pulling unit vs workover rig supplier

Workover rigs, also called pulling unit rigs, are specialized oil rigs set up for inserting or pulling pipe tubing in and out of wells. Workover crews are called when an oil well has been drilled, is undergoing repair or is being retired, as indicated by Schlumberger.

These crews are relatively small compared to other rig crews and consist of tool pushers, operators or relief operators, derrick men and floormen or roughnecks. The average workover rig salary overall was ​$65,039​ as reported by Simply Hired in 2022. Available workover rig jobs and descriptions can be found on the Rigzone website.

The acting supervisor on a workover rig is called the tool pusher. The main task of a pusher is to hire, fire and supervise contracting work crews. When contractors have an issue on site, the first person they report concerns to is the tool pusher. Pushers need to have an intimate knowledge of how each and every part of a rig works, both individually and as an overall part of the drilling operation as a whole.

If equipment fails or needs to be reordered, the tool pusher talks with suppliers to get the right parts out on site with a minimum of downtime for the rig. The pusher is responsible for the overall safety of a rig. If the tool pusher has any safety concerns, he has the power to halt production until the concern is resolved.

The operator/relief operator is next in order of responsibility to the tool pusher on a workover rig. The main task of an operator is to control the crane and derrick that hauls pipe in and out of the bored well. In smaller crews, the operator is also the one who drives the rig truck. When laying pipe into a well, the operator directs the truck or derrick to the optimum spot next to the bore opening.

The operator then instructs the derrick hands and roughnecks where to place the bore pipe for easy access by the crane or by hand-loading methods. During a well breakdown or repair, the operator directs the crew hands in storage of extracted pipelines. Because the operators work most closely with derrick hands and roughnecks, they are typically responsible for selection and maintenance of their immediate workover rig crew.

In the pulling unit rig crew hierarchy, the derrick hands come after the operator/relief operators. The main responsibility of a derrick hand is everything that is above ground on the rig. During laying operations, derrick hands assist the operators/relief operators in inserting boring into the well. During repair or breakdown, they assist the operator in pulling pipe out of the well and storing it properly.

In between laying, derrick hands have other responsibilities as well, depending on the size of the crews. In smaller crews, Derrick hands also see to the maintenance of the rig-based electric and diesel generators necessary to power rig equipment.

At the bottom of the pulling unit rig crew in terms of seniority is the floorhand or roughneck. The main task of a roughneck is to perform any kind of tasks asked by either the derrick hand or the operator. These tasks can range from assisting with laying new pipe or removal of old tubing, general construction, to moving new equipment, such as generators. Most crew members on a work-about start their career as a floorhand or roughneck before working their way up to more senior positions.

Snubbing units have evolved into one of the most capable and efficient well servicing tools in the oil & gas industry. In the 1920"s, the need for a rig to work with pressures at surface drove the invention of the snubbing unit. The first snubbing unit was primarily designed to work in well control situations to "snub" drill pipe and or casing into, or out of, a well bore when conventional well killing methods could not be used. The first snubbing unit relied on the draw works of the companion rig to supply its" power. A series of sheaves, cables and counter weights were rigged up so that as the rig"s traveling blocks hoisted up, the snubbing unit would snub in the hole. Conversely, when the traveling blocks on the rig were lowered, the snubbing unit would snub out of the hole. As you can imagine, this required close communication with several different contractors in order to perform the work safely and efficiently.

One of the main components of a snubbing unit is the slip. Stationary and travelling slips are operated in sequence to grip the pipe as it is snubbed into the well. Typically, a minimum of four slip bowls are used in snubbing operations. Two slip bowls are designated for "pipe light" operations. Pipe light is when the well bore forces are greater than the tubular weight in the well bore. The other two slip bowls are designated for "pipe heavy" operations. Pipe heavy occurs when either enough pipe has been snubbed into the well bore and fluid weight inside of the pipe is greater than the snub forces acting against the pipe in the well bore.

