OTC '15: Weir Oil & Gas launches SPM QEM 3000 Frac Pump

HOUSTON -- Weir Oil & Gas has announced its latest innovation to increase customer efficiency and performance. The new SPM QEM 3000 is the industry’s first high-horse power frac pump designed for continuous-duty pressure pumping operation at 275,000 pound force rod load, all the time.

The pump was unveiled on Monday at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC). Also being showed was the TEM 2500 version of the pump, which will launch later this year.

David Paradis, president of Pressure Pumping at Weir, said, “Required operating hours and increasing rod loads are beginning to exceed the capabilities of traditional intermittent duty frac pumps. Our goal in creating the SPM QEM 3000 was to develop a frac pump second to none in terms of durability, cost-efficiency, reduced downtime and full rod load operation 100% of the time in order to address these needs.”

The new frac pump incorporates features designed to address a number of industry challenges:

• Weir’s new, patent-pending, dual-line lubrication solution provides the right amount of pressure and flow for each pump component as well as excellent lube flow in cold starts. On-Board Filtration reduces lubricant contamination to optimize pump performance. These improvements address the challenge of pump failure due to poor or insufficient lubrication.
• The SPM QEM 3000 pump utilizes the largest frac pump bearing on the market, with a proprietary 25 in. diameter design, to increase component life and reduce downtime by better aligning pump maintenance intervals with those of the engine and transmission.
• Weir’s patent-pending enhanced frame structure reduces susceptibility to frame cracking due to vibration and industry trends towards longer operating hours and higher rod loads increasingly encountered in continuous duty operations in harsh shale play pumping environments.
• The new frac pump employs Weir’s patented SPM Duralast fluid ends, which lower cross-bore stresses by 30% or more, doubling the life compared to conventional SPM fluid ends. Integrated angled valve seats resist seat deck cracking, and Weir’s proprietary stainless steel construction delivers up to five times the life of conventional fluid ends.

The SPM QEM 3000 pump is specifically engineered for fracing operations and will be integrated into purpose-built hydraulic fracturing power systems—engine, transmission and pump—being developed jointly by Weir Oil & Gas and Rolls Royce Power Systems company MTU through an agreement announced last year at OTC and an expanded JV announced at this year’s event. The new pump will also be sold separately to customers with non-integrated systems.