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The operator sent an MSA. Does your insurance match it?

Insurance for roustabout, workover, water hauling, hot oil and inspection contractors, built around the operator MSA. Talk to a licensed specialist, or send the insurance exhibit and get back a punch list. No charge.

Free. A specialist replies within one business day. No obligation.

Have an MSA in hand? Send it for review
  • Read by a licensed agent, not a form bot
  • Built around Texas Chapter 127
  • Permian, Eagle Ford and Haynesville crews

Contractors call us at one of three moments.

An operator sent you a master service agreement

The insurance exhibit lists limits, additional insured wording, waivers and notice terms. Most small contractors sign it before checking that their policies can deliver them.

ISNetworld or Avetta flagged your insurance

A rejected certificate usually means a name mismatch, a missing endorsement or a limit that falls short. Every week it stays red can cost you a job ticket.

The contract says you indemnify the operator

In Texas, Chapter 127 decides how much of that promise is enforceable, and your insurance is what makes it enforceable at all. Unequal limits change the math.

Same MSA, different exposure. It depends what your crews do.

Roustabout & lease maintenanceGang trucks, pipe yards, tank batteries, small crews on many leases.Well servicing & workoverPulling units and the well itself: care, custody and control.Water hauling & SWDAuto is the whole account: pollution in transit, MCS-90, driver files.Hot oil & frac supportFired heaters, burns, fire and explosion, expensive units on the road.Inspection & testingWhen the product is a report, the exposure is professional liability.

Seven places a certificate fails a review.

A certificate of insurance is a summary. The operator's reviewer, or the platform working for them, reads it against the written requirements and asks for the endorsements behind it. These are the spots that bounce.

Why was my certificate rejected?ISNetworld requirements

Sample certificate: where reviews fail

Annotated sample certificate of insuranceA sample certificate with seven numbered problems: insured name mismatch, blank additional insured and waiver boxes, narrow auto symbol, short umbrella limit, missing workers comp waiver, vague description of operations, and a notice of cancellation the certificate cannot promise.CERTIFICATE OF LIABILITY INSURANCESAMPLE · FICTIONAL DATAINSUREDCaprock Lease Service, LLCOdessa, TX1CERTIFICATE HOLDERExample Operating CompanyMidland, TXTYPE OF INSURANCEADDL INSDSUBR WVDPOLICY PERIODLIMITSCommercial general liability211/01/25 - 11/01/26Each occurrence $1,000,000General aggregate $2,000,000Auto: ☐ any auto ☑ scheduled3XX11/01/25 - 11/01/26Combined single $1,000,000Umbrella liability, occur11/01/25 - 11/01/26Each occurrence $2,000,0004Workers comp & employers liab.N/A511/01/25 - 11/01/26StatutoryE.L. each accident $500,000DESCRIPTION OF OPERATIONS / LOCATIONS / VEHICLESCertificate holder is additional insured.6CANCELLATIONShould any of the above policies be cancelled before the expiration date, notice will bedelivered in accordance with the policy provisions.7
  1. 1Named insured mismatch. The certificate says "LLC," the MSA was signed by the "Inc." Reviewers match names exactly, including DBAs.
  2. 2AI and waiver boxes blank. ADDL INSD and SUBR WVD are empty on the general liability line, so the reviewer cannot see the operator is covered.
  3. 3Auto symbol too narrow. Only scheduled autos are shown. Most MSAs want any auto, or owned plus hired and non-owned.
  4. 4Umbrella limit short. A $2M umbrella against a $5M requirement fails, even when everything else is right.
  5. 5Workers comp waiver and EL limits. No waiver of subrogation on comp, and employers liability at $500K where $1M is commonly required.
  6. 6Description of operations too vague. "Holder is additional insured" with no mention of primary and non-contributory, completed operations, or the endorsement forms.
  7. 7Notice of cancellation. The certificate itself cannot promise 30 days notice. That takes an endorsement on the policy, and reviewers know it.
Fictional certificate laid out like the common ACORD 25 form. A certificate only summarizes coverage; reviewers compare it, and the endorsement copies behind it, against the operator's written requirements.

