By Greg Jandjel
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16 Jan, 2024
After 130 frac stages, the Eco2Power (SPG) gas frac pump operation was temporarily removed from the field to modify the equipment and improve its operation. “We have already made a firm proposal for a company” to develop a gas fracturing set, said Eco2Power executive director Mario Mochkosfky. They estimate that it will be operational at the end of 2024 or beginning of 2025. "We started thinking about turbines in 2015 for two reasons," said the founding partner of Eco2Power, Carlos Fernández, in dialogue with Energía On. On the one hand, they had the objective of responding to the growing demand for more power per pump. On the other hand, accompany the objectives for the energy transition. "The combination of the two things made us think it was a good path to follow," he recalled. In 2015 they brought a turbine to the country from the United States and carried out studies with Oilstone. In these tests they recognized flaws in the equipment such as air filtration and transmission. After hard work and with these difficulties resolved, at the beginning of 2021 "we felt that we were in a position to build a prototype," commented Fernández. QM Equipment is the company in charge of assembling the gas fracturing pumps. Their vast experience in the matter led Eco2Power to call them: "we shared our progress and proposed the possibility of facing the project of assembling a pump based on the turbine, transmission and other issues," he expressed. With the prototype in the pipeline, they presented the project to YPF. The majority state firm accompanied the assembly and "allowed and helped us financially so that we could test it in Loma Campana," he said. Afterwards, the prototype headed to La Calera, operated by Pluspetrol. From then until now, about 130 stages have already been fired. YPF «has expressed interest in using the technology. “He was excited about the result,” said Fernández. From the operations with the prototype "we learned and we are making some modifications to improve the equipment. This is a continuous evaluation, which “will end the day we go into production. In the meantime, we are always testing », he explained. The nationally manufactured pump works with a turbine, which allows it to have greater power. The typical pump used in Vaca Muerta frac sets is 2,500 HP (horsepower) and QM Equipment's reaches 5,000 HP. At the same time, by changing diesel for gas, the carbon footprint is reduced by between 25 and 30% according to data provided by specialists. With the journey made that allowed us to achieve these comparative advantages, the fracture set is on its way to becoming a reality. «We have already made a firm proposal for a company. We have to present one more proposal in the next two or three weeks for the second one,” Mochkosfky said. In the near future, "we are going to use mostly gas that is produced in the same field," they said. First gas fracturing set: how it would be composed In Vaca Muerta there are two modalities for fracturing wells. One is the fracturing of a single well and the other is Dual Frac or Simul Frac, in which two are fractured simultaneously. "Today what we are proposing for the Simple Frac modality is eight pumps" to reach the capacity of the diesel fracturing sets, which have between 16 and 20 pumps. "For Simul Frac, there are 14 or 16 gas turbines," he said. (Note that these are SPG4 Gas Turbines produced by Signal Power Group. Regarding monthly fuel consumption, on average the gas turbine consumes about 380 million BTUs, while the conventional pump used in Vaca Muerta requires about 11,000, 11,500 liters of diesel. QM Equipment calculates that the gas fracturer would mean 70% fuel savings, 30% less emissions and 200% more power. "If things go as we and the clients are planning, possibly by the end of next year or the beginning of 2025 there will be a fracturing set with these pumps and working in the field," he stressed. https://www.rionegro.com.ar/energia/vaca-muerta-tendra-su-primer-set-de-fractura-a-gas-para-fines-del-2024-3127772/