American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2018 - 75

SpecialReport: Advancing Shale Science

Latest Frac Fleets Are Tougher, Faster
By Colter Cookson
A broad recovery in upstream investment continues to gain steam across the
lower-48, and at the head of the convoy
is a long line of pressure pumping trucks.
Driven by tight oil and shale gas plays,
annual U.S. demand for hydraulic fracturing services, equipment and consumables has grown by double digits over
the past two years, and is estimated to
reach $24.6 billion in 2018, according to
Spears & Associates. No matter how one
looks at it-including expenditures, fleet
utilization statistics, announced new-build
capacity additions or proppant consumption-the fracturing market has been the
front-runner in the broader upturn in domestic field activity.
To meet the growing demand for their
services, pressure pumpers are building
new fleets and reactivating idle iron. In
the process, they are finding ways to
make their assets safer, more efficient
and more reliable. Pump, engine and
transmission manufacturers and creative
startups are helping them improve reliability by taking proven designs and novel
ideas to the next level.
Liberty Oilfield Services, which is
fresh off a successful initial public stock
offering, illustrates the industry's growth.
At the start of 2017, the company had 11
fleets. By 2018, it had 20, says company
President Ron Gusek.
"The frac world is working hard to
bring capacity in line with demand, but
at least in the short term, demand will
exceed supply," he assesses. "One of the
biggest challenges we face is finding
people. Although each frac spread might
only have 20-30 people on site, it takes
80-100 to get their equipment in the field
once ancillary support such as truckers
and warehouse staff are factored in."
Finding people is becoming harder as
the recovery progresses, Gusek reports.
"During the downturn, the overall economy was robust enough that many former
frac hands joined other industries," he
observes. "However, unlike many of our
peers, Liberty kept all its fleets active
during the downturn and thus had no
layoffs. This has reduced the hiring challenge for us significantly during this time
of rapid growth."
Gusek says service providers and equipment manufacturers are mitigating growth's

challenges by inventing ways to do more
with less. For Liberty, that involves reducing the total cost of owning and operating a hydraulic fracturing fleet, which
generally means maximizing uptime.
"When we are buying a specific piece
of equipment, such as a pump, transmission or engine, we look at every component
to look for ways to make it more robust
at a reasonable return," Gusek outlines.
"We are prepared to pay a premium price
for a component if it returns severalfold
the extra cost by increasing equipment
longevity.
"To understand what contributes to
downtime, we use telemetry to monitor
all our equipment," Gusek says. "By
tracking what happens every day on location, we are identifying the root causes
of nonproductive time and the specific
set of circumstances where they occur.
With that information, we can evolve our
equipment designs to increase uptime,
reduce maintenance costs and improve
performance."
That effort has paid off, Gusek assures.
"During 2017, we increased the amount
of time an average spread spends pumping
during a day from 46 to more than 50
percent," he says. "In other words, in a
year of rapid growth, we managed to improve pump time almost 10 percent."

In addition to improving efficiency
and performance, Gusek says service
providers are coming up with ways to
improve safety. To illustrate, he points to
Liberty's Quiet Fleet™ spreads.
"We developed our quiet fleets to be
better neighbors in areas where we
needed to frac close to residences,
schools, businesses and parks," Gusek
relates. "However, in the process, we
created a safer environment for our employees. The pumps are quiet enough
that they no longer need to wear ear
protection. They can have a conversation
without shouting, so it is easier for them
to work together and warn each other of
potential dangers."
Liberty minimizes noise in part by
enclosing each pump's engine and transmission, Gusek notes. "That has given
us an opportunity to install a three-stage
fire suppression system on each pump
and the blender to provide an extra layer
of safety," he says.
Turbine-Powered Electric Fleet
In the long run, diesel fleets will be
replaced with ones powered by electricity
generated using natural gas turbines, says
Chris Combs, vice president for Evolution
Well Services.
"There are several advantages to pow-

As drilling and completion activity ramps up, Liberty Oilﬁeld Services reports it is building hydraulic fracturing ﬂeets, including ones for operations near homes and communities. These quiet ﬂeets reduce noise levels enough that for someone 500 feet away, they
will only be as loud as a spoken conversation or a busy office. In addition to minimizing
discomfort for people who live and work nearby, this allows on-site personnel to talk
without shouting, a boon for safety.

MARCH 2018 75

American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2018

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