Modern snubbing units are powered by sophisticated hydraulic systems. These hydraulic units typically supply all power required by the components of a snubbing operation. With a better understanding of hydraulics and modern advances, companies have been able to harness this hydraulic energy to develop precision controlled snubbing units. These units move tubulars into and out of a well bore by use of a "multi cylinder jack"; a snubbing jack comes in many sizes depending on the task at hand. They are usually denoted in size by the snubbing unit description (i.e. 460K, 340K, 200K, etc). The 460K snubbing unit has the ability to lift 460,000 LBS and a snubbing capacity of 230,000 LBS. Most snubbing units can typically snub half of their lift rating. Assume you had a well with 10,000 PSI at surface and wished to snub in a string of 2 3/8" tubing. The snubbing contractor can calculate the snub force, add in their respective friction calculations and project the snub force to overcome will be approximately 51,000 LBS. This would put a 120K snubbing unit to close to its maximum capacity of 60,000 LBS snub loading. The safest bet would be a 150K or 235K snubbing unit.

Pipe handling is performed by the snubbing units "gin pole" and "pipe winches". The gin pole is typically telescoped out in excess of 40ft above the snubbing unit. With the use of dual tubing winches, multiple joints of pipe can be handled simultaneously, speeding up the operation.

The snubbing "basket" is the platform where the snubbing personnel work. The basket contains all of the necessary hydraulic controls to operate all the features of the snubbing unit, as well as a large bank of BOP"s and hydraulic valve controls.

Today"s snubbing units can be employed to provide a wide range of services. In essence, a snubbing unit is a hydraulic rig that can do everything a rig can do, plus it can perform under pressure in an under balanced live well state. This is especially critical to the operators in the Haynesville Shale, which is known for HPHT wells. With the use of the snubbing units" hydraulic rotary, the unit can be employed for fishing, milling, drilling, side tracking or any task needed to remove bridge plugs, cement or deepen wells.

The industry has become more aware of damages caused by heavy kill weight fluids and mud. This has helped make snubbing units more popular in a completion and workover role, versus its" traditional use as a well control response tool. With the advances in drilling technologies in the unconventional shale market, the benefits of snubbing units have become very apparent. These types of completions often have laterals extending out thousands of feet. With costly stimulations used to help extract the gas more efficiently, operators often times do not wish to turn around and load the well with heavy fluids to complete the well dead.

Coiled tubing has its limitations in reach, due to wall to wall mechanical friction in horizontal wells. Often times the coiled tubing units cannot reach TD or supply the needed weight on bit to mill up composite plugs typically used in completions.

Another clear advantage to using a snubbing unit is its" small footprint, which is critical on the tight locations in the unconventional shale"s. Moreover, the small size and ease of mobilizing is especially useful and cost effective with offshore wells.

In conclusion, with the snubbing unit"s size, ability to handle pressure, rotary capabilities, rigidity of jointed tubing and minimal wall contact, snubbing units have become the chosen resource for these types of completions.

The use of a Snubbing Unit is not only already providing cost effective technology for a wide range of Drilling and Well Servicing applications but also has the potential for providing an alternative way to optimally develop future fields.

Present Snubbing and Hydraulic Workover applications include the undertaking of remedial well work without resorting to the use of kill fluids or lost circulation material and the performing of conventional tubing replacement workovers Snubbing well intervention operations are also now routine where coiled tubing operations are not feasible due to well bore geometry or length and should be considered where platform facilities are unable to handle the weights of larger coiled tubing reels.

Historically, workovers performed through existing tubing ("through-tubing workovers") have been undertaken with wireline or coiled tubing equipment, often supported by the use of a derrick equipment set. Snubbing systems are now performing similar work and are proving to be far more versatile than wireline coiled tubing and conventional workover rigs with the additional ability of being able to run and rotate tubulars while there is pressure on the well. Although certain workover situations will still call for wireline coiled tubing or workover rigs, there are now many situations where a Snubbing Unit is the logical choice. In principle, all of the downhole work that can be carried out by standard rig or through-tubing workover equipment can also be completed by Snubbing Units, with the (current) exception of running large >10 3/4") tubulars.

