Halliburton shows off specialized nitrogen pumping trucks used in the fields
Robert Frew takes pride in talking about the trucks he designed for Halliburton – the nitrogen pumping trucks known as MPU-720 (Mobile Pumping Unit).
One of the oilfield services company’s five MPU-720 vehicles is currently sitting at the mock drill rig at the Global Petroleum Show in the outdoor exhibit area. Along with that truck Halliburton has a lift vehicle on display alongside equipment from other companies.
The MPU-720 is a 15,000 psi capable truck designed to pump between 20 to 340 standard cubic meters per minute. The pump is mounted on an International and its compact truck style design allows more pumps on a smaller footprint.
“We started them last year and just finished off the last of them here in March of this year,” says Frew, Halliburton’s field service coordinator for nitrogen services in Canada.
Frew, who has been with the company since 1984, began looking at building the trucks as far back as 2011 when he returned to his Canada post after working three years in the U.S. in the frac services division. “When I came back in 2011, the manager asked me at the time if I wanted to build some equipment and I said I always wanted to build a nitrogen body load.”
Other officials in the industry told Frew that it couldn’t be done because it would be too much equipment on that type of platform. Instead of backing down, Frew took the challenge to create one.
“I got myself a copy of AutoCAD 3-D and started from there and pieced everything together,” Frew says. “It took a little while to get all the drawings in 3-D and some of it we had to reverse engineer to get it to that point. A majority of it was pretty easy to do and it took me about four and a half months to get the drawings and renderings. We passed them over to an engineering firm to confirm them and once that was done, we got it into production and started ordering.”
The trucks are a popular addition to the company, mainly because of its 3,000-gallon tank. “The field guys love them because they’re body load and they’re not running around all the time with trailers,” Frew says. “The 3,000-gallon tank is the same as what most trailer nitrogen pumps are, so they’re not lacking storage or anything like that when they get to a location.”
Having the truck has allowed Halliburton to have less equipment on the work sites, which is a goal most oilfield companies have. “This year, last year and going forward that’s one of the biggest things in the market, just trying to lessen your footprint and increase your performance of your equipment.”
The trucks are also built with CAT engines and vaporizers from HydraRig.
“A lot of the stuff on this truck is proprietary just for Halliburton,” Frew says.
At the mock rig site
There are many more companies with equipment at the mock drill site. The biggest piece of equipment is the drill rig itself from CUBEX. The rig is located in the middle of the outdoor exhibit and rises high into the sky.
Other companies that are part of the setup include:
- ALTA-FAB – a remote modular solutions company with a unit on site showing all of the accommodations and workspaces needed on a modern drill.
- Calnash Trucking – A family owned and operated rig-moving trucking service.
- ERS (Environmental Refuelling Systems) – A fuel transport, storage, dispensing and delivery company.
- Newterra – With its 30-man wastewater treatment rental system along with a portable water distribution holding tank designed for deployment to remote locations.
- SERVA – With its truck-mounted cementing unit capable of oil well cementing, acidizing treatments, solvent pumping, pressure testing and miscellaneous fluid pumping tasks.
- ZCL Composites – Designer, manufacturer and supplier of fiberglass storage tank systems for the petroleum industry.
- United Safety – With its air trailer that can store 10,000 cubic feet of breathing air. The unit carries 20 500-cubic-feet cylinders at 4,500 psi allowing for approximately 100 man-hours of breathing.
- Secure Services – With its high-speed centrifuge, drying shaker and bead recovery units, tanks and supplementary equipment.
- GenTex Oilfield Manufacturing – With its truck to help oilfield workers perform specific oilfield tasks.
- GroundForce Drilling – With its pipe-handling system for the drill rig.
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