The Basin's Dirtiest Jobs - September 2010

    We are happy to debut this latest feature; "The Basin's Dirtiest Jobs". We hope to highlight some of the dirtiest jobs in the Basin and introduce you to some of the hard working folks from our community who get dirty every day or have to deal with undesirable substances, perform nasty tasks or deal with all manner of muck, slime, dirt, guts, oil; you name it. If it's a Dirty Job, we want to tell you all about it.

 By: Jennifer Oleen-Rook

Work Over Rig Crew

    The Uintah Basin has its share of oil rigs in "The Patch" and The Patch has its share of dirty jobs, but you may not find one dirtier than that of a work over rig hand. "Work over rig hands get dirty. Anything can happen on a work over rig." Says Luke Massey, Maintenance Supervisor for Stone Well Service as he whips out his cell phone to show me a picture of just how dirty this job can be. He shows me a picture of four men, work over rig hands, covered in black wax crude (see picture). Now that's a really dirty job indeed!

    A work over rig is brought in on an oil or gas well when the well goes down, or quits producing. It's up to the rig hands to "work the hole (or well) over" and get it back online. Working the well over often includes "tripping rods", which means running solid rods all the way down the well (see picture). The rods run down 2 7/8 inch pipe and connect to the pump at the bottom of the well. Once the well is properly worked over and producing again a pump jack is placed on the well and the rig is removed, leaving the pump jack to do all the work on the well. But sometimes getting from start to finish isn't a quick process and sometimes everything doesn't go so smoothly.
    "Every well is different." Explains Massey. "It could take hours to get a well going again other times it could take months. These guys get dirty when they're swabbing or pulling pipe. Sometimes the well will 'burp' and throw oil 80-90 feet in the air. Other times it might a full on blow out." (see pic)    It's definitely not the cleanest job around, but it's good steady work and a necessary task. The Edge Magazine salutes the men and women who work in the oilfields around the Basin. We appreciate your hard work, even if we do pity the person who has to do the laundry when you come home at night.

If you have ideas for "Dirtiest Jobs" please send them to jennifer@theedgemagazine.org with contact information if you've got it.