Future applications for the technology include the horizontal side-tracking of existing wells (which could be performed conventionally or underbalanced). Such operations can either be undertaken through the existing tubing or, where such operations are not deemed feasible, the Snubbing Unit can be used to pull the existing completion prior to the side-track and used for the subsequent running of the liner and completion after drilling.

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BHA: Bottom hole assembly. Describes the production or workover tools used for completion or workover operations. (i.e. packers, bridge plugs, fishing tools, etc).

BOP stack: A series of blow out preventers stacked together using an equalizing and bleed of spool. Stack normally consists of an annular; equalize spool and a set of stripping rams. In snubbing operations the BOP stack is considered a secondary BOP. When working in conjunction with a workover, service or drilling rig the rig supplies the primary BOP’s.

Counter Balance Winches: A winch that can hydraulically counter balance the weight it is picking up. This gives the winch the ability to automatically feed off should the load placed upon it become greater than the actual weight being held via the hydraulics. Typically the snubbing unit will have two of these winches.

Gas well snubbing: Workover or completion work on a gas well which is either live or underbalanced with a rig assist or self-contained snubbing unit. Many gas well formations are fluid sensitive making a snubbing operation ideal for maximum production of the well. Eliminates the need for expensive kill fluids.

Guide Tube: Any arrangement of support system that prevents columnar buckling of the pipe being snubbed. Typical arrangements can be telescopic or static depending on the design of the snubbing unit structure.

Hydraulic Workover Unit: A unit that competes directly with conventional work over rigs. By utilizing hydraulic cylinders instead of a traditional draw-works arrangement, the unit maintains a small footprint allowing rig up in tight areas such as on offshore platforms.

Live well completions: A well condition where tubulars and tools are pulled or inserted into a well with the use of a rig assist snubbing unit or self-contained snubbing unit. The well has surface pressure from the down hole formations. Wells can be either gas or oil.

Live well workovers: Describes the condition of a gas or oil well is in when tubulars are snubbed in or out of well. There is pressure at surface in these wells making them ideal candidates for snubbing operations.

Passive Rotary: A turn-table integrally mounted in the snubbing unit traveling plate which allows the rotation of the string with the slips closed on the pipe in either the snub mode or pipe heavy mode. This rotary must be driven with an external force be it by hand or with a power swivel rigged above the unit.

Pipe Light:  In regards to snubbing, this term describes the condition when the well bore forces acting on the cross-sectional area of the pipe being snubbed are greater than string weight; if tubing is not controlled, the snubbing unit will eject itself from the well.

Powered Rotary: A turn-table integrally mounted in the snubbing unit traveling plate which allows the rotation of the string with the slips closed on the pipe in either the snub mode or pipe heavy mode. This rotary is driven with hydraulic motors, allowing the unit to perform string rotation without external support equipment.

Rig assist snubbing: A mobile snubbing unit, either truck-mounted or skid-mounted, that works in conjunction with a workover, service or drilling rig for workover or completions work on a live well or underbalanced well. Unit is capable of running or pulling tubulars and tools under pressure.

Scalloped spool: A spacer spool modified for snubbing to allow well bore pressures to equalize or bleed off around the tubing hanger when landing or pulling the hanger.

Self contained snubbing:A snubbing unit which stands alone by itself with no need of a service, workover or drilling rig. A self-contained unit is capable of workover or completion work on a live well or underbalanced well or indirect.

Snubbing: A procedure in which tubing is run or pulled from a well, which is in an underbalanced or live well condition. Snubbing units have specialized pressure control devices which permit them to deliver drilling, completion and workover services while there is pressure in the wellbore. Snubbing units eliminate the need to neutralize well pressure prior to servicing and therefore avoid the formation damage which neutralizing pressure can have on a well’s ability to produce.

