American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2016 - 77

SpecialReport: Unconventional Resource Science
president of engineering, product management and marketing, says the pump
also offers a 17 percent lower cost of
ownership than traditional high-horsepower designs. "The lower cost of ownership starts at the factory," he says.
"When we designed the pump, we worked
with our supply base to reduce the number
of welds by 62 percent. That means there
is 62 percent less time spent laying down
welds, and 62 percent fewer opportunities
for leaks."
Buckley adds that the company has
designed the pump to align its service
intervals with those of the engine and
other assets on the trailer. He says that is
one reason durability is the biggest factor
in the pump's lower cost of ownership.
"Much of that durability comes from
the pump's mechanical design," Paradis
relates. "The frame is built with forged
segments that create a skeletal structure
and give it rigidity. This rigidity keeps
the frame from flexing during operation,
which extends bearing life."
The bearing and many of the pump's
other components are bigger than their
counterparts in traditional designs, Buckley
notes. "The bearings on the main crankshaft weigh 200 pounds rather than 70,"
he illustrates. "The bearings cost more,
but standard ISO calculations say they
will last four times longer.
"Our lubrication system also helps keep
the pump going," he continues. "The
system has both a high-pressure, low-flow
circuit and a low-pressure, high-flow circuit
so it can change the lubrication's flow or
pressure characteristics to optimize them
for a particular component."
To validate the pump's durability, Weir
did what Paradis calls "industry-first inhouse testing." The company began by
spending $6.6 million to build a flow
loop and test facility at its Fort Worth
manufacturing complex. "We used the
new facility to run the pump through 13
million cycles, including 6 million at full
load," Paradis details. "That has given us
the confidence to put the pump in some
of the most demanding shale plays."
In addition to decreasing operating
costs, Paradis says the pump's durability
will enable customers to buy fewer backups. "We have had customers tell us they
will be able to reduce the number of
pumps they bring to each site by 20-30
percent," he says.
Paradis points out that the quintuplex
SPM QEM 3000 and its triplex brother,
the SPM TEM 2500, can be retrofitted

This SPM® QEM 3000 fracturing pump from Weir Oil & Gas is bound for the Montney and
Durvernay formations in Western Canada. With the durability to operate continuously at
a 275,000-pound rod load, Weir says the new design will enable pressure pumping companies to take fewer backup pumps to each site.

onto many trailers. In fact, the first pump
to go into the field was retrofitted by R4
Equipment Renewal for Canyon Services
Group, which is using it in the Duvernay
and Montney formations in Western Canada. "These are demanding formations,
so they are ideal for challenging the pump
and demonstrating its capabilities," Paradis
concludes.
Detectable Proppants
Operators may soon have a new tool
for analyzing completions: the proppant
itself. "We developed an electric conductive proppant, which allows us to use
surface electromagnetic receivers to tell
where the proppant is," announces Don
P. Conkle, the vice president of marketing
and sales for CARBO.
"This detectable proppant technology
is going to provide tremendous value to
operators," he enthuses. "They will be able
to tell the length and height of each fracture,
and determine the ideal spacing for wells
to maximize estimated ultimate recoveries
and minimize total development costs.
"We also will be able to help optimize
proppant programs," he continues. "By
varying the proppant sieve size and density
with various fluid types, we will be able
to see what frac length and height they
provide, and calibrate economics. That
is going to be game changing."
While many questions about the technology's full capabilities remain unanswered, Conkle says the first field trial
went well. He indicates the company has
several others planned.

To improve production and ultimate
recoveries from slickwater fracs, CARBO
has introduced CARBOAIR™, a low-density, high-transport proppant. "CARBOAIR has a specific gravity of 2.0, or
about 25 percent lighter than sand,"
Conkle offers. "It also settles 40-50
percent slower, and therefore is more
likely to reach the end of a long fracture
and maintain a higher propped height."
In many cases, the proppant can eliminate or reduce the need for gel and the
associated formation damage, Conkle
says. He adds that CARBOAIR's low
specific gravity requires appreciably less
proppant to achieve the desired propped
fracture volume and can decrease horsepower and fluid requirements.
To boost production in applications
that require stronger proppant, CARBO
has introduced KRYPTOSPHERE® LD,
a low-density version of a product designed
for Lower Tertiary wells. "KRYPTOSPHERE LD substantially outperforms
conventional low and intermediate density
ceramics, and in some cases is an alternative to bauxite materials," Conkle says.
"The proppant has the highest conductivity available," he reports. "There are
two reasons for that. First, the grain itself
is extremely strong and durable. Second,
we have engineered the proppant to have
a smooth, spherical shape and uniform
size to maximize the space between each
proppant grain within the frac."
Because of the shape and smoothness,
KRYPTOSPHERE LD and HD inflict
less wear and tear on surface and downhole
MARCH 2016 77

American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2016

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