Jarring

Shit happens in the oilfield and stuff get stuck downhole all the time.

Sometimes when that stuff is really stuck you can pull on it and jerk on it with the rig, but always risk parting the tubing, pulling the derrick in on top of you and/or generally tearing something up or hurting somebody. Sometimes you can pump gooky down hole, below and up and around the stuck fish, to sort of slick everything up, to lubricate it, then pull on it, slack off; rinse and repeat numerous times, you' might get lucky and it will come loose. Well saved.

Sometimes you gotta just whup on a stuck fish with hydraulic jars.

Don't Pull On Shit THIS Hard

Jars get run in the work string above the fishing tools. An overshot is a fishing tool that is designed to swallow the stuck fish. The overshot has grapples in it that allow you to pull up and the fish will not become "unhooked," so to speak. Hydraulic jars are run (with bumper jars, necessary if you wish to disengage from the fish), drill collars and a host of other high dollar goodies. If you pull on the fish hard enough, fluid in the jars will cause the mechanism to go off, or "hit," and helps loosen up the stuck fish. When the jars hit, it's a helluva lick downhole. Its a lick on the surface too. Think of it as not being about to unscrew something on surface that is really tight, so you wail on it with a 12-pound sledgehammer to loosen it up. "Whup on it, hand" is a common term for knocking the shit out of something to try and fix it. Sort of like jarring.

Sometimes jarring can go on and on. The tubing in the first photograph above has been marked in 8 inch to 12-inch intervals; I've been known to mark my tubing in one-inch increments when jarring. I've jarred on stuck stuff for days and finally the whole thing will come loose and out she all comes. That can often be a moment of jubilation because the alternative to jarring something lose downhole is to have to mill it up with a bit, to sort of grind it up into nothing... and that's awful. Milling it like standing over a toilet and throwing hundred-dollar bills down it all day long. At the end of the day, you flush the toilet then get to start doing the same thing the next day.

Often In the Oilfield It Can Feel Like the Only Place It's Raining Is Right on Your Head

Jarring is pretty easy time for rig hands; they get to clean shit while the jars are going off, and take lots of breaks in the doghouse, that sort of thing. The rig operator, above, has to stay on the floor and watch the weight indicator and pull enough over string weight with the rig to get the jars to hit. A day of this shit in 110F weather will give you a headache and along about 16:00 hrs. an operator can actually start seeing Bud Light mirages off in the distance.

It's interesting how an inch or two of movement when jarring on a stuck fish can keep the party going. If the fish stops moving completely, it's much easier to reach the "screw this shit" moment and stop jarring.

On the other hand, if it looks like it's coming lose you can spend thousands and thousands of more dollars thinking any minute it will come lose, only for it never come lose and then you have to do what you should have done in the first place...whatever that was.

Listen, this downhole stuff is not easy. Its dark down there and hard to see.

It takes a few minutes for hydraulic jars to "hit" and this can go on all day long, and then some.

Fishing for stuff downhole is expensive and frustrating. The trick is knowing when to say when and stop pouring good money after bad. It's better than having to replace the well, however. Sometimes.

Fishing always involves lots of long tubing trips that can make hands grumpy, like this fella below. His arms are big as my thighs and when he gives you the look, like the one below, best give him a wide berth.

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All photos courtesy my old fishing buddy, Mike Rasco, who can actually see downhole.