Halliburton Promotes Natural Gas to Power Hydraulic Fracturing Fleet
New dual-fuel technology offers environmental and cost benefits.
Halliburton announced in a press release dated January 11, 2013 that it, along with Apache Corporation and Caterpillar, has developed dual-fuel technology capable of powering pumping equipment used for fracking. The dual-fuels are natural gas and diesel. The press release claims that with 12 pumps (24,000 horsepower), this is one of the largest-scale dual-fuel projects ever conducted in the oil and gas industry.
According to the press release, G. Steven Farris, chairman and CEO of Apache and the chairman of America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA), encouraged Apache and the industry to increase the use of natural gas as a fuel for engines. In response, Halliburton developed a technical solution for converting the pumping equipment used at a typical large-scale fracturing spread to a dual-fuel system including natural gas—one that would be more efficient and cleaner-burning than using diesel alone.
Halliburton and its supplier, Caterpillar, teamed up to convert the company’s new Q-10 pumps to dual fuel that would accommodate high-quality liquefied or compressed natural gas. Collaborating closely with Halliburton and Apache to cover a wide range of performance, environmental and efficiency criteria, Caterpillar adapted its proprietary Dynamic Gas Blending (DGB) engine technology to power Halliburton’s massive pumps.
“We anticipate that in the not-so-distant future, these DGB engines can be easily retrofitted to efficiently burn available on-site conditioned field gas, thereby saving operators additional fuel transport costs,” said Marc Edwards, Senior Vice President of Halliburton’s Completion and Production Division.
Apache has broadened the environmental scope of this project by showcasing Halliburton’s “Frac of the Future” technology at selected work sites—including the Granite Wash site outside Oklahoma City where the new dual-fuel technology has debuted.