Success Stories

Forrest Drilling is an Oklahoma City contract drilling company that began building seven drilling rigs about three and one-half years ago. The rigs have ultra modern components and cost about  $15 million each to build and are scheduled to run 24/7. The rigs were scheduled for only 1 hour of down-time in a 24 hour period.

Drilling rig fluids are moved by Mud Pumps driving large reduction gears that are mounted on roller and needle bearings. Pump cylinders are cooled by a constant water spray that migrates into the gear box because of seal wear. The water and oil becomes emulsified making separation difficult. This situation requires an oil change and/or seal replacement resulting in a significant revenue loss during the down-time.

These pump gears are traditionally lubricated by a GL-80/90 mineral-based gear oil. The drilling superintendent at Forrest  asked if IOU could develop a gear oil that will not emulsify with water. Forrest wanted to be able to shut down the pumps for 10-15 min. each day to permit the water to separate from the gear oil and settle to the bottom of the sump and be drained utilizing minimal down-time.

IOU developed a custom formulation for Forrest called Special Synthetic SFW 80/90 Gear Oil. SFW stand for "separates from water". Forrest has now used thousands of gallons of this oil and credits it and IOU with keeping their drilling rigs earning maximum revenue and their critical equipment running well.

Forrest also followed our salesman's recommendation to modify the mud pumps with additional drain points, oil straining/filtration and desiccant filters. Used oil analysis was also recommended. These changes helped Forrest obtain maximum benefit and useful life from the oil purchased from IOU.