`
`FRACTURING
`
`LEADING THE WAY
`
`Multistage tracking pioneer
`Packers Plus plays major role in
`cracking the tight oil code
`
`WHEN THE HISTORY of all the business success stories
`emerging from the development of the tight oil and gas
`reservoirs in western Canada and the western United
`States is chronicled, the story of a ’l2—year—old Calgary
`based company that specializes in an area of oilfield
`technology unheard of until the last few years might be
`the most remarkable.
`”We started small,” says Dan Themig, president
`of Packers Plus Energy Services Inc. ”When we were
`starting to set up our offices, I brought a computer
`from my house and we bought oficc furniture at the
`Salvation Army.”
`A decade later, the privately owned company
`employs over 750 and has annual sales likely in the hun«
`dreds of millions of dollars—although Themig refuses
`to divulge revenue figures. He says dollar figures aren't
`important and serving customers is.
`Packers Plus has built two state—of—the—art manufac-
`turing centres and a Rapid Tool Development facility-
`specializing in engineering, research and development,
`and testing—in Edmonton. It also maintains a US. cor-
`porate office, a technology centre and a Rapid Tool De~
`velopment facility in Houston. It has seven oifices and/
`or facilities overall in Canada, ll in the United States,
`and has offices worldwide, including in the Middle East,
`the North Sea region, China and l.atin America, with 31
`offices overall.
`Themig says it’s inevitable that it will double its
`workforce in the next few years.
`Themig and partners Ken Paltzat and Peter Krabben,
`who had all worked together at the former Dresser
`Industries and then for Halliburton Energy Services
`Inc., which bought out that company, knew exactly
`what they wanted to do with the fledgling company
`when they left secure jobs and formed it.
`"We were committed from day one to bringing
`technology to the land«based drilling industry, with a
`focus on horizontal completions,” said Themig.
`That focus led to the development of a number of
`completion technologies, starting with the StackFRAC
`system, which revolutionized the completions sector by
`introducing multistage fracturing systems in horizontal
`wells, credited with unlocking the potential of tight and
`shale oil and natural gas.
`The firm has since introduced dozens of products,
`including the new QuickFRA(.i system in 2011, which
`allows for up to 60 stages downhole while pumping ’l5
`treatments at surface.
`“QuickFRAC is a great technology that can meet the
`need for increased stage numbers in formations such
`as the Bakken, Horn River and the Montney as well as
`many others,” said Themig. ”('V)uickl"RAC allows the
`operator to do the job of pumping ’l5 stages on surface
`
`while Packers Plus does the job downhole, providing
`as many as 60 individual stages. This is done by taking
`a single pumping treatment on surface and precisely
`directing it into two to five stages downhole. For the
`operator, pumping time and costs are reduced signifi-
`cantly and production results are greatly increased.”
`Last summer it introduced its RepeaterPORT sleeve
`technology, which allows operators to increase the
`number of stages per lateral when they utilize existing
`Packers Plus systems.
`“When we started the company we saw the need
`for high—end fracturing completions technology,” said
`Themig. "There was horizontal drilling going on, but
`nobody was fracking."
`The idea of starting a service firm that concentrated
`on a value-added niche came partially as a result of a
`Class Themig took while he was studying towards a
`master's degree in business administration. ”"l'l1e pro-
`fessor said a business can either be at Saks Fifth Avenue
`or be a low—end alternative," he said. "We picked the
`Saks model."
`Packers Plus first introduced its completions tech-
`nology in the Barnett shale in 2003 and it now domi-
`nates the completions segment in most land—based tight
`and shale oil plays.
`
`A FASTEH, GHEENEH
`Capable of fracturing 60
`stages downhole while only
`pumping l5 treatments at the
`surface, the Packers Plus
`Quicl<FRAC system also greatly
`reduces water usage by using
`consistent pumping roles.
`
`”When we started you could do five fracs," he said.
`”Our Stacl<FRAC brought that up to 20 and now we
`have technology that can do 60.”
`More recently it has moved into the offshore
`market. ”Offshore reservoirs might have an extended
`production life of 20 years or so because of our technol-
`ogy,” said Themig. "We don't think the market under
`stands that potential yet.”
`It continues to be an engineeringfocused company,
`with about 10 per cent of its employees having engin~
`eering or technology degrees. He said the company has
`dozens of engineering projects underway and a number
`of projects in the developing stages.
`Themig said the firm will be introducing a range
`of new products over the next six to seven years. And
`it's expanding its manufacturing capacity for a good
`reason. ”We can’t keep up with demand,” he said. I
`Jim Bentein
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`CANADIAN OILPATCH TECHNOLOGY GUIDEBOOK ' VOL /1 2012
`
`Exhibit 2006
`IPR2016-00596