Caterpillar Ships First Dynamic Gas Blending Retrofit Kits for Well Stimulation Applications

For Worldwide Release: Sept 2013
Release Number: GP13PR20

Houston, Texas – Caterpillar Oil and Gas is pleased to announce that it has begun full production of the Dynamic Gas Blending (DGB) retrofit kit for use on the Cat® 3512C (HD) engine used in well stimulation applications and has shipped the first kits to customers. The DGB kit for well stimulation is available to order through the Cat dealer network. As previously announced, this system will allow for maximum substitution of diesel fuel with natural gas during high pressure pumping operations, and is available in both Air To Air After Cooled (ATAAC) and Separate Circuit After Cooled (SCAC) configurations for 2250 hp and 2500 hp @ 1900 rpm ratings. The EPA approved DGB kit maintains diesel performance levels with up to 70 percent replacement of diesel with gas.

Earlier this year, Caterpillar successfully completed extensive field testing with leading North American oilfield service companies to validate system performance of the DGB kit. The kit will be showcased at the upcoming Higher Horsepower Summit in Chicago, September 17 – 19th where Caterpillar will highlight its comprehensive dual fuel and natural gas offerings for the oil and gas, rail, marine and mining industries.

Heavily leveraging decades of success with Cat natural gas engines and the recent introduction of the Cat DGB system for land drilling and production, the Cat well stimulation DGB system makes no compromise with performance, safety, and reliability while burning a mixture of diesel and natural gas fuels.  “Through our product development work in the field with some of the leading well servicing companies, the Cat DGB system has performed exceptionally well.  User feedback has been very positive with ease of installation, engine performance, and the integrated safety features of the Cat DGB system,” said Scott Roberts, Caterpillar Oil and Gas Well Service Product Marketing Manager.

Along with the benefit of realizing significant fuel cost savings by substituting diesel fuel with natural gas, there are several other key features of the Caterpillar DGB system that make it a winning solution for well stimulation.  Operators can run the system with confidence on CNG, LNG, and field gas with a lower heating value between 850 and 1,250 Btu, knowing that the engine is maintaining United States EPA Tier 2 level emissions with the combined muffler and Cat Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC) included in the DGB kit. Additionally, the Cat DGB system was recently approved by the EPA as a field fix that allows the installation of the DGB kit to convert the diesel engine to run on a combination of diesel/natural gas. The system is capable of achieving maximum substitution at various speeds and loads over the full operating range, and will automatically adjust to changes in gas quality without the need to perform any recalibration or adjustments to the system during or between jobs.

The DGB system is fully integrated with the engine control system, optimizing engine performance and ensuring that the engine always operates within safe parameters while blending diesel and natural gas.  This results in no compromise with performance, maintenance intervals, engine reliability, and most importantly, safety. Installation of the Cat DGB kit on existing engines is streamlined through efficient design.  The combined muffler and DOC eliminates the need for the customer to integrate a DOC with their existing mufflers, and a single advanced Engine Control Unit simplifies the electrical system.

Cat Dynamic Gas Blending kits are backed by the worldwide Cat dealer network with trained technicians to ensure service support is never out of reach.  To learn more about the comprehensive Cat solutions for the well service industry, visit industry experts on hand at the Higher Horsepower Summit in Chicago, September 17th – 19th. To register for HHP, visit: www.cat.com/hhpsummit.  For up to the minute information on Caterpillar Global Petroleum at HHP, follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/caterpillaroilandgas & Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/catoilandgas using #HHPSummit and #natgas.

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About Caterpillar Oil and Gas
Caterpillar Oil and Gas, Caterpillar Inc.’s oil and gas division with headquarters in Houston, Texas, groups all the sales and service activities for Cat oil and gas power solutions. Since the 1930s, Caterpillar has manufactured engines for the oilfield and today provides premier power solutions with outputs from 31 to 16,000 kW.  The sales and service network includes more than 2,100 dealer locations world-wide dedicated to support customers in the drilling, production, well service and gas compression segments. More information is available at: http://www.catoilandgasinfo.com/pr.

About Caterpillar
For more than 85 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making progress possible and driving positive and sustainable change on every continent. With 2012 sales and revenues of $65.875 billion, Caterpillar is a technology leader and the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, clean diesel and natural gas engines and industrial gas turbines. More information is available at www.cat.com.

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Note to Editors: Caterpillar rolls-out products and services in each of its territories at different time intervals. Although every effort is made to ensure that product information is released only after Caterpillar has received confirmation from our dealer network, our plants, and our marketing subsidiaries that products and services are available in the relevant region, editors are kindly requested to verify with their local dealer for product availability and specifications.

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