racking back pipe, Oil & Gas Glossary

What Is Racking Back Pipe?

Racking back pipe is the rig floor operation of removing stands of drillpipe or drill collars from the drill string during a trip out of the hole and standing them vertically in the derrick's fingerboard and racking board, where they are secured in numbered bays by the derrickman until the trip is completed and the pipe is run back into the hole, allowing the entire drill string to be held vertically in the derrick without laying it out horizontally on the pipe rack.

Key Takeaways

Stands are typically two or three joints connected together (30-ft, 60-ft, or 90-ft stands) before racking in the derrick.
The fingerboard at the top of the stand holds the stand tops; the setback at floor level supports the stand bottoms.
Racking back in stands (not single joints) dramatically reduces trip time by tripling or quadrupling connections during run-in.
The derrickman in the monkey board guides stands into the fingerboard slots and pins each bay closed for safety.
Stand count and racking configuration are tracked to manage weight on the setback and derrick structural load limits.

How Racking Back Pipe Works During a Trip

When the drill string must be pulled from the wellbore — for a bit change, a logging run, a casing string, or end of section — the driller begins a trip out of the hole. Rather than disassembling the drillpipe into individual joints (each 9.1 metres long) and laying them out horizontally on the pipe rack, the rig procedure is to pull stands of connected joints from the wellbore and stand them vertically in the derrick. A stand consists of two or three joints of drillpipe that were connected when they were originally tripped into the hole during drilling, typically 18.3 metres (double) or 27.4 metres (triple) in length for 9.1-metre joints.

The racking procedure involves the coordinated work of the driller, the floormen, and the derrickman. As each stand is pulled from the hole and cleared from the wellbore, the floormen break out the tool joint between the stand and the remaining string using pipe tongs, releasing the stand at the rig floor. The derrickman, working from the monkey board — a platform 15-25 metres above the rig floor — guides the top of the stand into one of the numbered slots in the fingerboard, a horizontal frame with multiple parallel slots that hold the stand tops separated and accessible. The bottom of the stand rests on the setback, the reinforced section of the rig floor around the rotary table where the stand bases accumulate during tripping. Each filled slot is pinned closed to prevent the stand from falling. The process reverses when running the string back in: the derrickman pulls each stand from its slot, and the floormen connect the stand to the string in sequence.

Racking Back Pipe Applications Across International Jurisdictions

In Canada, WCSB land rigs typically rack back in doubles or triples depending on derrick height. AER drilling regulations and Energy Safety Canada rig inspection protocols address derrick load capacity and setback weight limits; the total weight of all racked-back stands must not exceed the derrick's design load capacity at any point during the trip. Horizontal Montney wells with 5,000-7,000 metre measured depths require racking back large numbers of stands — potentially 150-250 triple stands for a full trip out — making efficient racking procedure critical for minimising trip time and associated rig cost at CDN$15,000-50,000 per day.

In the United States, offshore jackup and semisubmersible rigs in the Gulf of Mexico routinely rack back in doubles or triples depending on the rig's racking capacity. BSEE rig inspection requirements include verification that setback weight limits are not exceeded during operations; overloading the setback during a heavy drill collar trip can exceed derrick design loads and create structural failure risk. In Norway, NCS semisubmersible and drillship derricks are designed for large racking capacities consistent with the deep wells (4,000-6,000+ m TVD) drilled in Barents Sea and North Sea exploration. In the Middle East, Saudi Aramco's onshore land rig fleet includes both conventional rotary rigs with manual racking procedures and newer automated rigs where pipe handling robotics perform the racking function without manual derrickman involvement on the monkey board.

Fast Facts

The trip time for a deep well is significantly affected by stand length. Running 3,000 metres of drillpipe as 1,000 single joints (9 m each) requires 1,000 connections during run-in and 1,000 connections during pull-out — 2,000 total connection operations. Racking back in triple stands (27 m each) reduces this to 333 stands, requiring only 333 connections each way — 667 total. At 2-3 minutes per connection plus handling time, running triples instead of singles saves approximately 3-5 hours per trip on a 3,000-metre well, equivalent to USD 30,000-100,000 in rig cost savings per trip at current day rates. For wells requiring multiple trips (bit changes, logging runs, casing strings), the cumulative trip time savings from triples versus singles is substantial.

