WorldWide Drilling Resource

56 MAY 2015 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® Focus on EXPONOR Chile 2015 Heads up! EXPONOR Chile 2015 will be May 11-15. Every odd year, Antofagasta, Chile, hosts a large min- ing event which brings the national and international mining world to this major copper-producing region. The comprehensive program pro- motes direct contact between those facing the challenges of competitiveness, such as the mines, with those who can offer innovative solutions. The schedule includes: 3 Seminars which allow exhibitors to learn about present and future challenges for the mining industry. 3 Technology Tours to local min- ing operation sites to learn about production processes and needs. 3 Business Conferences where mining company executives and exhibitors can meet and discuss all areas of mining operations. Many international pavilions will have displays of the latest technology in min- ing equipment and services. Be sure to look for the WWDR booth #320-A in the U.S. Pavilion. For more information on the U.S. Pavilion, contact Jodi Munzer at Kallman Worldwide phone 201-251-2600 x119 or visit kallman.com Heavy Load, Frigid Conditions, Remote Location...No Problem! by Tracy Keck Hose Solutions, Inc. What do you do when you have one borehole, need water pumping right away, and cannot afford downtime due to pump failure? The answer is simple of course... install two pumps in one casing. It was news to me, but the engineers dubbed this process a “Dual Cluster”. Flexible drop pipe was used to install three pumps in one casing for a utility, but not with nearly as large of pumps as this project. Flexible drop pipe has been a pre- ferred material around mine sites for decades. There is a mine deep in the remote wilderness of Canada that fully understands why. This isolated site is difficult to get to and weather doesn’t make it any easier. Hundreds of feet of flexible drop pipe may be loaded onto a standard 40-inch x 48-inch pallet with cable straps, lifting clamps, and fittings. All this material will easily fit into the back of a standard pickup truck, or in this case, on the back of the rig. Trans- portation costs, as well as the footprint at the wellhead, are minimized. Once on-site, both pumps are hoist- ed by lifting clamps secured to the poly- urethane hose. If anyone ever had any doubt if what looks like two pieces of “C” channel iron bolted around lay-flat hose can hold the weight of large sub- mersible pumps, the proof is in the pud- ding here. Neither the weight of the load nor the frigid conditions of Canadian weather could jeopardize the flawless performance of this lifting system. The clamps had no problem holding both pumps which were 200-horsepower each. Additionally, there was no issue with the hose as each of the 6-inch flexible risers had a tensile strength of 44,000 pounds. Amazing. To complete the project, the re- mainder of the hose was lowered and the pumps set. Should there be a prob- lem with one of the pumps, production may continue with the other. This was obtained without having to absorb the time and expense of drilling another hole. Further, pulling the pumps can now be done very quickly. It is unclear if this project would be possible using rigid drop pipe. What is clear, however, is flexible drop pipe made this application a smashing success! If this process works ideally in these con- ditions for this application, it can be done just as smoothly anywhere. Tracy Tracy Keck may be contacted via e-mail at michele@ worldwidedrillingresource.com " # # # " "# # ! #! % # !! " ! " "# ! & ! % ! # ' ! & !! #' " $!"# " # " ##" " " " " $# " !!! WWWDDRR Photo