Wireline Insights from an Oklahoma Independent

Hey, Peter here.

I love doing whatever this is:

Get introduced to great people and talk to them as long as they'll have me about oil and gas things.

I especially love talking to the old people that have been working in the field for decades. You can't knock it, they know things and you can't rattle 'em.

That old-timer tribal knowledge is real.

This isn't going to be some in-depth article on wireline, but I want to share hightlights from my 30 minute call today (9/10/25) with a guy in his 80's from Oklahoma. He asked to remain anon here, but I can tell you if you call me.

Engineers today are taught to read the new logs, but they aren't taught how to read the old logs and that's what helps you find the next hole.

Computers Hit Different

This guy watched the whole thing unfold. Started in the '70s when computers first showed up on wireline trucks.

Obviously it wasn't like flipping a switch moving to digital.

Every single logging panel had its own computer. You'd have a truck with five different panels, each connected to a different tool.

The real breakthrough didn't come until the early 2000's (2004 specifically, he recalled).

They figured out how to run everything through one panel, monitor all the tools from a single station.

Believe it or not, that was a major breakthrough.

Patents and Backyard Engineering

All the majors, particularly Schlumberger, had patents locked up on damn near every tool.

You wanted to compete as an independent? Good luck buying tools.

So he built his own. He went to the University of Tulsa in the 70's and started pulling patents to use as a starting point.

In the first year, he managed to build one tool. But in year two he built seven tools, and he still uses some of those same designs today.

The process was pure bootlegging: pull every patent you can find, study them like scripture, then figure out how to build something that does the job without stepping on anyone's IP (usually).

He "learned every bolt and wire because he had to."

Old-Timer Knowledge

He believes (and I have heard others say this, too) that there's a massive blind spot in the industry.

Modern engineers can read today's logs just fine because that's what they're taught. They know the software, understand the digital displays, can interpret all the fancy new data.

Show them a log from the 1940-1970? Different story.

And that's a problem, because those old wells are still the roadmap for where to drill new ones.

Maybe this isn't accurate, I need another source to verify, but think about it: 

You're planning a new well location, and the first thing you do is look at what happened in that area before. Where did they drill in the 1950s? What did those logs show? How did those wells perform?

But if you can properly read those old logs and really understand what they're telling you, you've got a better roadmap for your economics.

Why This Matters

I keep coming back to this conversation because it highlights something bigger than just wireline technology. It's about institutional knowledge and how easy it is to lose the stuff that actually matters.

Every time one of these old-timers retires or passes away, decades of hard-earned knowledge goes with them. Not just the technical stuff, but the context, the judgment calls, the ability to look at a 50-year-old log and know exactly what it means for your next drilling decision.

The industry has gotten incredibly sophisticated, but sophistication isn't the same thing as wisdom. Sometimes the most valuable insights come from the simplest observations, made by people who've seen it all before.

TL;DR

Independent operators like this guy in Oklahoma represent something important. They had to innovate because they had no choice. They had to understand everything because they couldn't just call tech support.

At the end of the day, he dealt with the same disruption we face now, just 50 years earlier. Computers replacing manual operations, and new tools generating more data than anyone knew what to do with.

The only difference is he couldn't afford to lose the old knowledge because he needed every edge he could get.

Maybe we should take notes, and maybe most importantly, they bridge that gap between old and new, between the way things used to be done and the way they're done now.

That tribal knowledge? It's not just interesting stories. It's the difference between drilling a good well and drilling the right well.

And it's disappearing faster than we're replacing it, so young guys and gals, listen up and take notes with me.