The 9th NOV FIDMASH’S Consumer Conference

Bringing the best to the market!

The 9^th NOV FIDMASH’S Consumer Conference on Operation of CT Equipment, Cementing, Pumping and Nitrogen Machinery and Hydraulic-Fracturing Equipment took place on 17–18 April 2013 in the conference hall of the hotel Yubileinaya in Minsk.

Each spring the event brings together representatives of oil and gas service companies with long and successful experience in operating the equipment manufactured by NOV FIDMASH as well as those who have just decided to join the elitist club of high-tech oil and gas servicing and to acquire the necessary means of production for this purpose.

FIDMASH’S annual conference is a unique gathering. Live communication between OEMs and consumers and informal conversations among conference participants allow them to receive the latest – and sometimes inside – information about machinery, to share secrets of operation of particular pieces of equipment, to learn both positive and negative characteristics of most complex machines. Open live communication and focused feedback provided by consumers during such meetings are surely an important NOV FIDMASH’S competitive advantage in the market.

The recent meeting was attended by more than 70 delegates from 30 companies from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Belarus which gives grounds for referring to the conference as an international event.

The meeting was opened by NOV FIDMASH’ general director Аlena Lapatsentava. In her opening speech she defined the main objective of annual consumer conferences: “To tell people what makes us tick this year, what our plans are for the next year since we – and primarily our engineering department – are already making such plans. We want to hear your comments and to have enough time to implement them so that the product we offer would meet the market requirements to the best possible extent.”

The participants were introduced to the brief history of the FID Group (which stands for Foundation for Inventive Activity) created in 1989 and run under Mr. Leanid Hruzdzilovich’s perpetual management until his untimely demise in autumn 2012.

The Coiled Tubing project which laid the foundation for the successful production of high-tech oil and gas service equipment in the ex-USSR territory was launched in 1998. Today according to the statistics 75% of coiled tubing equipment operated in the CIS is manufactured by companies belonging to the FID Group.

The history of FID Group’s development can be divided into four stages. At one time a great achievement was the establishment of cooperation with Gazprom. It was this company the first coil tubing units were supplied to; however, the company had special requirements, namely, 100% of components had to be home-produced which had ideological advantages along with bigger technological disadvantages.

The next stage was 2002–2003 when the FID Group started cooperating with such well-known companies as Tatneft, Bashneft and Surgutneftgas. The cooperation required taking new approaches both to manufacturing process and technical documentation.

Starting cooperation with the world’s largest service company Schlumberger was a new landmark in the FID Group’s development when manufacturers began using the phrase ‘hydraulic fracturing.’ And it wasn’t just a figure of speech – the FID Group started developing and producing equipment which was so far new to them.

The fourth stage began in 2006 and conceptually is still ongoing today. This stage is characterized by working with a large number of customers having various qualifications that operate in different markets and sometimes have opposite views on particular technologies. “We are trying to strike a balance,” is how Elena Lapotentova described this stage. “We are striving to combine the best, to bring the best to the market and at the same time to increase our output.” Incidentally, from 2005 to 2012 NOV FIDMASH showed an 8-fold increase in production output! The company’s consumer market today is divided in virtually equal shares (33.3%) between companies from Russia, other CIS countries and Western Europe and US.

The technical session of the conference was opened with the report ‘NOV FIDMASH’S Current Proposals for Oil and Gas Services’ by Mr. Yury Belugin, head of Sales and Promotion. The audience was introduced to downhole and stimulation equipment: coiled tubing equipment, equipment system for hydraulic fracturing, pressure systems, downhole equipment and tools.

At present the company produces three classes of coil tubing units (light, medium and heavy) for onshore and offshore operation.

MK10T light-class units are developed for standard operations in small and medium-depth oil and gas wells. Lately they have also been used for geophysical investigations. They are mounted on all-wheel chassis (6x6). The injector head pull capacity is up to 15,000 kg. The reel houses up to 2600 m of coiled tubing with a diameter of 38.1 mm.

MK20T medium-class units are intended for operations in difficult terrains in medium and deep wells.  They are mounted on all-wheel chassis (8x8) produced by Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant (MWTP). The units are equipped with engines produced by Yaroslav Engine Plant or Caterpillar. The injector head pull capacity is 27 t. The reel houses up to 3800 m of coiled tubing with a diameter of 38.1 mm.

