Not every wireline job gets your adrenaline going—but pump down perforating in a long horizontal lateral? That’s a different beast.
We were on site for a cased hole wireline job—full pressure control setup, high stage count, and a lateral that looked like a roller coaster on the well plan. You know the type—downhill into the heel, uphill through the mid-section, and a long drift through the toe. If your crew isn’t synced up, you’re not just losing time—you’re risking fishing wire line, stuck tools, or worse.
This is where good communication, proper wireline control systems, and solid pump down procedures make or break your day.
It All Starts with the Pre-Job Setup
Before we even broke the red thread seal on the logging cable, we synced with the pump operator on radios. In my wireline courses, I hammer this point home: radio check, tension check, rate check—every job.
And yes, we had our wireline unit screen tied into the pump’s rate and pressure feed. Having real-time visibility inside the wireline truck helps spot issues early—whether you’re running wireline perforating guns or tracking collar counts on a CCL log.
The Downhole Journey: Step-by-Step Execution
After equalizing the lubricator, we correlated with casing collars just above the kickoff point. We locked in our collar depths, then began running in at 150 ft/min. Once we hit the curve, I adjusted the AA valve: crack it left to pick up speed, then back it off a quarter turn. That way, if the rate changed suddenly, we could react before the string did.
In 5.5-inch casing, our standard pump rate target was 13–14 bbl/min. We ramped up slowly:
- 4 bbl/min through vertical
- 30° deviation: 1/3 max rate
- 60° deviation: 60% of target
- Once fully lateral: full rate
At this point, tool speed hit 250–300 ft/min. Tension was steady. Joints were reading around ±40 ft, which is right where you want them for a tight cased hole logging run.
Monitoring Tension, Rate, and Joint Length
The real trick? Reading the tension log like a story. If tension drops, the line is feeding too fast—slow down. If tension rises, the toolstring is dragging—speed up or check your path. In the wireline oilfield, weight changes are your early warning system for trouble ahead.
We continued pumping through the horizontal wireline section until we saw the collar below the plug set point. That’s our stop depth—verified with the company rep. Too shallow, and you’ll struggle to get moving again. Too deep, and you risk past the zone. Precision here matters.
When we were two minutes from shutoff, I gave the pump operator the countdown: 2 minutes, 1.5, 1, 30 seconds. When I saw the collar I needed, I got on the radio and said it three times: “Shut down. Shut down. Shut down.” Never leave it to chance.
After the Run
Once we hit the final depth, we backed up to plug set point, set the plug, and fired the perforating gun. Pulled out of the lateral at 250–300 ft/min, slowed to normal speed in the vertical. Then we logged the CCL from the last perf up past the original correlation. That gave us a trace to ghost-plot for the next run—one of the best tricks in the game for formation evaluation and staying locked in on depth.
When Things Don’t Go as Planned
Yeah, I’ve had runs that stopped early.
If the tools sit down in the lateral:
- Stop the pumps.
- Stop the drum.
- Try to move uphole and confirm with CCL and tension log that tools are free.
- Restart pump at 2/3 rate, slowly feed line, and ramp up if movement resumes.
But never—never—pump against resistance hoping it’ll clear. That’s how you lose tools to a sand bridge, and end up calling for downhole pipe recovery.
Final Word
The pump down procedure is one of the most delicate, high-stakes operations in the wireline services oil and gas world. It takes more than equipment—it takes communication, planning, and solid training.
If you’re running wireline and perforating jobs in horizontal laterals, or handling cased hole well services, this is where the field separates the pros from the gamblers.