Snubbing jack: The structure of the unit designed to withstand engineered ratings for both the pipe weight and the force applied by the unit’s hydraulic cylinders. The hydraulically operated equipment which enables crews to work on underbalanced or live well.

Snubbing Operator:Equivalent to a driller position, the snubbing operator physically operates the snubbing unit and takes direction from the snubbing supervisor. The operator is responsible for managing the daily activities of the rest of the snubbing crew, and ensuring that the equipment is functioning as designed.

Snubbing slips: A set of hydraulically actuated slips which can be run either inverted or right side up to control the movements of pipe in conjunction with a snubbing jack to insert or extract tubulars under live well or underbalanced conditions.

Snubbing Supervisor:Equivalent to a rig manager or tool push, the snubbing supervisor is responsible for all aspects of the snubbing unit and its operations. He/she is the direct liaison to the oil company representative he/she is working for. All members of the snubbing crew are subordinate to the snubbing supervisor. Typically the supervisor will have in excess of 10 years’ experience in snubbing operations.

Snubbing unit: A hydraulically actuated unit with slips, BOP stack and hydraulic jack for inserting or pulling tubing and BHA’s from underbalanced or live well conditions.

Stand alone snubbing (see self contained unit): Use of a snubbing unit by itself without the aid of a service, workover or drilling rig. Unit is capable of workover or completion work on a live well or underbalanced well.

Stripping on: : The procedure in which a snubbing unit is rigged onto a service, workover or drilling rig, which is holding the pipe heavy tubing string with their tubing slips and not with a tubing hanger landed.

Traveling plate: The plate which connects the rods from the hydraulic cylinders together on a snubbing unit where the traveling and heavy slips are attached. There are many cylinder configurations and stroke lengths possible depending on job requirements.

Underbalanced completions: The condition of a well when completion services such as snubbing are performed. Formation pressure is greater than the hydrostatic pressure inside the well bore causing pressure to be at surface in the well. Underbalanced completions are prime candidates for snubbing. Typically wells have been perforated before snubbing unit arrives and the unit snubs in a production string to allow the well to be produced.

Underbalanced drilling: This term describes the condition of the well when drilling operations are ongoing. Snubbing units are used to snub out drill strings, i.e. bit changes and then snub in the drill string again or run productions strings.

Underbalanced workovers: The well is live with pressure to surface when workover operations are performed. Rig assist snubbing or self-contained snubbing units are used for the running or pulling of tubulars and BHA’s. Typically the snubbing unit pulls pipe from the well, the original zone is worked over, abandoned, or a new zone perforated and the snubbing unit snubs the production string back into the well.

Manufacturer of standard & mobile rigs & carriers for oilfield applications. Includes well servicing from 14,000 ft. to 22,000 ft., workovers from 10,000 ft. to 16,000 ft. & drilling from 6000 ft. to 10,000 ft. Specifications include brakes range from 28 in. dia. x 8 in. wide to 42 in. dia. x 12 in. wide, barrels from 12 3/4 in. x 38 in. to 18 in. x 43 in., chains from 1 1/4 in. to 1 3/4 in., clutches of 24 in. with single & 2 plate air friction outboards, shafts of 5 in. dia. to 6 1/2 in. dia. & gross weights from 63,200 lbs. to 115,000 lbs. Also includes forged steel, demountable options, mufflers with spark arrestors, dry type air cleaners, transmissions with torque converters, water splash brake cooling & up to 6 axles.

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Inserting and pulling up pipe tubing from oil wells is a precise and challenging job that not every rig is up for. That’s why you need a mobile workover rig from Dragon to get it done right every time. Our workover rigs are state-of-the-art and ready to tackle even the harshest conditions. A workover rig is perfect for site preparation while a standard mobile oil rig can handle a variety of piping tasks. Need workover rig parts, or service on another mobile rig? Dragon has that covered with our parts selection, too. View all of our workover rigs and other drilling rigs today.

