Packers Plus Energy Services, Inc. is a privately held, Calgary-based oil and gas service company.[1][2] The company is the innovator of StackFRAC, an open hole multi-stage ball drop completion system.[3] Packers Plus was founded in 2000 by Dan Themig, Ken Paltzat and Peter Krabben.[4] Stuart Wilson is President and CEO of the company.[5] Packers Plus' patent on the StackFRAC system was invalidated by a Canadian Federal Court judge in December 2017. The judge's decision stemmed from his conclusion that the StackFRAC technology was "obvious to skilled persons".[6] Packers Plus has appealed this ruling.[7]
History
In January 2000, Dan Themig, Peter Krabben and Ken Paltzat founded Packers Plus Energy Services, Inc. Eighteen months later, Dan Themig was asked by a Houston-based company to present ideas on how to increase production in a horizontal well.[8][9] Themig sketched a few ideas on a napkin on a flight from Calgary to Houston to present to the customer. The Houston-based company chose what would later become the StackFRAC system.[3][9][10] StackFRAC is an open hole ball drop completion system credited with unlocking unconventional resources once thought to be uneconomical to produce.[3][11] The company is also focused on high pressure/high temperature applications, high pressure retrievables and specialty downhole tools.[3] Packers Plus also created the QuickFRAC batch fracturing system, the SF Cementor stage tool and Titanium XV HPHT system.[12][13][14] In 2015, the Packers Plus ePLUS Retina Monitoring System won the World Oil Best Visualization and Collaboration award.[15] The Retina is designed to detect multi-stage completion system operations and their effects on the reservoir.[16]
Business operations
Packers Plus operates a semi-automated manufacturing centre in Edmonton, Alberta.[17] It features automated assembly robots capable of building upwards of 600 tools per day and automated torque and test cells designed to test tools up to 10,000 psi.[17]
Packers Plus has also built a Rapid Tool Development facility in Edmonton, Alberta which houses its engineering, research and development and testing personnel.[11] In addition, Packers Plus also has a Manufacturing Facility, Rapid Tool Development, Technology Centre and Corporate Office in Houston, Texas.[11] The company has operations in Canada, the U.S. and areas outside North America including the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America.[18]
^Seale, R, Donaldson, J., Athans, J. (2006). "Multistage Fracturing System: Improving Operational Efficiency and Production". Paper SPE 104557-MS presented at the SPE Eastern Regional Meeting in Canton, Ohio, USA, October 11–13, 2006.
^Seale, R. (2007). "An Efficient Horizontal Open Hole Multi-Stage Fracturing and Completion System". Paper SPE 108712-MS presented at the 2007 SPE International Oil Conference and Exhibition in Veracruz, Mexico, June 27–30, 2007.
^ abcdJ. Lynn Fraser (January–February 2013). "Lateral Movement". Well Construction Journal.
^Calgary Herald (February 12, 2014). "Innovation-Groundbreaking innovation in Calgary". The Calgary Herald.