Paste your MSA's insurance section. See every requirement in it.

The free MSA decoder pulls out the limits, endorsements and indemnity terms, explains what each one needs from your policy, and flags where certificates usually get rejected. It runs in your browser.

Open the MSA decoder

In Texas, your indemnity is only as big as the insurance behind it.

The Texas Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Act voids most promises to cover the other side's negligence on well work. The big exception is indemnity backed by insurance the parties agreed to carry. That turns the insurance exhibit into the part of the MSA that decides who pays.

How Chapter 127 works with your policies

Chapter 127: how insurance caps indemnity

Texas Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Act insurance cap diagramExample: contractor agrees to carry 10 million dollars and operator agrees to carry 5 million. The mutual indemnity is enforceable up to 5 million each way. A unilateral indemnity can require at most 500 thousand dollars of insurance.Mutual indemnity, unequal insuranceOne-way indemnity$0$2.5M$5M$7.5M$10MNot enforceableas indemnityContractoragreed to carry $10MOperatoragreed to carry $5MCap: loweramount, $5Meach wayMax $500,000of required insuranceYou indemnify,they don'tNo agreed insurance backing it? Indemnity for the other side's negligence is generally void (§127.003).
Illustrative amounts. Under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §127.005(b), a mutual indemnity is enforceable to the extent of the insurance each side agreed to carry; when the amounts differ, Texas courts have limited both sides to the lower amount (Ken Petroleum Corp. v. Questor Drilling Corp., Tex. 2000). A one-way indemnity can require no more than $500,000 of insurance (§127.005(c)).

Three basins, three different risk profiles.

Drilling rig against a West Texas sunset

Permian

West Texas and southeast New Mexico

  • Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) on many leases
  • Produced water hauling and SWD traffic
  • Long lease-road miles per truck
  • New Mexico work needs out-of-state comp
Permian contractor insurance
Producing field with pump jacks in morning haze

Eagle Ford

South Texas

  • Sand and frac traffic on rural roads
  • Yards and equipment closer to Gulf storms
  • Heavy summer heat exposure for crews
  • Mixed oil, condensate and gas work
Eagle Ford contractor insurance
Drilling rig on a pad cut out of timber country

Haynesville

East Texas and northwest Louisiana

  • Deep, high-pressure gas wells
  • Louisiana work: different anti-indemnity law
  • Louisiana workers comp is not optional
  • Wet ground and timber-country access
Haynesville contractor insurance
Find your town: Midland, Odessa, Pecos, Hobbs, Carlsbad, Kilgore and more

Questions owners ask us

All questions

How working with us works

Who will I be talking to?

A licensed insurance agent who works with oilfield service contractors and reads operator MSAs, ISNetworld and Avetta requirements every week. Not a call center and not a form bot.

Does a review or a conversation cost anything?

No. Talking through your program and checking an MSA insurance exhibit against your current policies is free, with no obligation to move anything.

What should I have ready?

Your current certificate of insurance, and the insurance section of any MSA you are working under or about to sign. If ISNetworld or Avetta rejected something, the rejection notice helps too. None of it is required to start.

What kinds of contractors do you work with?

Oilfield service companies: roustabout and lease maintenance, well servicing and workover, water hauling and saltwater disposal, hot oil and frac support, and inspection and testing.

Can you help if my renewal is months away?

Yes, and that is the best time. Endorsements, limits and entity names are easiest to fix before a renewal or before the operator's reviewer flags them.

How is coverage placed?

Coverage is placed through a licensed Texas insurance agency. We explain insurance, not law, so indemnity wording should also go past your attorney.

Talk to an oilfield insurance specialist.

Response time
Within one business day
No obligation
A conversation and a review, not a pitch
Built for the oilfield
MSAs, ISNetworld, Avetta, Chapter 127
Prefer to call?
949-441-9365

Have an operator's insurance exhibit in hand? Send it for an MSA review.

Coverage is placed through a licensed Texas insurance agency. We explain insurance, not law: indemnity wording belongs with your attorney.

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