American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2017 - 72

Shale Resource Science
made access points larger to simplify
major overhauls," he begins. "Rather than
using oversized components, we put in
normal-size fasteners and bolts so technicians can work with standard hand
tools and torque wrenches.
"On the fluid end, which plays a bigger
role day-to-day because it houses the
consumables, we have deployed a proprietary valve spring retainer configuration
that makes it easy to replace valves and
seats. The field hand only needs to put
the Falcon retainer into the fluid end and
turn it 90 degrees to lock it in place. It is
obvious when that happens, and it can be
confirmed visually, so he does not need
to worry about alignment with other components within the fluid end."
Instead of running the Thunder series
at slower speeds than its predecessors,
Hash notes that a few customers are
maintaining traditional speeds. "That
trades some of the cost reduction associated with longer consumable life, but
provides greater capacity, which may reduce the number of pumps needed for an
application by 20-30 percent," he explains.
Hash points out that the Thunder series
adapts an 11-inch stroke design proven
by a series of 3,000-horsepower pumps
to a smaller footprint. With the triplex
pump weighing 16,000 pounds and the
quintuplex bordering on 20,000 pounds,
Hash says the pumps work for a wider
range of applications, and can be retrofitted
onto trailers designed for legacy 2,2002,500 horsepower pumps.
Gardner Denver has done extensive
stress testing on the pumps to verify they

perform as computer models predict,
Hash assures. "We did 2 million cycles
at full rod loads," he adds. "Pumps traditionally are designed for 1 million full
load cycles, but we wanted to run twice
as long to confirm the pumps could double
maintenance intervals."
The Thunder series' triplex and quintuplex models are undergoing field trials
in Canada and the Permian Basin, Hash
says. "So far, we have gotten great feedback from our partners," he relays. "They
are impressed with the pumps' efficiency,
and ability to minimize stress and vibration. In fact, one customer says the triplex
is smoother than any quintuplex he has
used, which is a testament to the power
end's construction and design."
Self-Suspending Proppant
What if operators could combine the
proppant transport characteristics of a
high-viscosity gel with the low viscosity
of a slickwater system?
Thanks to a self-suspending proppant
called Propel SSP®, that is no longer a
hypothetical question, says Brian Goldstein, a product director with Fairmount
Santrol. "Propel SSP is a game-changing
technology that enhances production by
improving proppant placement," he declares.
"The technology involves wrapping
sand or ceramic proppant in an ultrathin
polymer layer that swells when it comes
into contact with water, reducing the
proppant settling rate and friction simultaneously so proppant is transported easily
through complex fractures in a low viscosity carrier fluid," Goldstein explains.

With its 11-inch stroke, stress-reducing geometry, and high-quality steel components, this
Thunder series quintuplex hydraulic fracturing pump from Gardner Denver can go twice
as long between overhauls as a traditional design. The company says this durability aligns
the pump's maintenance intervals with those of the trailer's engine and transmission.

72 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

"The proppant does not settle out as it
would in a traditional slickwater system.
Operators do not need to accept the tradeoff of less dense proppant, which generally
has insufficient strength, or smaller diameter proppants, which reduce conductivity, to get the proppant placement they
need."
Goldstein adds that the polymer coating
cleans easily using a standard oxidizing
breaker, without causing the residual
damage associated with many gel-type
fluids.
The self-suspending proppant also
helps provide ideal propped fracture
geometry, Goldstein continues. "By enabling any proppant mesh to be placed
wherever slurry fluid flows, Propel SSP
provides flexibility to operationally shape
the final fracture geometry. Where the
carrier fluid used to be a limitation, operators now have more room to manipulate
proppant concentration, pump rates, and
stage sizes to tweak the final propped
height, fracture length and pack density.
"That flexibility contrasts with slickwater, which generally requires significant
fluid volume, low proppant loading, and
a lot of horsepower to create long, thin,
complex fractures, and gel systems, which
rely on viscosity to create a wide and tall
fracture. Both slickwater and gel systems
are not terribly efficient at creating and
effectively propping fractures, as they
are constrained by proppant settling, friction and fluid damage," Goldstein says.
He emphasizes that Propel SSP distributes the proppant throughout the fracture. "The grains of sand stack and fill
the entire fluid column, which means
they prop the entire height of the fracture,"
he reports. "Furthermore, because the
polymer coating attaches the water to
the proppant, minimal fluid can leak into
pore spaces that are too small for the
proppant."
Propel SSP's exceptional transport
characteristics save money by reducing
chemical additives and treating pressure
while enabling the same volume of proppant to be delivered with less water,
Goldstein says. "It works in cold weather,
so there is no need to heat the water. Nor
does the operator need hydration tanks
to give the fluid time to gel," he adds.
The biggest benefit, Goldstein argues,
is the increased production from more
effective proppant placement. "We have
12 months of data from the Bakken/Three

American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2017

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