MK30T heavy-class units are designed for operations in deep wells and operations from offshore platform or in difficult terrains (in the form of separate units). They are mounted on MWTP’s all-wheel chassis (10x10). The injector head pull capacity is 27 t. The reel houses up to 6200 m of coiled tubing with a diameter of 38.1 mm. MK30 and MK40 heavy-class coiled tubing units are mounted on MWTP semitrailer and are intended for operations in deep wells and lateral drilling including underbalanced drilling. The injector head pull capacity is 36 to 45 t. The reel houses 3200 to 4500 m of coiled tubing with a diameter of 60.3 mm. The units are compatible with SNB 89-76M directional drilling system produced by CJSC “Novinka.”

Consumers received exhaustive information about process liquid injection equipment (N504 pumping unit), A100 cryogenic nitrogen plant unit – modular and vehicle-mounted, about well cementing equipment (NS 1000-10 cementing unit) and other products.

Hydraulic fracturing equipment produced by NOV FIDMASH and new solutions such as those used in Tatneft’s hydraulic fracturing fleet were introduced by the company’s leading design engineer Mr. Aleksandr Slenzak. Fidmash manufactures complete equipment system for hydraulic fracturing including N2501 pumping unit, MS600 blender, a control station, MT4-105 manifold unit, T40 and T150 proppant transportation and dosed supply units. The audience was given a detailed description of each unit. The speaker placed special focus on the characteristics of the blender which allows to supply four types of liquid chemicals simultaneously, ensures dosed supply of proppant through three augers and records a high number of parameters. The automatic control system ensures the program-set concentration of chemicals and proppant. It is possible to program 50 stages and to transmit 48 parameters for recording.

The new pumping unit allows to develop tubing head pressure of up to 100 MPa and has the option of    semiautomatic gear shifting during hydraulic fracturing without flow loss.

An innovative technology in the hydraulic fracturing fleet is a hydration unit capable of preparing the gel without prior mixing – on the fly. In cases of large volume injections it leads to decreased duration of hydraulic fracturing and improvement of the linear gel quality.

The Control Station is equipped with field laboratory with expanded equipment set. There is a wireless 360 degree video recording system providing the customer with enhanced viewing of hydraulic fracturing process. A hydration unit control system, a cell phone signal booster, internet access and an access point for transferring data to the customer are in place.

NOV FIDMASH’S leading electronics engineer Mr. Aleksandr Davydov reported on the new control and recording system, its technical characteristics and software. Also, conference participants could take a look at the new model of recording and measuring unit SKR43 featured at the small exhibition.

NOV FIDMASH’S leading design engineer Mr. Sergiyenya made a report on Auxiliary Equipment for CT Operations: Nitrogen Plant A100. He described different types of nitrogen plants, compared their characteristics and gave detailed account of advantages and operating principles of a cryogenic nitrogen plant (of evaporative type).

The audience gave special attention to the report on Effective Operation of Fidmash’s Equipment made by Mr. Volkov, head of Service Department. The reporter highlighted general issues concerning plants (operational documentation, diesel fuel and hydraulic oil quality, welding, improper operation), general issues related to operation, operation of chassis produced by Minsk Automobile Plant and Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant, installation of borehole equipment, issues arising during operation of equipment (both general and specific: CT reel, injector operation, pumping and nitrogen plant). He gave general user recommendations aimed at more effective and fail-safe operation of complex machinery and minimization of the notorious human factor. In essence, the recommendations were simple: to provide all kinds of regular maintenance, to strictly comply with operational requirements set forth in the manuals and to ensure continuous training of specialists responsible for maintaining complex and expensive equipment. In this regard assistance can be received from NOV FIDMASH which regularly holds consultations for customer’s specialists on operation and maintenance of plants.

The representatives of ‘MashOil’ company Mr. Verigo and Mr. Klimovich reported on Program for Workover and Upgrading of First-Issue M10 and M20 Coil Tubing Units and Service Maintenance. MashOil company is an official representative of NOV Fidmash and provides post-warranty service maintenance of equipment produced by NOV FIDMASH,  holds consultations for customer’s specialists, performs workover and upgrading of first-issue equipment, and makes “to-door” supplies of original spare parts, imported components and coiled tubing. Detailed account was given of the work with customers, examples of conditions of first-issue equipment were given along with examples of upgrading of plants accompanied by ‘before and after’ photos.

The chief engineer of Ural-Design-PNP company Mr. Shumakov reported on Drilling of Three-Stage Multiple Frac Ports – Stage FRAC. This technology has been in successful implementation since December 2011 on LUKOIL-Perm’s sites using MK20T coiled tubing unit produced by NOV Fidmash.

‘Coiled Tubing Times’ magazine staff together with NOV FIDMASH held a round table during which current issues related to oil and gas service development were discussed.

The Consumer Conference ended in a tour around the company in the course of which consumers received detailed information about the production of machinery and made sure that NOV FIDMASH manufactured high-quality and reliable equipment.