What insurance does my roustabout company need to work under an operator MSA?

Roustabout and lease maintenance work touches almost everything on a producing lease: tank batteries, flowlines, wellhead hookups, location cleanup, pumping unit work, small construction and a lot of driving between leases. Operators know that, so the insurance exhibit in a typical MSA reads like a full contractor program.

The numbers vary by operator and by the size of the work, and we do not publish what any specific operator requires. What follows are ranges that commonly show up in the insurance sections we read. For a fuller breakdown, see what limits operators require and the MSA insurance requirements guide.

Two points matter more than the limits themselves:

• The MSA usually asks for coverage, not just limits. "Commercial general liability including contractual liability, products and completed operations, and sudden and accidental pollution" is a coverage specification. A policy with the right limit and the wrong form still fails.
• The umbrella has to follow form over each underlying line the MSA names. If the MSA says the umbrella must sit over employers liability and auto, an umbrella that only schedules GL does not satisfy it.

An ACORD 25 certificate is a summary. The operator, and the ISNetworld or Avetta reviewer working for them, wants to see that the policy has been endorsed to do what the MSA says. These are the endorsements a roustabout program usually needs, using standard ISO and Texas form numbers. Your policy may use a carrier-specific form that does the same job; the reviewer will want to see the wording either way.

• Additional insured, ongoing operations (CG 20 10) and completed operations (CG 20 37), or a blanket equivalent. The operator wants to be an insured for your work while it is happening and after you leave. ISO split these in 1993, so ongoing-only wording does not cover completed operations. See what a blanket additional insured endorsement is.
• Primary and non-contributory (CG 20 01). Your policy pays first and does not ask the operator's policy to share. See primary and non-contributory explained.
• Waiver of subrogation on GL (CG 24 04), auto (CA 04 44) and Texas workers comp (WC 42 03 04). The Texas WC form is different from the NCCI form used in many other states, and reviewers notice. See waiver of subrogation in the oilfield.
• Notice of cancellation to the certificate holder. The ACORD 25 says the certificate does not change the policy, so a promise of notice has to come from an endorsement.
• Designated insured on auto (CA 20 48), when asked. This names the operator on the auto policy. By its own wording it does not broaden coverage; it confirms who is an insured.

Most rejections we see from lease crews fall into a short list. None of them mean the company is uninsured. They mean the paper does not prove what the MSA asked for, or the policy was bought for a different kind of contractor. The certificate rejection guide covers the general pattern; these are the ones specific to roustabout work.

Underwriters price roustabout work as general oilfield labor, but the claims that hurt a lease crew tend to come from a few specific places.

Hot work around tanks and production equipment

Welding and cutting near tanks, flowlines and vessels is routine for a lease crew. OSHA's oil and gas hazard guidance lists hot work, mobile engines and other ignition sources among the causes of fires and explosions at well sites. Some GL forms written for the oilfield carry hot work conditions or exclusions that the owner never reads. If your crew welds, the policy has to say it covers welding.

Small spills that turn into cleanup bills

Lease crews break into lines, change out valves and move fluids. The standard GL pollution exclusion removes most of that exposure unless the policy carries a sudden and accidental buyback, and even then the reporting windows are short. If the MSA asks for contractors pollution liability, that is a separate coverage, not a checkbox on the GL. See oilfield pollution liability.

Driving between leases

Crew trucks, trailers with welding rigs or small equipment, and employees who drive their own trucks to location. OSHA's oil and gas hazard page states that highway vehicle crashes are the leading cause of fatalities among oil and gas extraction workers. Operators know this, which is why the auto section of the MSA is rarely negotiable. See oilfield auto insurance.

Equipment you own and move

Backhoes, skid steers, welding machines and trailers. Many MSAs make each party responsible for its own equipment and require you to waive recovery against the operator. If your equipment policy has no waiver of subrogation, you are in breach of the MSA the moment equipment is damaged on the operator's location. See oilfield equipment insurance.

Most operator MSAs use a reciprocal or "knock-for-knock" indemnity: each side takes responsibility for injuries to its own people and damage to its own property, regardless of who was at fault. For a roustabout company, that means you are agreeing to defend and indemnify the operator if one of your hands is hurt on location, even if the operator's own negligence caused it. More detail is on the knock-for-knock indemnity page.

Texas limits this. Under the Texas Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Act (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Chapter 127):

• §127.003 voids an agreement to indemnify a party for personal injury, death or property injury caused by that party's sole or concurrent negligence, when the agreement pertains to a well for oil, gas or water.
• §127.005 makes an exception when the parties agree in writing that the indemnity will be supported by liability insurance. For a mutual indemnity, the obligation is limited to the extent of the coverage and dollar limits each party agreed to obtain for the other. For a one-way (unilateral) indemnity, the amount of insurance required may not exceed $500,000.
• §127.004 carves certain losses out of the Act entirely, including property injury from pollution (and its cleanup) and reservoir or underground damage. For those, the Act's protection does not apply, and the clause is judged under general Texas contract law.

What this means in practice: the limits you agree to carry in the insurance exhibit are the measure of the indemnity you are giving. Agreeing to a $10M umbrella that is "for the benefit of" the operator is not just an insurance decision. See does Chapter 127 require mutual insurance.

Texas lets most private employers choose whether to carry workers compensation. Texas Labor Code §406.002 says coverage is generally elective. An employer that does not carry it has to notify the Division of Workers' Compensation (§406.004) and tell employees whether it has coverage (§406.005). A non-subscriber sued by an injured employee also loses the common-law defenses of contributory negligence, assumed risk and fellow-employee negligence (§406.033).

In practice, most operator MSAs require statutory workers comp and employers liability anyway, and ISNetworld and Avetta account requirements usually check for it. A roustabout company running a non-subscriber plan should expect to either buy a WC policy or negotiate an exception before onboarding. See do oilfield contractors need workers comp in Texas.

Chapter 127 also says the Act does not affect a benefit conferred by the Texas workers compensation statutes (§127.006). Your WC policy and your indemnity obligations are separate questions, and both need to line up with the MSA.

Roustabout companies often bring in a welder, a backhoe operator or a vac truck on a day rate. The MSA almost always says your subcontractors must carry the same insurance you do, name the operator as an additional insured and waive subrogation. If they do not, the gap lands on your policy, and many contractor GL forms exclude or limit coverage for work done by uninsured subcontractors.

The fix is mechanical: a written subcontract that flows the operator's insurance and indemnity terms down, current certificates with endorsements on file before the sub sets foot on location, and a check that each sub's umbrella and auto line up. A one-person welding contractor with a personal auto policy and a low-limit GL is a common weak link.

The fastest review starts with the documents the operator will actually compare:

1. The insurance and indemnity sections of the MSA (or the whole MSA if you are not sure where they are).
2. The ISNetworld or Avetta insurance requirements, or the deficiency notice if a certificate was already rejected.
3. Your current certificate and, if you have them, the policy endorsement schedules.

We read the MSA against the program and tell you what the operator is asking for, which endorsements are missing, and where your indemnity exposure sits under Chapter 127. That is the review; there is no obligation attached to it. Basin-specific notes for lease crews are on the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford pages.