Midland-based Catalyst Energy Services recently debuted its 50,000-HHP hydraulic fracturing fleet known as Vortex Prime that uses direct-drive turbine technology. Bobby Chapman, president and CEO, told Journal of Petroleum Technology, “I have spent more than four decades studying and innovating pressure pumping. Developing Vortex Prime, which will dramatically and literally change the fracing landscape, is my proudest professional achievement.”
Direct-drive turbine technology is powered by natural gas to reduce emissions. Catalyst said “the first of its kind fleet” improves safety by using less equipment and automated software and improves efficiency by using 6-to-8 pumps instead of 20 in a standard fleet to make it easier to move and faster to erect with a smaller footprint. “The technology has been proven,” he told Midland Reporter Telegram, “and we have a high degree of confidence that we can roll it out.”