Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas — Tasks

Task statements

• Maintain and perform safety inspections on equipment and tools.
• Operate controls that raise derricks or level rigs.
• Listen to engines, rotary chains, or other equipment to detect faulty operations or unusual well conditions.
• Prepare reports of services rendered, tools used, or time required, for billing purposes.
• Install pressure-control devices onto wellheads.
• Confer with others to gather information regarding pipe or tool sizes or borehole conditions in wells.
• Operate pumps that circulate water, oil, or other fluids through wells to remove sand or other materials obstructing the free flow of oil.
• Drive truck-mounted units to well sites.
• Interpret instrument readings to ascertain the depth of obstruction.
• Thread cables through derrick pulleys, using hand tools.
• Select fishing methods or tools for removing obstacles such as liners, broken casing, screens, or drill pipe.
• Close and seal wells no longer in use.
• Direct drilling crews performing activities such as assembling and connecting pipe, applying weights to drill pipes, or drilling around lodged obstacles.
• Apply green technologies or techniques, such as the use of coiled tubing, slim-hole drilling, horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing, or gas lift systems.
• Operate specialized equipment to remove obstructions by backing off or severing pipes by chemical or explosive action.
• Perforate well casings or sidewalls of boreholes with explosive charges.
• Examine unserviceable wells to determine actions to be taken to improve well conditions.
• Monitor sound wave-generating or detecting mechanisms to determine well fluid levels.
• Insert detection instruments into wells with obstructions.