diff --git a/tsdb/ooo_head_read.go b/tsdb/ooo_head_read.go
index 9feb6bc6f2..0552c6053a 100644
--- a/tsdb/ooo_head_read.go
+++ b/tsdb/ooo_head_read.go
@@ -276,16 +276,18 @@ type OOOCompactionHead struct {
 // All the above together have a bit of CPU and memory overhead, and can have a bit of impact
 // on the sample append latency. So call NewOOOCompactionHead only right before compaction.
 func NewOOOCompactionHead(head *Head) (*OOOCompactionHead, error) {
-	newWBLFile, err := head.wbl.NextSegmentSync()
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
 	ch := &OOOCompactionHead{
 		chunkRange:  head.chunkRange.Load(),
 		mint:        math.MaxInt64,
 		maxt:        math.MinInt64,
-		lastWBLFile: newWBLFile,
+		lastWBLFile: 0,
+	}
+	if head.wbl != nil {
+		lastWBLFile, err := head.wbl.NextSegmentSync()
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		ch.lastWBLFile = lastWBLFile
 	}
 
 	ch.oooIR = NewOOOHeadIndexReader(head, math.MinInt64, math.MaxInt64)