You don’t forget the moment you lift a lubricator and see that your wireline has been cleanly severed. Not pinched. Not tangled. Cut.
We were wrapping up a wireline well logging job, a typical run in a cased hole wireline setup. The job was going smoothly. All safety and pressure control protocols were in place. The lubricator had been bled down, pressure was confirmed zero, and the rams had been safely closed. Everything looked just like it should in any well-controlled wireline and perforating operation.
Then came the unexpected.
The Lift That Told a Lie
As we prepped to place the cable clamp, we slacked off the wireline to lift the lubricator. The crane operator felt no additional resistance, which usually signals a clean release—wireline free from the greasehead.
But when we got a few feet of lift, the logging cable came into view. Or more accurately, the end of it. Severed clean near the top of the ram assembly.
A closer inspection confirmed our worst suspicion. A piece of metal—what turned out to be a rogue set screw—was lodged in the alignment groove of the upper ram. It hadn’t just pinched the line. It forced the wireline out of alignment, and into the opposing steel ram body. One clean cut, straight through.
When the Tools You Trust Turn Against You
In the world of cased hole logging, we rely heavily on wireline control systems, from the greasehead to the blowout preventer, and especially the rams. These tools are the backbone of safe operations in the wireline services oil and gas sector. And in this case, they failed—not because the equipment was faulty, but because a tiny foreign object slipped through every check we had in place.
I’ve worked with countless downhole tools and logging systems, from pipe caliper tools and hole finders to cement bond log runs and perforating systems. But nothing prepares you for the moment a job nearly turns into a safety incident due to something you couldn’t have predicted.
Rebuilding the Process
Once we removed the ram assembly and performed a ground-level inspection, we recreated the scenario. We inserted a scrap piece of wireline, closed the rams—and sure enough, it was cut in the exact same manner.
This triggered a complete review of our pressure control procedures. And it gave rise to a hard-earned set of improvements that I now share in every toolbox talk and wireline course I help lead:
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Mandatory cycling of wireline valve rams with a test rod, not just a visual open-close check
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Improved visual inspections, with the ram alignment groove examined specifically for foreign objects
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Use of scrap wireline as a test insert when a proper test rod is unavailable
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Immediate escalation of anomalies to management to confirm a resolution via approved processes
Wireline companies and service providers often invest heavily in the latest wireline tech, but it’s these pre-job procedures that guard against downtime and dangerous failures.
A Reminder for the Wireline Business
What is wireline in oil and gas if not a balance of high-stakes decision-making and technical discipline? From pump down perforating in horizontal wells to production logging services in mature fields, success lies in preparation.
Wireline trucks may come loaded with complete wireline solutions, from eline services to downhole cameras and perf guns, but none of that matters if we overlook the basics—like ensuring no debris is hiding in the rams of our wireline pressure control equipment.
Final Thought from the Field
Whether you’re in pipe recovery, performing a plug and abandon, or running a formation evaluation with your caliper log, remember this: the small stuff is only small until it stops your job cold.
Now, every time we cycle the rams before a job, we do it like it’s the most important task of the day. Because sometimes, it is.