Derrickman Safety and Racking Procedures

The derrickman position working the monkey board during pipe trips is one of the highest-risk positions on a drilling rig. The derrickman works at height (15-25 metres above the rig floor) while handling 300-800 kg pipe stands swinging in the derrick, often in adverse weather conditions on offshore rigs. Safety procedures for the racking operation include full fall arrest harness tied-off to the monkey board structure at all times, secondary monkey board retention lines, hard hat and steel-toed boots, and communication protocols with the driller who controls the travelling block speed. Automated racker systems — mechanical arms that guide stands into fingerboard slots without requiring a person on the monkey board — have been developed by major rig contractors (National Oilwell Varco, Weatherford) and are now standard on many new-build offshore rigs, eliminating the monkey board personnel risk. Automated rackers also improve racking speed and consistency compared to manual operations.

Tip: When planning a trip in a well with heavy drill collars, calculate the setback weight at the maximum racked-back condition before beginning the trip and confirm it is within the derrick load specifications. The setback weight equals the total weight of all drill collars and drill pipe stands that will be simultaneously racked in the derrick at the moment when the heaviest bottom-hole assembly section has been pulled but not yet run back. In wells with 200+ metres of drill collars (typical for 8.5-inch sections), this weight can approach or exceed setback capacity on smaller rigs. If capacity is tight, plan to trip drill collars and drillpipe in separate partial trips, or lay out a portion of the collar string on the pipe rack to reduce simultaneous setback weight.

Racking back pipe is also referenced as:

Racking pipe — the shortened form used in rig floor operations discussions; "racking pipe" as a verb describes the physical act of placing stands in the fingerboard during a trip out
Setting back — an alternate phrasing used in some regional rig operations traditions; "setting back" emphasises the placement of stands on the setback area of the rig floor rather than the derrick fingerboard aspect
Tripping pipe — the broader operation that includes racking back as one component; tripping encompasses both pulling pipe from the hole and running it back in, with racking being the intermediate holding step for the pulled stands

Related terms: trip, drillpipe, derrick, fingerboard, setback

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a double and a triple stand of drillpipe?

A double stand consists of two joints of drillpipe screwed together end-to-end, typically 18-19 metres (60 feet) in total length for standard 9.1-metre (30-foot) range 2 drillpipe joints. A triple stand consists of three joints, typically 27-28 metres (90 feet). The stand length that can be racked in a derrick is limited by the derrick height and the position of the monkey board and fingerboard. Standard land rig derricks (API mast or conventional derrick) can typically accommodate doubles or triples depending on height. Offshore jackup and semisubmersible derricks are generally taller (60+ metres) and can rack doubles and triples comfortably; some rig designs can rack fourbles (four joints) for even greater trip efficiency. The stand length used is a compromise between trip speed (longer stands = fewer connections per trip) and the vertical space available in the derrick for racking.

How does automated pipe racking change rig operations?

Automated pipe racking systems use robotic arms, rail-mounted grippers, or pipe handling machines to move stands from the wellbore to the fingerboard (and back) without requiring a person in the monkey board position. The automated racker receives position commands from the driller's cabin and executes the racking movements at controlled speed with anti-collision logic to prevent pipe collisions in the derrick. Modern automated rackers on new-build offshore rigs can match or exceed manual racking speeds while completely eliminating the monkey board personnel risk. They also enable 24-hour sustained high-speed tripping without fatigue effects that can slow manual operations on the fourth hour of a continuous trip. The tradeoff is capital cost (automated rackers add USD 3-8 million to a new rig's cost) and maintenance requirements; for rigs where crew safety and sustained trip speed are priority objectives, automated racking is increasingly the standard choice.

Why Racking Back Pipe Matters in Oil and Gas

Trip time is a significant component of total well time on any drilling programme, and the efficiency of the racking back procedure directly determines how much time is spent on each trip. On a deep well requiring five or six trips during drilling (for bit changes, casing strings, and logging), each trip may take 12-24 hours. The stand length racked, the efficiency of the derrickman and floor crew, and the use of automated pipe handling determine whether a trip takes 10 hours or 20 hours — a 10-hour difference worth USD 50,000-500,000 depending on the rig day rate. At the fleet scale, optimising racking back procedures across hundreds of rigs and thousands of wells annually represents a multi-billion dollar efficiency opportunity that motivates continuous improvement in pipe handling automation, rig crew training, and derrick design to minimise non-productive trip time across the global drilling industry.

Racking Back Pipe: Definition, Drillstring Trip Operations, and Rig Floor Procedures