9th November 2009 – Two years ago in mid 2007 the hundredth Aker Wirth triplex mud pump, type TPK 2200 left the Erkelenz workshop. Just two years later, the two hundredth pump of this series has now been delivered.
The development of the 2200 hp pumps is one of the reasons why Oilfield & Pumps is now the best selling business stream at Aker Wirth GmbH. More than half of the company’s turnover is generated by products for the oil and gas business. The order value of this pump is about 1.1 million Euro.
After its successful test run, the jubilee pump will make the journey to the DSME shipyard in South Korea. The pump will then be installed as one of four pumps on the deep sea drilling vessel project “Norbe 9″ of Odebrecht. From 2012 this drilling vessel will be used by the Petrobras group off the eastern coast of Brazil, where it will drill several kilometres in the sea floor to explore crude oil and natural gas fields at a depth of approximately 3000 m.
Widespread application range
The top model TPK 2200 pump has a wide-spread application range globally and operates on platforms, jack-ups, semi-subs, drilling vessels and land rigs drilling for oil and gas deposits. The TPK 2200 has a 2200 hp drive power and can pump up to 1640 litres of drilling emulsion per minute at a max pressure of 517 bar. It operates in temperatures ranging from –40°C to +60°C.
Exceptional team
According to clients’ analyses the Aker Wirth pumps have documented high reliability and efficiency.documenting the availability of the equipment in operation evidence the high reliability and efficiency of Aker Wirth pumps. There have been achieved availability rates of 99.9 %. A prerequisite for such extraordinary performance is an exceptional team. Throughout the entire production chain-up to the point of optimum maintenance and spare parts service, more than 50 experts from Aker Wirth have contributed their know-how, making each single pump a success.
The jubilee pump alone contributes significantly to the company’s annual turnover figures for „lifecycle services” i.e. services accruing after the sale of the product and relating to the entire life cycle of the product. CEO of Aker Wirth, Christoph Kleuters explains: “Commissioning, service performance, spare parts service and training activities provide a favourable environment where our highly qualified specialists can demonstrate their technical know how and their extensive experience”.
To ensure that this high quality standard is maintained, 35 new service technicians were recruited in 2009. Prior to their worldwide assignments they were trained and suitably qualified at the Aker Wirth in-house competence centre.
The successful large pumps will play a central future role for the Erkelenz’ machine building company. At present 35 further pumps – with a drive power of up to 2 500 hp – have been booked.