We caught up with Ben Goulding at the Schlumberger Bartlesville, OK, manufacturing plant, where he has been inspecting the latest units to come off the production line for deployment in West Texas. We want you to know what inspires his team to deliver the best in surface pumping systems globally.

There is a lot of history in the Schlumberger REDA HPS horizontal multistage surface pumping system. Can you explain what makes these systems special?

What sets us apart is the long history of quality we have here in Bartlesville. Many people are not aware that Schlumberger REDA developed the horizontal pump here in Bartlesville more than 70 years ago. Since that first system, we have refined the technology to be the premier centrifugal horizontal pump system worldwide.

Can you tell us more about the Bartlesville plant and its people?

This manufacturing facility makes all of our REDA horizontal pumping systems (HPS) for North America using a high quality standard. The team here has decades of experience and, in many cases, literally wrote the book on these systems.

You mention that the pumps are manufactured in America. Have you considered overseas manufacturing?

We have toyed with idea, but I think of the adage “if it isn't broken, don't fix it!” Of course we could try overseas manufacturing, but the established processes and knowledgeable team we have here are going to be very, very tough to beat. We appreciate that our customers want the best, most reliable product to suit their application so we have focused on building generations of quality and expertise right here.

You mention different applications. I understand the Schlumberger REDA horizontal pump is a versatile product?

Definitely! I think you would be hard pressed to find another product in the Schlumberger portfolio with such diverse applications. The HPS system was originally designed for oil transfer pipelines using an evolution of the downhole centrifugal pump found on our electrical submersible pump (ESP) product line. It was successful in this for many years, but we have found our customers loved the benefits of the system so much they wanted to try it in other applications. At the moment, we are producing systems for use in NGL pipelines, crude oil transfer, salt water disposal, CO₂  injection, amine plants, and more. We are also excited to be perusing new horizons in the clean energy market, pumping hot water for geothermal applications. If it's a fluid, we can move it!

Could you elaborate on some of the benefits your customers have seen from using the HPS units?

The primary benefit our customers have seen is from the ease of maintenance of these units. All of the components can drop in and drop out for maintenance, reducing downtime significantly as compared with alternative pump types.

We have also seen a big increase in interest due to tighter environmental regulation. For example, positive displacement pumps have been the industry standard of the industry for decades but leak fluids at a low rate to lubricate the packings. This runs the risk of causing environmental contamination. With our centrifugal pumps, all the fluids are contained inside the pump, ensuring a clean and environmentally friendly worksite.

What does success look like to you for the HPS product line?

For me, its delivering quality every time. We have built up our brand over decades to represent the best-in-class in pumping systems. As we like to say, we’re often imitated, never duplicated. We still lead the way. Our customers can rely on us to deliver a safe, reliable system that will keep on delivering to them for decades to come. In fact, in Wisconsin we recently pulled a working pump that was installed 54 years ago—that's REDA quality!