R&M Energy Systems Canada’s products range from artificial lift systems, down-hole progressing cavity pumps and power sections to tubing rotators, rod guides and pipeline closures. Although the majority of its products are for recovery of oil, it also has products that address drilling and pipelines.

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R&M Energy Systems Canada says it has more than a niche in the oil production equipment market. Its products range from artificial lift systems, down-hole progressing cavity pumps and power sections to tubing rotators, rod guides and pipeline closures. “The majority of our products are for recovery of oil and we have some products that address drilling and pipeline products, as well,” says Scott Macfarland, regional sales leader. “We cover all aspects of the industry.”

With two manufacturing facilities in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, a sales office in Calgary, Alberta, and six service centers in western Canada, R&M Energy Systems’ operations are significant. But that only covers the company’s Canadian arm. The nearly 10-year-old company also has divisions in Willis, Tomball and Boger, Texas, as well as Argentina, Australia, Belgium, China, Indonesia, Kazakhastan and Venezuela, and it pulls in $290 million in sales annually.

Still, Macfarland says, that would be considered modest when comparing the company to its parent corporation, Robbins & Myers, which has projected revenues at $800 million for 2007. Founded in 1878, Robbins & Meyers began as a gray iron foundry in Springfield, Ohio, supplying castings for agricultural machinery and bicycles.

Its product line grew to include motor-powered fans, assembly line cranes and, eventually, progressing cavity pumps in 1936.

Legacy of Innovations
In 1955, the company was the first to introduce progressing cavity (PC) power sections used in horizontal and directional oil drilling. In 1981, Robbins & Myers introduced the Moyno Oilfield Products Down-Hole PC Pump to North American oil and gas recovery markets. In 1997, the company acquired Flow Control Equipment from J.M. Huber Co. and merged its Flow Control and Moyno divisions to create R&M Energy Systems in 1998.

“The majority of oil wells in Canada have installed at least one of our products,” Macfarland says. “That’s the strength of the company. We have good, recognized brand names. Anybody else who makes a similar product made it so that it was interchangeable with ours, right down to the paint color. Aside from us being the original, we have more engineering support around our products than anyone else out there. Everybody has copied ours, so they haven’t had to put in the expense of R&D.”

Product Range
“Our oilfield products capability is huge,” Macfarland says. “Over half of our current product offering is focused on artificial lift.” He adds that R&M has the largest PC pump on the market, which can produce 206 cubes or 1,300 barrels of oil per 100 RPM/day.

“[We] offer an extensive line of innovative rod guides, and wellhead production equipment,” Macfarland continues. “That comprises several different product lines from rod rotators and stuffing boxes to flowtees and blowout preventers. “We have a number of patents on our rod guide designs and some patents on our tubing rotator designs. For tubing wear mitigation, R&M has more patents and a wider range of rod guide styles and designs than anyone else in the industry.”

Training Capabilities
Macfarland says the company provides seminars about safe operation, maintenance, installation and inspection for all of its products. “In particular, we have a very good safety record with our closures and a lot of that has to do with our policies and procedures in place,” he explains.

“We spend time going to the end-users and training them on how to properly install and use our closures. Many of the larger oil companies have their own written procedures. In many cases we have helped them to write those procedures for their companywide pigging procedures, closures and operations inspections.”

New Products
Macfarland says R&M Energy Systems knows that the steam assisted gravity drainage (SAG-D) process is gaining momentum these days, so the company is working on producing products that can handle the temperature. “We’re working on new elastomers and a new way of bonding our elastomers that can help produce those wells in SAG-D applications,” he states. “A lot of dollars are spent in heavy oil and oil sands in Canada. We’re very close to having high-temperature elastomers that can handle this.

“Seeing as this oil is so heavy, they can’t put any rod guides down the hole. They have to allow the oil to flow as freely as possible, so they are going to have rod and tubing wear. We’ve come up with high-temperature rotators to allow them to reduce their tubing wear and extend their run lives.”

Focus on Customers
“R&M Energy Systems Canada is committed to providing exceptional customer value through its broad line of superior solutions and service support operations,” the company says. “The result is less down time, greater cost savings and higher levels of performance efficiency for our customers in the most demanding and mission-critical applications.”

Macfarland says the trick of the trade is to be customer-focused and satisfy customers’ needs. “This makes us more proactive in bringing out new products and being innovative,” he says. “We’re operate like a smaller company in Canada, but we have a fair amount of autonomy to make decisions and be responsive to our customers’ needs. Yet, we still have the big global presence of Robbins & Myers to support us, so it’s a bit of the best of both worlds for us here.” n