Having a pipe get stuck in a downhole during drilling or workover operations is one of the most frustrating situations you can encounter as an operator. When pipe gets stuck, it halts progress and costs time and money. The good news is that wireline services offer several techniques that can help you recover a stuck pipe quickly and efficiently.

Fishing With Wireline

One of the most common wireline services for pipe recovery is fishing. Fishing refers to using specialized wireline tools to engage and retrieve pipe, tubing, or downhole equipment that has become lodged in the wellbore.

Common fishing tools include overshots, spears, magnets, and mills. Wireline fishing can be much faster and more efficient than rig fishing. Wireline fishing tools are compact, so they can fit through restrictions that surface equipment can’t.

Surveying the Situation

Before fishing, wireline services can also survey downhole conditions to determine exactly where and how the pipe is stuck. Wireline tools like caliper logs and gyros provide a precise picture of wellbore dimensions, landing points, and deviation. This information helps you develop the optimal fishing strategy and select the best specialized fishing tool for the situation.

Wireline camera services are also invaluable for stuck pipe recovery. Wellbore video can visually locate obstructions, damage, and confirm successful tool engagement. Being able to see the downhole environment brings a whole new level of insight.

Freeing the Stuck Pipe

In addition to fishing, wireline offers several techniques to help free stuck pipe so that it can be worked loose:

• Spotting acid or solvents with wireline to dissolve debris or scale holding the pipe.
• Setting wireline packers downhole above and below the stuck point to isolate it for spotting fluids or pumping without circulating up the annulus.
• Milling or washing over the stuck area with coordinated pumping through wireline.
• Jarring or tugging on the stuck pipe by coordinating slickline movements with surface pulling.

Wireline services enable you to deliver specialized fluids, provide isolation, and coordinate downhole operations in ways that rig equipment alone can’t accomplish. And because wireline can operate through tubing, options like spotting acid are still available even when the drill pipe is stuck.

Backups For When the Pipe Can’t Be Recovered

As much as we all try to avoid it, sometimes the stuck pipe can’t be recovered. When all options have been exhausted, wireline services can still deliver backup plans:

• Setting cement retainer plugs above the stuck pipe to abandon the bottom segment and save the upper section.
• Perforating above the stuck pipe to cut the drillstring and recover the free section.
• Logging the open hole below the stuck pipe to capture data before abandoning it.

Even when stuck, a drill pipe has to be abandoned downhole, wireline provides ways to salvage as much of the string as possible while obtaining valuable hole information.

Pipe recovery is challenging. But with the right techniques and tools, a stuck pipe doesn’t have to become a permanent downhole obstruction. Wireline services offer specialized fishing, imaging, isolation, and recovery capabilities that can save time, preserve assets, and prevent a costly fishing job.

So, next time you’re facing a stuck pipe, don’t go it alone – call in the wireline experts, like Renegade Wireline Services, to help get you back in action quickly.