What does it mean to be a fit-for-purpose organization?

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

In the oil and gas industry, customizing equipment to meet the needs of the application isn’t common. Traditionally, service providers show up to a job with equipment that isn’t always ideal for the task at hand. Similar to jamming a square peg in a round hole, this approach doesn’t work very well in most cases. Often, the large equipment footprint leads to high operational costs and labor costs — and the results are subpar. Operators are left disappointed because service providers simply don’t take the time to understand the specific needs of the project before suggesting which equipment to use.

At EnerCorp, we do things differently. We understand that the same equipment cannot be used for a variety of applications. In order to get the kind of results our customers expect, we know that we have to carefully choose the equipment we use and sometimes further customize that equipment in order to get the job done.

Customized flowback and sand management equipment

Our entire organization is centered around the idea of fit-for-purpose equipment. What does that mean? We don’t start the conversation with a customer by showing them an equipment list. Instead, we begin by understanding what the job is and determining what kind of challenges it presents. We review the geography, look at the operator’s needs, and get a feel for their expectations and desired results.

No matter what the challenges of the job are, we don’t approach the project by assuming the equipment is the solution. We know that the real solution is our application engineering expertise — our ability to create a solution that is customized for that specific problem.

For example, we were recently asked by an operator in South Texas for help on a well that was only able to flow three days at a time before it had to shut down and wait for repairs. The operator was dealing with a massive loss in production. The culprit? Sand damage to their jet pumps.

The well uses multiplex pumps with plungers that pump fluid under immense pressure into the well bore. As the pumps fill the well bore with fluid, they also lift oil and water to the surface where it then goes into a multiphase separator. 

However, the jet pump plungers were being damaged as a result of sand. They could only operate for two to three days at a time, after which there was so much sand damage that a mechanic needed to come in and repair the plungers and jet pumps. Each visit from the mechanic cost $5,000. Plus, the operator was losing about 210 BBLS of oil during the days production was stopped as a result of damage. 

Each month, the operator had about 15 days worth of non-productive time as a result of the sand issues.

A sand management solution you wouldn’t expect

Our application engineering team reviewed the specifications of the well to get a thorough understanding of the issue. This wasn’t a traditional flowback situation where a dual cyclone sand management system like the Sahara or the Mohave would do the trick. Instead, this application required some out-of-the-box thinking.

Our engineers determined that the best solution to remove sand from the well would be the ScorpionXT Sand Filter. With the industry’s highest sand capture rate for a filter at 99%, we determined that the ScorpionXT would be able to help reduce damages for this operator. Plus, it has a range of micron ratings for fixed media filtration, so it would be able to remove even the smallest particles of solids from the stream. 

This patented technology, which has been tried and tested on over 1,000 wells, was installed upstream of the jet pump system on the well to capture sand before it had a chance to do any damage. The results were far better than the operator was expecting. 

Sand management results our customers love

With the ScorpionXT in place upstream of the jet pump, this South Texas operator’s sand erosion issues virtually disappeared. We used a wire wedge wrapped screen which enabled us to remove frac sand and formation sand down to 150 microns in size, and in some cases, down to 50 microns. 

Removing sand from the stream not only minimized the potential for damage, but also brought the operator a number of other important benefits:

• Lower non-productive time: Prior to installing the ScorpionXT filter, the operator was only able to run the jet pump for three days a time. Now, they can run the jet pump for six weeks at a time, only stopping for minor cleanup.
• Higher production: The operator was dealing with 15 days of downtime each month prior to working with EnerCorp. Now with the additional 15 days of production each month, they are seeing an increase of $252,000.
• Lower operating costs: The previous repairs were costing the operator $5,000 per mechanic visit, which was happening at least five times each month. They can now save that $25,000 in expenses each month.

By eliminating the sand erosion issues with the ScorpionXT — a fit-for-purpose solution — this operator is able to remain on schedule to reach their production targets. They no longer need to worry about non-productive time affecting their bottom line.