Powerful performers

Volvo Construction Equipment pipelayers play a major part in Argentina’s energy revolution. 

The operator rotates the superstructure of the Volvo PL3005D pipelayer through 360 degrees to lift and place large, heavy pipes with ease and precision.

In 1931, after several years exploring the Patagonian wilderness, US geologist Charles Edwin Weaver wrote about a large rock formation seemingly rich in oil some 1,000km southwest of Buenos Aires. It took nearly 80 years and the development of new drilling techniques to realize the impact that ‘Vaca Muerta,’ meaning ‘dead cow’, could have on Argentina’s economy.

In 2011, Argentine oil company YPF – then majority owned by Repsol – announced its discovery of massive shale oil and gas deposits buried several kilometers underground. A year later, the Argentine government nationalized YPF and put in motion an ambitious plan to develop non-conventional production in the region.

At around 30,000km2, roughly the size of Belgium, Vaca Muerta is now estimated to hold the world’s second and fourth most important reserves of non-conventional gas and oil, respectively. By exploiting just a fraction of the formation, YPF is satisfied that it can cover all of Argentina’s energy needs for decades.

The discovery promises to breathe new life into the province of Neuquén, where oil has been exploited for more than a century, but conventional production has been in decline for years. It is also providing new opportunities for local companies, including Oilfield Production Services SRL (OPS), which provides a range of engineering and construction services to the hydrocarbons sector.

“Vaca Muerta has had a favorable impact in the area and has drawn in massive investment,” says Ignacio Pascual, administrative manager at OPS. “We had a big incentive because the new oil and gas needed to be compressed to be connected to the main gasoducts, and that’s our field of expertise.”

OPS, which began in 2001 offering small-scale civil engineering works, decided to invest heavily in new machinery to expand and capitalize on the new energy revolution. “We began with Volvo Construction Equipment around five years ago,” recalls Pascual. “We tested a machine, and it turned out to be really positive and reliable, so we decided to keep investing exclusively in Volvo, which now accounts for around 85% of our fleet.”

OPS has since expanded its Volvo fleet to 20, comprised of a mix of EC220DL excavators, L70F wheel loaders, BL70B backhoe loaders, G930 motor graders, and the new stars of the show: four PL3005D pipelayers.

Pipe dreams
The decision in 2014 to incorporate the Volvo pipelayers, which were delivered in 2015, was taken as part of the OPS plan to expand its operations in this activity. The company started using its backhoes as a substitute for pipelayers, but found the process unwieldy and inefficient, especially as the scale of new projects increased.

“We always specialized in gas compressor plants, and the idea was to develop our work in pipelaying,” explains Pascual. “The new Volvo machines helped us with that, saving us a lot of time.”

According to the head of logistics at OPS, Alejandro Faris, acquiring the new pipelayers had a significant impact: “Yesterday on site, we were able to introduce 2,800m of 24-inch (61cm) gas piping with just one pipelayer and an operator directing the procedure. Before, that same operation would have required a group of people, and seven or eight days to complete.”
Faris says these time savings also apply when setting up a new project and is a key consideration in Patagonia where distances are large and the quality of most access routes to remote areas leaves much to be desired.

“Previously, the equipment we used had to be divided in parts, so a logistical operation for a work site could take a week or days,” says Faris. “Now, the Volvo machines come fully assembled, so we can have all our equipment up and running on site in two or three days.”
Volvo’s innovative PL3005D pipelayer combines a 51 tonne lifting capacity with a host of industry-leading safety and productivity-enhancing features to produce one of the highest performing machines in the sector.

Home away from home
It’s not just the management at OPS who are celebrating the arrival of modern Volvo machines. As the company races to secure new contracts and simultaneously complete projects stretching to around 100km, it is the machine operators who are working long shifts in the arid and relentlessly windy conditions typical of the Patagonian steppe.

“The machine is really comfortable, with a lot of space to work in,” says Claudio Veloso, one of four operators trained to use the new PL3005D pipelayers. “You are secure when working of the great visibility, and there is no real risk of the machine rolling over.”

Another of the four, Cristobal Acuña, has been operating machines with OPS for 11 years and says he cannot imagine going back to the rented equipment he started with. “It’s the first time I’ve used such a complete machine. The seat is like a bed where you can rest during a break. There’s music, real air-conditioning and a heater. I think this technology helps operators remain healthy because otherwise we would really suffer working in 30-40 degree summer heat.”
The characteristics of the region also test the machines themselves. “Patagonia is a particularly arid zone, and quite extreme for the equipment because the ground can be very compact, very hard,” says Patrick Souyris, manager at Tecnodiesel and distributor for Volvo Construction Equipment in the region. “This is a challenge for the machines, especially during excavation, as well for Volvo to rise to the client’s need for cutting and digging components that serve their life cycle and maintain operational performance.”

Standing out
OPS hopes that improved efficiency and dependability will make the company stand out among service providers to the major oil and gas players, enabling it to win more contracts at both a provincial and national level. The signs are promising: the company says it has already managed to complete a project that would normally take one year in just 45 days and has recently picked up several contracts with YPF to complete projects left unfinished or in an unsatisfactory condition by rivals.

“OPS has been working with us continually for two years, and we keep giving them more projects because of the confidence we have in them,” explains Guillermo Fernández, YPF’s head of construction for engineering projects in the Loma la Lata field. “The change of machines has been really effective. Volvo has equipment with cutting-edge technology, which makes excavating work more secure with the versatility to operate in small spaces.”

As the workload increases, so does the investment in new equipment. In November of 2015, OPS took delivery of a brand-new EC220D excavator, which Souyris says demonstrates the company’s ongoing “confidence, continuity, and faith” in Volvo Construction Equipment.
“The company has put its faith in Volvo,” says Faris. “We have been satisfied not only with the equipment, but all that comes with it, including the mechanical service and on-site assistance. With new projects coming up in 2016, the company is prepared to improve and expand its fleet, and that’s why we acquired this new excavator.”

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