According to people in this career, the main tasks are...
| Task | Importance |
|---|---|
| Maintain and perform safety inspections on equipment and tools. | 91% |
| Operate controls that raise derricks or level rigs. | 90% |
| Listen to engines, rotary chains, or other equipment to detect faulty operations or unusual well conditions. | 90% |
| Prepare reports of services rendered, tools used, or time required, for billing purposes. | 87% |
| Install pressure-control devices onto wellheads. | 86% |
| Direct drilling crews performing activities such as assembling and connecting pipe, applying weights to drill pipes, or drilling around lodged obstacles. | 86% |
| Confer with others to gather information regarding pipe or tool sizes or borehole conditions in wells. | 83% |
| Operate pumps that circulate water, oil, or other fluids through wells to remove sand or other materials obstructing the free flow of oil. | 83% |
| Drive truck-mounted units to well sites. | 82% |
| Interpret instrument readings to ascertain the depth of obstruction. | 81% |
| Thread cables through derrick pulleys, using hand tools. | 79% |
| Select fishing methods or tools for removing obstacles such as liners, broken casing, screens, or drill pipe. | 78% |
| Apply green technologies or techniques, such as the use of coiled tubing, slim-hole drilling, horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing, or gas lift systems. | 76% |
| Operate specialized equipment to remove obstructions by backing off or severing pipes by chemical or explosive action. | 75% |
| Close and seal wells no longer in use. | 75% |
| Perforate well casings or sidewalls of boreholes with explosive charges. | 73% |
| Examine unserviceable wells to determine actions to be taken to improve well conditions. | 69% |
| Monitor sound wave-generating or detecting mechanisms to determine well fluid levels. | 65% |
| Insert detection instruments into wells with obstructions. | 63% |
