• Operators
  • Wireline Operator
  • NOC #8232

Wireline Operator

Job Overview

In 1927, two geophysicist brothers—Conrad and Marcel Schumberger—ran the very first wireline at the Pechelbronn Oil Company in France. They attached three conductive cables, batteries and a potentiometer to a weighted probe using insulating tape. They loaded the cables onto a hand-operated winch and lowered it 600 metres where it gathered logging data. The process took 15 hours.

Today, wireline operators use sensors, hydraulics, pressure gauges and motors to unravel the mysteries of an oil well. If this drills down into what you’re looking for, a career as a wireline operator might be a perfect fit.

Wireline operators raise and lower special downhole instruments and tools into oil and gas wells to collect and process data. In general wireline crews lower, operate or direct the operations of wireline instruments, tools and equipment. These can range from electrical well logging equipment (e-line), to perforating guns which are used to perforate well casing and permit oil and gas to flow into the well, to downhole plugs and fishing tools used to retrieve broken or lost wire or equipment. Wireline operators also drive wireline trucks to and from drilling sites. Wireline operators can specialize in cased-hole or open-hole conditions.

Transferability information for this occupation is available on the Oil and gas well drillers, servicers, testers and related workers. 

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Oil and gas