HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fort Worth, Texas-based Weir Oil & Gas, a leading upstream provider of pressure pumping and pressure control equipment and services, today announced it has taken an important step in transforming the hydraulic fracturing process. Weir’s latest innovation – the Simplified Frac Iron System – will make the frac process significantly simpler, safer and more productive.
Less iron and fewer connections on the frac site means less non-productive time, enhanced safety, and increased reliability for operators.
Most frac operations today consist of multiple well pads and a complex array of hundreds of moving parts including small bore iron strings to manage very high pressures. All of these pieces of iron and equipment require a lengthy time to set up, assemble, and connect, with every connection posing a potential leak path that must be checked continuously. This laborious task creates substantial non-productive time on site.
To make frac operations safer, more reliable and efficient, Weir has simplified this approach with a more streamlined, fit-for-purpose system that can be tailored to any condition or basin. This linear-flow-path design also prevents directional fluid changes that create accelerated wear, resulting in longer product life and reduced pressure drops in demanding conditions. Additionally, a rotating flange and adjustable height spool is located on the frac stack to enable better alignment.
“Our goal is to not only improve and simplify the fracturing process, but to support it through our world-class service centers throughout every major basin,” said Paul Coppinger, president of Weir Oil & Gas. “It was important that we take a step back and see the bigger picture through an operator’s eyes. The result is a systems approach focused on the idea that less is more, ensuring greater safety and productivity.”
In testing, Weir’s One-Straight Line (OSL), a patent pending component of the simplified frac iron system, completed 80 frac stages with minimal pipe wear. Overall, the system:
- Lasted more than three times longer than similar applications
- Demonstrated approximately 70 percent less pipe erosion compared to similar designs.
- Dramatically reduces the volume of grease and amount of time needed to grease the valve between frac cycles.
In total, the Weir Simplified Frac Iron System includes:
- Seaboard™ OSL (One Straight Line)
- Seaboard™ Vertical Zipper with Plug Valve
- Seaboard™ Frac Stack with Plug Valve
- Seaboard™ Grease Manifold
Future enhancements to the system will include SPM® large bore iron preassembled onto modular skids running from the frac pumps to the zipper, and SPM® 7” directional and isolation valves – an industry first. An integrated monitoring system from the zipper to the frac stack that indicates wear inside the pipes and wellhead pressure is also planned, to name a few.
The announcement is part of Weir’s participation in the 2017 Offshore Technology Conference at NRG Park. Throughout the conference, Weir is demonstrating the forward-thinking innovations it is bringing to frac and flowback operations in its Forward Forum theatre, in Booth 3438.
About Weir Oil & Gas
Weir Oil & Gas provides superior products and service solutions, which make our upstream customers more efficient. More customers choose our pressure pumping solutions than any other. We provide well service & stimulation pumps, flow control products and replacement expendable parts from leading brands including SPM, Mesa and Novatech. Pressure Control includes trusted brands such as Seaboard™, which provides wellheads, valves and frac trees, and Mathena™, which delivers drilling mud-gas separation equipment including chokes, separators, & environmental containment equipment. Engineered mechanical and rotating equipment repairs and upgrades, oilfield and drilling equipment repair and certification, rapid prototyping of spare parts, robust asset management and field engineering services, are delivered globally by Weir Oil & Gas Services based in Dubai, UAE.
Weir Oil & Gas is part of The Weir Group PLC. Founded in 1871, Weir is one of the world’s leading engineering businesses with 14,000 people operating in more than 70 countries. Discover more at www.global.weir.
