Weir Oil & Gas has debuted its new SPM Quintuplex Extended Max (QEM) 5000 E-Frac Pump. It is a continuous-duty electric or gas turbine-capable 5,000 horsepower unit.
Frac site demands have dramatically expanded in the past six years. Today, lateral lengths are 43 per cent longer, the number of stages has increased 94 per cent, sand usage is up 85 per cent and horsepower-hours per well have increased 200 per cent. These factors, combined with operating in increasingly complex environments, pushes conventional frac fleets to their limits with longer pumping hours and less frequent service intervals to increase daily stages. This reality requires frac pumps to provide ever-increasing durability and performance, but with diesel prices at more than US$3 per gallon, adding horsepower alone doesn’t fully meet operators’ needs.
The SPM QEM 5000 E-Frac Pump’s compatibility with non-standard drivers, including electric and natural gas turbines, gives operators the flexibility of tapping into the electrical grid, remote power generation or a natural gas turbine generator which reduces diesel fuel spend, emissions, overall assets on location and maintenance intervals.
It minimises upfront capital investment as it can reduce a frac fleet from 20 conventional pumps and 100 bores per site to just eight pumps and 40 bores per site. With only eight SPM QEM 5000 E-Frac Pumps needed to match the output of 20 conventional pumps, maintenance, noise pollution, safety hazards, emissions and overall footprint are reduced. With intentional engineering to reduce maintenance, operators can experience millions in maintenance savings per year of use and reduce maintenance personnel costs by potentially 42 per cent.
It achieves its horsepower with enhanced structural rigidity through an engineered skid and segmented frame plates that dramatically extend component life. It also features a patent-pending dual-pressure lubrication system designed to optimise delivery and distribution of clean lubricant to provide extended life and reduced non-productive time.
