What a Wireline Engineer Does

Hello everyone! My readers from all over the world (yes, because that’s the perk of blogging), I miss you all. I miss writing. And as a variation from my late posts which revolve around cosmetics and skincare and some girly stuffs, here I want to write about my job, as a wireline engineer.

Wireline engineer. Sounds so foreign, unknown. But for you oil and gas workers, you might have heard about it. So, I will explain what a wireline engineer does for their job here. I might not write about the whole life cycle of the well, but let me give it a try to write an intriguing tasks to an understandable article.

In oil and gas wells, there are usually several business units. They are the oil operator, drilling company, and service company. Oil operators are what we normally see in daily life. They own wells. For Indonesia, it’s like Pertamina, our national oil company. For foreign companies, you name it. Total, Shell, Chevron, CNOOC, Exxon, etc.

Next, the drilling company is the company who owns the drilling facility. They are various names, but maybe you have ever heard about Transocean, Apexindo, Shelf Drilling, etc.

And then, there is this service company. Service company is the one who provides a lot of services regarding jobs in well life cycle. This is the company I work for, so I will not mention specific names ^_^.

The services provided by a service company range from initial phase of seismic exploration until workover. So, imagine a well. Below I draw a very simple diagram of well life cycle.

life cycle of a well, created by me, not representing the real complex cycle

Wireline is a name of conveyance using electrical cable. Simply put,  you run tools using cable inside a well. Wireline engineer is the supervisor of the job and he/she must be responsible for the operation. The job is so specific about measurement, so we are trained to be precise and detail-oriented. Wireline engineer has great responsibility because you know, working in the rig involves a great deal of hazards. People are exposed to mechanical, electrical, pressure, etc. Therefore, safety training and procedure is a must for us.

In some measurements, we also have to use radioactive. We are trained to use it properly and obeying the national/international regulation regarding radioactive.

We measure a great deal of items. We provide tools and technology that enable us to log. A log is our answer product. If you study geology at college (I didn’t), you understand that rocks have properties like resistivity, porosity, etc. Some are our primary measurements in wireline logging.

Not only in drilling, wireline, as a conveyance, is also involved in completion or production phase. Wireline is used for perforation, setting plugs or packers, and some stuffs during completion or production phase. Wireline can measure the gas cutoff, the fluid flow after production, and all sorts of measurement necessary during this phase.

Apart from technical expertise, a wireline engineer has to be able to cope with any difficulty in the field, maintain good communication to their base and operation support. You have to stay awake during logging that can take 24hrs or more. You have to be able to focus because second after second, your safety and your crew’s safety depends on how you do your job. You have to be able to multitask as the job demands. You have to be able to give presentation in pro manner, communicate with client or subordinates, and understand different culture if you are mobile. After all, you have to be able to work in team.

So, are you interested in being a wireline engineer? Comment below.