American Oil and Gas Reporter - May 2021 - 65

SpecialReport: Frac Fleet Update

New-Build Frac Spreads Benefit
From High-Horsepower
Engines and Pumps
By Colter Cookson
Pressure pumping is a competitive
business. To stay busy regardless of activity
levels, companies who secure the capital
to build new fleets must design them with
flexibility and performance in mind.
REV Energy Services is a case in point.
The company began building its first fleet
in 2018 and commercialized its second in
March, according to Mitch Winnick, its
president and chief executive officer.
" As we built our fleets, we made every
process as lean as possible, " Winnick relates. " For that reason, we use 3,000
horsepower pumps rather than 2,500 horsepower ones. This lets us fracture with
40% fewer pumps, which means we have
a smaller on-site footprint and fewer transmissions and engines to maintain. "
The larger pumps last longer, with
some fluid ends averaging 3,000 hours
and the power ends generally requiring
less maintenance, Winnick reports. He
adds that they are more fuel-efficient.
" Even when we are burning diesel rather
than blending diesel and natural gas, we
consume 10% less fuel per barrel a minute
pumped because the larger pumps use
their engines and transmissions more effectively, " he details.
" Our low pump count may be one
reason we have been blessed with a zero
total recordable incident rate, " he suggests.
" Smaller crews tend to care about each
other more, and everyone on site feels
more responsible for what goes on. "
Winnick points out that all of REV's
pumping units use Tier IV Final engines.
" It may have been more profitable in the
short run to equip our inaugural fleet with
Tier II engines, but we see Tier IV Final
engines as the future, " Winnick says. " Our
customers want to limit their emissions,
and we think that is the right thing to do. "
Most of the company's engines come
from Caterpillar, Winnick says, noting

that Caterpillar has invested in REV.
" When we work with Caterpillar, we feel
like we are fishing with a net instead of a
rod. The company has a large engineering
team that cares deeply about solving our
problems, " he praises.
REV has formed a partnership with
Caterpillar under which Caterpillar provides
power and fluid end consumables at a
cost per pumping-hour rate. " Caterpillar
works with us to provide tailored solutions
for our operations, " Winnick comments.
" They take the parts and logistics headache
away so we can focus on execution. "
By training REV's employees to operate and maintain equipment optimally,
Caterpillar has helped the company gradually reduce nonproductive time, Winnick
reports. " The gold standard for us is to
pump 20 hours a day, " he says. " We are
happy if we exceed that and upset when
we don't meet it. "
Winnick credits the company's success
at reaching that standard in part to its
culture. " We firmly believe in encouraging
and freeing people to solve problems, "
he says. " We constantly challenge our

employees to keep growing and celebrate
their triumphs.
" We hear about problems and get
solutions from people throughout our
organization because they know we consider failure okay, especially when we
are trying new ideas, " Winnick reflects.
" The key is to test changes in increments
that allow us to learn from our experiments and recover quickly if an idea
doesn't pan out. "
In early May, Winnick said the company
was experimenting with new manifolds
and frac hoses designed to improve safety.
" We are also working with Caterpillar to
study how variations in produced water
quality affect pumps so we can optimize
pump metallurgy and reduce pitting, "
Winnick says. He adds that REV is helping
Caterpillar verify that the latest version
of its engine idle reduction system works
in cold temperatures.
By 2022, Winnick says REV plans to
add a third fleet. " We are excited about
the potential to grow, but we want to make
sure both our existing fleets are performing
before we add another, " he says.
❒

By deploying modern pumps driven by powerful engines, new hydraulic fracturing
fleets can minimize the amount of equipment required on site. This simplifies logistics
and maintenance while improving both safety and efficiency.

MAY 2021 65
American Oil and Gas Reporter - May 2021

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