Domestic innovation aids China's push for shale gas

China will become the third country after the United States and Russia capable of designing and building the turbine-driven fracturing equipment that can reduce costs and cut emissions during shale gas development. Chinese private oil and gas equipment manufacturing and engineering company Jereh Group unveiled the latest turbine fracturing pump. Jereh Group’s new Apollo turbine frac pumper, is powered by a turbine engine. The Apollo turbine frac pumper reinvents fracturing equipment. The maximum output power can reach 4500HHP, breaking the world record of 3115HHP, which was also achieved by a Jereh star product in spring of 2013. Equipped with a turbine engine at 5600HP and Jereh plunger pump at 5000HP, its performance far exceeds that of hydraulic horsepower turbine frac pumpers previously on the market, with 3750HP engines and 2250HP plunger pumps. Compared with a 2000HHP frac pumper, which is commonly used in China oil and gas exploitation, it has more obvious advantages, including smaller footprint, lighter weight, double power output and 82% fuel cost savings for gas under the same operation. (Fuel cost savings are calculated on the basis of China market pricing.)

According to the 2014 Energy Working Guidance released by the National Energy Administration in late January, shale gas production in 2014 will surge to eight times as much as in 2013, and CBM production capacity will also increase to six times as much as in 2013. But bad road conditions and the small size of well sites in China impede large-scale shale gas development in China. Therefore, Jereh, the world's largest stimulation and completion equipment manufacturer, boosts investment on R&D of core equipment by working on significant improvement of a single unit's power density to achieve factory jobs, including its new-concept fracturing solution of "small well site, great frac job" launched in October 2013.