Grove’s Russian distributor KwintMadi has delivered ten all-terrain GMK 5100s to one of the remotest parts of Siberia.
At Surgut, in one of the remotest parts of central Siberia, lies one of the richest oil and gas-fields in the world, producing over 42m tonnes of oil per year. Situated 2,500km from Moscow, and with no direct road connections to ports, the only access is by rail, or by air. And with temperatures dropping to -40C in winter and +30 in the summer, it has one of the harshest working environments anywhere in the world.
With more than 10,000 wells spread over a 150km radius of Surgut, the development of the oil and gas deposits calls for a lot of special equipment, including special ‘walk-over wells’ for the first drilling, followed by permanent well-heads, all of which have to be transported and assembled on site in 40t unit modules.
Surgutneftygas, the enginering authority, needed a crane that could handle the loads, and also be able to travel to some inaccessible places, in terrain which in summer is sand-dunes and swamp, and in winter is harsh permafrost.
On receiving the order, Grove engineers at Wilhelmshaven had to consider not only the cold-climate protection requirements, but also the problem of transportation.
The cranes, which were scheduled to arrive in the winter months, had to be transported the final 2,000 km to Surgut by rail, a journey taking three weeks. The wheels and superstructure cabs had to be reomoved to navigate the narrow tunnel and bridge systems on the Russian railway network.
Within just three hours of arriving in Surgut, the first unit was ready to go to work, and all 10 of the cranes are now at work in the oilfield.
KwintMadi chairman Dr Victor Sokolov said: ‘We are delighted with the detailed technical support which we received from Grove, both in refining the specifications and resolving the difficult transportation problems, and subsequently in the on-site support.’
