Latest internal latch wellhead system features a nested design and delivers even more value with enhanced safety and efficiency at its core
The development of Stream-Flo’s premier wellhead system has taken another big leap forward with the DMLX-S officially being launched.
Already seeing stellar success in the field, the DMLX-S positions Stream-Flo at the leading edge for internal latch wellhead systems.
Measuring almost a whole foot shorter than the DMLX — which was unveiled in 2021 after nearly two years of development and extensive intracompany collaboration — the DMLX-S builds upon all the proven efficiency of its predecessor by being optimized for even faster rig time thanks to its sophisticated tool system.
The DMLX-S Virtual Stack-up experience provides an immersive and guided walk-through of the system and all its running procedures. You can book yours today by filling out the contact form on the bottom of the DMLX-S product page.
With customer and field feedback at the forefront of its development, Stream-Flo President of Operations Sean Wilcock says those insights heavily shaped the DMLX-S.
“We engaged closely with the customers and listened to what they wanted,” said Wilcock. “They are primarily driven around three key things, which is safety, efficiency, and cost.”
All three key customer focus points are acutely addressed with the latest evolution.
The shorter design allows customers to have shallower cellars, which means technicians under the rig don’t have to work in such deep environments. Meanwhile, the sophisticated tool package and running procedures make for a very smooth, efficient process on the rigs with less pickups, less trips, and less installations required. Lastly, the 10 fewer inches, which equates to a 32 per cent reduction from the DMLX, represents a significant cost engineered solution.
Tailoring our engineering expertise
Asked how we were able to achieve such a major reduction in height, Stream-Flo Product Line Manager Steven Buchinski had this to say:
“You really need to have good engineering, and that’s what we’re so fortunate to have in this company, led by Peter Derks on the DMLX-S,” said Buchinkski. “Peter did such a fantastic job with really cost engineering this to the max.”
The lead engineer on the DMLX-S project responsible for the majority of its design and overall oversight, Derks says the latest evolution was a perfect example of widespread collaboration, with departments like manufacturing and supply chain involved early on.
“What can we do to evolve our engineering design process and then just make it better?” said Derks about the overall goal he was tasked with. “And I think a lot of that is getting more people involved.”
‘A company product’
Derks says that approach helped bring all the departments together on the project, as opposed to creating a potential divide between them.
“If you get them involved early on, it’s like, hey, that was my idea or you know, I suggested this and it’s in the design now, right?” said Derks. “It just makes it not an engineering product, it’s a company product.”
Part of that company-product process included travelling around our Stream-Flo USA branches to gather feedback from our various departments about the changes they would like to see, with around 32 people in total contributing their input.
“Giving them a platform to voice their concerns or suggestions was super helpful,” explained Derks about the impact those varied perspectives had.
Nested design a major improvement
When it comes to the biggest evolutionary leap the DMLX-S makes from the previous version, Derks says its nested design is at the top of the list.
“Your intermediate has a production hangar sitting inside of it, it’s not stacked anymore, they’re kind of like Russian nesting dolls,” explained Derks. “The main benefit that allows is that when you’re running your production string you can save a lot of material cost by just like one nominal size smaller.”
Another major benefit the nested system provides is being able to freely rotate, especially on a solid hanger, without worrying about seals hitting the inside of the BOP stack.
“Imagine you have a 13-inch hanger you’re trying to rotate inside of a 13-inch bore, you have very, very little clearance on each side,” said Derks. “They really have to rotate a lot to try to get that pipe shoe all the way down, so being able to just kind of give it as much as you need without that risk is a huge improvement.”
Stream-Flo Senior Product Engineer Peter Derks discusses the development of the DMLX-S over Teams.
Bringing the team closer together
Anyone familiar with the satisfaction of checking things off a list will relate with Derks, who describes his favourite part of the DMLX-S development as being able to see the continual progress made over two years as 400 drawings, 300 part numbers, and dozens of R&D tests stacked up.
It was the incremental advancement toward unleashing an industry-leading premier wellhead system.
An accomplishment made even better by how much closer it brought those working on it together.
“Coming down to Houston and getting put on such a large product development almost immediately, I’m just really happy that you know, one, everything worked out,” said Derks. “But two, we were able to talk with everybody down here and they were able to listen to us, and we listened to them, and it just feels like we’re a lot more of a cohesive unit down here, so I’m glad it was a success. I think it puts us in a very good spot.”
Onward and upward, as they say. The story of the DMLX — and now the DMLX-S — in essence.