If there is such a thing as perfection in life, nicknames in the oil field ... a roughneck is still on the hook for 24 more hours of labor — or over half of a normal five-day work week.

"Roughneck" is a general term for anyone who works on an oil patch. In much the same way people who work at logging camps ... Manuel also worked on the floor of the rig with Cooper, but he handled ...

Whether pipe is being fed into the wellbore or it is being taken out, the iron roughneck uses ... efficiency on the rig. Despite drill pipe automation, men and women who work on the rig (usually ...

An oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that caught fire after an explosion on Tuesday night has now sunk, the US Coast Guard has said. A search is continuing for 11 missing workers after the blast at ...