Workover rigs, also called completion rigs or pulling units, are specialized oil rigs set up for inserting or pulling pipe tubing in and out of wells. Workover crews are called when an oil well has been drilled, is undergoing repair or is being retired. Cotta manufactures a 3 shaft transfer case that is being used in workover rigs.  The gearbox moves the power from the rear wheels, and while stationary over a well when the mast is up, it is used to run the draw works and winches.

Well servicing rigs, also known as workover rigs or pulling units, are used in well completion, well maintenance and well abandonment operations. The well servicing and coiled tubing market rises and falls based primarily in conjunction with the number and type of new wells completed. Increased oil demand, rising oil prices and improved operator cash flow are expected to drive higher upstream investment going forward and lift the $5 billion well servicing and coiled tubing services markets in 2021 and beyond.

The coiled tubing services market includes the supply of coiled tubing services to drilling, completion, and production operations. The coiled tubing (CT) services market is now primarily driven by the use of CT units in place of well servicing units when completing horizontal wells. While production services, or well intervention, were the original application of coiled tubing, completion-related services now drive this market because continuous tubing can be tripped into a well more quickly than conventional tubing handled by a well servicing unit. However, with new horizontal laterals now regularly exceeding 10000’ in the US, coiled tubing runs into a mechanical limit. This is driving oil companies to large, high spec well servicing rigs for new well completions.

Sinotai Petroleum Equipment Co., Ltd (Sinotai), with the brand of TS-SINOTAI, located in the beautiful Yellow River Delta, the second biggest oilfield of China – Shengli Oilfield, is an international trading company that mainly engaged in importing & exporting of all kinds of petroleum equipments, equipment maintenance and engineer service.We have almost 60 years experience of the manufacting, design and supply drilling and workover rig in China, more than 30 engineers" team can satisfy all the special requirement of the oilfield products, can design special according the oilfiled situations and customers requirment.Our main products include drilling rig, workover rig, no-guyline workover rig, anchoreless workover rig, multi-function workover rig, speical vichile, and the other parts which together with the main rig, like the wellhead tools, down hole tools, drill bit, etc.On the basis of high quality, suitable price, delivery fast and on time, professional technical service, insisting on the principle of "abide by contracts and keep one"s words credit and promise", "win-win", Sinotai has build good long-term business relationship with the drilling companies and suppliers all over the world. Now, our equipments have been supplied to international markets including North American, South American, Europe, Middle East, Russia, Turkey, India, Kazakhstan etc.

Sinotai sincerely hope to cooperate with all friends both in China and abroad to create brilliant achievements in the future.Sinotai Petroleum Equipment Co., Ltd (Sinotai), with the brand of TS-SINOTAI, located in the beautiful Yellow River Delta, the second biggest oilfield of China – Shengli Oilfield, is an international trading company that mainly engaged in importing & exporting of all kinds of petroleum equipments, equipment maintenance and engineer service.We have almost 60 years experience of the manufacting, design and supply drilling and workover rig in China, more than 30 engineers" team can satisfy all the special requirement of the oilfield products, can design special according the oilfiled situations and customers requirment.Our main products include drilling rig, workover rig, no-guyline workover rig, anchoreless workover rig, multi-function workover rig, speical vichile, and the other parts which together with the main rig, like the wellhead tools, down hole tools, drill bit, etc.On the basis of high quality, suitable price, delivery fast and on time, professional technical service, insisting on the principle of "abide by contracts and keep one"s words credit and promise", "win-win", Sinotai has build good long-term business relationship with the drilling companies and suppliers all over the world. Now, our equipments have been supplied to international markets including North American, South American, Europe, Middle East, Russia, Turkey, India, Kazakhstan etc.