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Houma company makes progress in a critical oilfield service
The personal drive that marked the beginnings of the bayou region’s entry into the oil and gas service industry – from pioneering marine companies to fabrication houses – continues to live, local business leaders say, not only through continued traditional work, but new ideas and expansion.
One Houma company, Oil States, has entered 2015 with a distinctive feather in its cap, a testing system that allows equipment firms to make sure their heavy offshore equipment will safely perform for years to come.
A landmark was reached late last year when a jacking system for lifting barges was tested for endurance at the Oil States pull-test facility alongside Bayou LaCarpe, for Houston-based Energy Services International, which makes, repairs and also rents equipment for jack-up rigs and offshore wind farms.
“Our test facility is flexible enough to handle a wide range of testing needs for offshore providers like ESI,” said Jared Toups, general manager of Oil States Houma. “We’re very pleased with the success of this test and enjoyed the opportunity to work with ESI to develop the testing procedure.”
The equipment tested was ESI’s 440 Series Jacking System.
Oil States Houma and ESI, successfully completed an endurance test procedure customized for ESI, through the adaptation of the Oil States Houma facility’s hydraulic system to simulate the continuous load of a jack up rig. The test maintained a constant load of operation during which ESI cycled the rack section up and down, simulating the expected 20-year lifespan of the jacking system.
The Houma test facility was custom configured to provide diverse pull testing services for the offshore equipment to extremely high loads. The facility’s ability to replicate loads of up to 1,250 metric tons, or 2,750,000 lbs. provided needed capacity for the test.
ESI uses the 440 system to lift and lower some of the world’s largest jackuj drilling rigs.
“We have established our credentials
in this industry by successfully performing this lifecycle test simulating 20 years of offshore usage,” said Matthew Chamberlain, ESI’s vice president of sales and marketing. “Conducting this test goes far beyond normal industry standards and provides tangible support for the confidence we have in our jacking equipment.”
Oil States has an established reputation for providing services that include Nautilus marine cranes, Skagit mooring systems and SMATCO anchor handling equipment.
Oil States is marketing its test facility throughout the oilfield industry, sales manager John LeBlanc said.
The Oil States site offers 12 feet of depth from the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway to the operation’s 250 feet of bulkhead.
The test site is situated on a 150-foot by 250-foot pile-supported, post-tensioned concrete deck on which pulling, jacking and skidding equipment can be tested at loads up to 1,250 metric tons.
A pair of hydraulic cylinders provides the 1,250 metric ton pulling force for testing with chain, while a double-drum traction winch with 3-inch diameter rope powered by a 1,000 hp electric motor provides up to 600,000 pound of line pull for testing, using 3-inch wire rope.
The cylinders provide 120 inches of travel for dynamic testing at extreme loads, while the winch provides for dynamic testing of equipment at moderate loads as well as 10,000 feet of spooling.
“This is a new revenue stream for us, and as far as we know it is the only one like it anywhere near here,” LeBlanc said, adding that with this new accomplishment, his company demonstrates – as it has in past developments – the continued leadership of the Bayou Region’s people in oil and gas service.
“It was the people on this bayous who figured out how to efficiently do offshore exploration and provide the services needed to do it,” LeBlanc said. “Call it Cajun ingenuity.”
Houma company, Oil States, has a testing system that allows equipment firms to make sure that their heavy offshore equipment will safely perform for years to come.
