injection head. We assumed. We guessed. We closed the valve. And we got lucky.

But wireline shouldn’t rely on luck. It should rely on complete wireline solutions built on procedure, discipline, and confirmation.

What We Changed: Greasehead Inspection Protocol

After this near miss, we implemented a mandatory greasehead visual inspection protocol before closing any wellhead valve following a pumpoff, pullout, or pressure-blown return. This SOP is now standard across all wireline service providers within our network, especially those operating in high-pressure environments.

New Greasehead Inspection SOP

1. Use Aerial Lift or Platform Access

• One crew member must be physically elevated using a man lift or rig basket to visually inspect the top of the greasehead.

• If the lift does not reach the exact height, get as close as possible to gain a clear view of any remaining wire line strands.

2. Confirm Complete Cable Retrieval

• Visually check for any wire protruding from the greasehead or hanging around the sheave wheel, BOP, or stack.

• Any remaining wireline must be retrieved or confirmed as severed before proceeding.

3. Notify Client if Unclear

• If there’s any doubt whether all line has been retrieved, pause and consult the client.

• Do not proceed with closing the well until the logging cable is fully accounted for.

4. Log Incident, Report, and Communicate

• Any pumpoff incident, even without damage, is logged in the post-job report.

• Lessons are shared in morning meetings and added to weekly safety stand-downs.

Why It Matters in the Wireline Services Market

In today’s wireline services oil and gas landscape, performance is about more than perfect shots. It’s about risk mitigation. Failing to confirm line recovery risks:

• Downhole fishing operations

• Lost perforating gun assemblies

• Compromised well integrity

• NPT and rig delays

• Client trust erosion

For any wireline provider working in high-pressure, high-output wells, this level of prevention is the only way to maintain your edge.

Lessons We Now Teach in Our Wireline Courses

We’ve incorporated this exact scenario into our wireline courses, using it to emphasize the importance of visual confirmation in high-pressure scenarios. Trainees learn how:

• Line behavior changes under pressure

• Visual angles from ground level are misleading

• Misassumptions lead to misruns and pipe recovery jobs

• Wireline control systems are only as good as the operator using them

Each wireline course now includes mock inspections, crew checklists, and hands-on greasehead training using real equipment.

Reinforcing the Culture of Double-Checking

Since adopting this practice, we’ve stopped four near-misses in just six months. All involved cased hole logging or perforating services in high-pressure wells. In every case, the top sheave and wireline tech visual suggested that the line had returned clean. But the top of the greasehead told a different story.

By institutionalizing aerial inspections before well closure, we’ve:

• Reduced potential fishing wire line events

• Preserved wireline equipment integrity

• Improved client confidence

• Eliminated guesswork after pumpoffs

Final Thoughts – Confirm, Don’t Assume

The worst part about almost leaving line in the hole isn’t the damage—it’s the silence. It’s the realization that a single glance could have prevented the problem, and nobody took it.

Wireline isn’t about speed. It’s about execution. If you’re in this business—running wireline trucks, overseeing cased hole solutions, or operating in the cased hole logging service market—don’t take the wellhead for granted. Confirm with your eyes, not your gut.