WellDog and Baker partner to bring affordable, high quality progressive cavity pumps to Australian coal seam gas industry
WellDog announced today that it has partnered with Baker Hughes Inc. to reduce production costs for coal seam gas in Queensland.
Today, at a Brisbane industry conference, WellDog is introducing to the Australian market the LifteqCSG, one of the top progressive cavity pumps in the world. The pump is manufactured in the United States by Baker Hughes and delivered to the Australian market by WellDog at an affordable price and in high volume, with local inventory to be held in Roma, Queensland.
WellDog Chief Executive Officer John Pope said the WellDog-Baker Hughes partnership is resulting in substantial advantages for local CSG companies.
“Our clients are now able to purchase large volumes of high quality pumps from a local source without paying a premium,” Dr Pope said.
“Because pump failures can be unexpected, this provides a measure of comfort to operators that they can recover production quickly if a workover is required,” Dr Pope said.
Baker Hughes Australia Geomarket Managing Director Melissa Law said that the combination of Baker Hughes’ manufacturing and supply capacity with WellDog’s local service reputation and operational capacity is a perfect match.
“We are keen to support in every possible way the CSG industry in Queensland,” Ms Law said.
“Having a large local supply of this reliable and affordable equipment should help CSG operators move forward more confidently in their development efforts.
“And we stand behind WellDog in providing technical support and innovation as required.”
One of the highest operating costs in CSG production relates to purchasing and installing downhole pumps – and the workover costs that occur upon subsequent pump failure. Pumping water from coal seams reduces coal seam pressure and releases natural gas to production. Australian coal seams can in some cases also release high levels of coal fines and other solids, posing a significant challenge to pump lifetime. Replacing failed pumps interrupts production and requires additional expenditure. Supply of pumps to Australia can involve very long lead times and high costs, significantly slowing CSG development efforts.
