American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2020 - 58

SpecialReport: Well Completion Technology
Continuous-Duty Pumps
These three imperatives-minimizing
maintenance costs, reducing the number
of pumps, and pushing those pumps much
harder in true continuous-duty fashion-
comprised REV's core strategy for its fleet.
Given the economic pressures that oil and
gas operators are under, it has never been
more critical to minimize the time required
to complete a well while ensuring that
each stage is treated as designed. In the
performance metric-dominated world of
pressure pumping, the company recognized
that achieving its strategic goals would
help give it a competitive advantage, build
a stellar reputation in the marketplace, and
hopefully, win more business.
To meet its goals, REV purchased 13
Weir SPM® QEM 3000 pumps for its
fleet. As a young pressure pumping service
company, it was unsure which type of environment its crews would find themselves
in most often. The continuous-duty QEM
3000 was ideal precisely because of its
ability to run 275,000-pound rod loads
100% of the time, compared with legacy
intermittent 2,500-horsepower pumps'

58 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

typical 1,600-horsepower operation.
Choosing the most heavy-duty pump,
regardless of the potential conditions,
might seem counterintuitive, but the logic
holds up when examined through the
lens of creating a core fleet that converts
reliability into reduced operating costs.
While the higher-horsepower pump is
designed to handle the most extreme conditions and jobs with 13,000-plus psi, it
also enables operators to avoid downtime
when they adhere to regularly scheduled
recommended maintenance of the pump's
robust power end. Synchronizing maintenance schedules with the engine and
transmission reduced downtime and total
cost of ownership even further.
Because the QEM 3000 is a true continuous-duty pump, fewer backup pumps
are required on site. With its fleet, REV
was able to reach the required rate and
pressure with 40% fewer frac pump units.
This not only results in lower fuel and
other consumable costs, but also provides
a 40% smaller carbon footprint, proving
that greater reliability impacts many aspects of a fracturing operation. The ability

to confidently run the pumps harder, and
not derated like legacy pumps, minimizes
the number of trailers needed.
Near-Zero Downtime
This creative application of horsepower
has worked extremely well, enabling
REV to report near-zero downtime in the
first 12 months of operation with 95%+
ready-to-pump time. Because of this, the
company achieved more than a 30% reduction in repairs and maintenance, allowing it to accomplish its goals of minimizing costs and downtime, which ultimately created a dramatic impact on the
bottom line. REV's fleet has been used
in a variety of conditions, from low-pressure to higher-pressure jobs. In each instance, the fleet performed exceptionally
well with zero power end issues.
Comprehensive maintenance training
ensures REV's field crews possess bestin-class maintenance practices, which has
enabled them to experience zero power
end failures, dramatically curbing NPT.
Each crew member was properly trained
in maintenance and operations, and each
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2020

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