John Crane completes multi-million pound programme to boost Romanian oil output

JOHN CRANE, part of the global technology business Smiths Group, has completed a multi-million pound project to modernise some of Romania’s 9,000 ageing oil wells.

The Well Modernisation Programme was launched by Petrom – the largest oil and gas producer in Eastern Europe – to increase output cost-effectively.  Petrom’s oil and gas production meets around one third of Romania’s energy demand.

Equipment failures in wells can cost energy companies millions of pounds per day in lost revenue.  John Crane has won contracts worth £10 million on the project to date and has also secured contracts to supply equipment and maintain the upgraded wells.  Following completion of the programme, the number of well interventions required to maintain performance decreased by 86%.*  The wells are now running much longer without servicing resulting in less downtime and far lower operational costs for the customer.

The contracts were awarded for the supply of artificial lift equipment and services from John Crane Production Solutions, which focuses on helping customers improve productivity of their wells by providing pumping equipment and maintenance services to reduce downtime and costs.

Paul Cox, President, John Crane, said: “The success of this project illustrates how John Crane Production Solutions’ industry-leading maintenance services can benefit the global petrochemical industry and help to improve the world’s energy supply.”