"We tripled our drain duration with SENTRON LD 5000 Natural Gas Engine Oil and saved over $70,000 per year for one gas field operation."

— Randy Rosenau, Maintenance Coordinator of Production Operations at Petro-Canada Oil and Gas

The Petro-Canada Gilby Gas Field Operation, one of many operations saving money with SENTRON LD 5000 by extending oil drain intervals and therefore, increasing production and reducing maintenance costs.

Extreme weather conditions are a common reality for gas compressor stations. Ambient temperatures for Petro-Canada Oil and Gas, Medicine Hat can range anywhere from -40°C to 40°C (-40°F to 104°F). Dealing with these extreme conditions is just part of the job.

The Medicine Hat operation covers an area of approximately 10,000 square kilometres (3,861 square miles), which is divided into 13 sales compressor sites. It consists of approximately 2,700 shallow natural gas producing wells and produces 3.4 million cubic metres (120 million cubic feet) of gas per day. Gas produced at the Medicine Hat operation is transported from the well bore to compressor sites by a pipeline infrastructure. Once the gas enters the compressor site, it is compressed, dried and sent off to the sales division for marketing to the TransCanada pipeline.

This is an operation that relies heavily on its equipment. That is why Randy Rosenau, Maintenance Coordinator of Production Operations for Petro-Canada Oil and Gas in Medicine Hat pays close attention to the oil used in their engines.

The Trial

"I was impressed by trial results that I saw on Waukesha VHP engines using SENTRON LD 5000," explains Rosenau.

"Nick Moat, Petro-Canada's Research and Development Technician for Natural Gas Engine Oils recommended we give SENTRON LD 5000 a try in one of our Cat 3412 TAW engines. We took his advice and tried it. In June 2004, we began using SENTRON LD 5000."

This particular engine operates at 75 to 85 per cent load to drive a Mycom 250 VLRD screw compressor, which is a field booster unit for one of the Medicine Hat operation's compressor sites. The mid-sized field booster moves 2 million cubic metres (71 million cubic feet) of gas each day. It is one of 27 engine compressor units for the Medicine Hat operation.

Valve decks exhibit remarkable cleanliness.	Underside of cylinder heads shows ideal ash deposits.

SENTRON LD 5000 is a premium low ash natural gas engine oil. It is specially formulated to provide extended engine protection under severe conditions. The outstanding anti-wear protection of SENTRON LD 5000 reduces valve recession and wear of piston rings, cylinder liners and bearings, while reducing carbon build-up for prolonged engine life.

The Results

"We are very pleased with the switch; before SENTRON LD 5000, we were draining the oil at 1,500 hours. In our first trial with SENTRON LD 5000 we doubled our drain duration; the oil was still good at 3,000 hours, but unfortunately, the spark plugs gave out.

"We just completed our second cycle with SENTRON LD 5000. This time we changed the spark plugs at 2,500 hours, and monitored the oil on a weekly basis so that we could do an immediate drain, if needed. We made it to 5,005 hours this time without jeopardizing our equipment."

The SENTRON formula starts pure - 99.9% pure to protect better, longer. Using the patented HT purity process, impurities that hinder performance are eliminated. A unique combination of additives is then added to provide exceptional performance and protection against rust and corrosion.

The Benefits

By extending drain intervals, the Medicine Hat Gas Field Operation is saving money by changing their drain frequency from six drains to two drains per year.
"There are many benefits for us in extending our oil drains. We now have more uptime, which results in increased production and reduced maintenance costs."

For the Medicine Hat operation, the switch to SENTRON LD 5000 in one Cat 3412 TAW engine will increase revenue by $104,884 CAD and profit by $70,272 CAD per year.

"We are so pleased with the results of SENTRON LD 5000 that we're using it in some of our other engines."

"Moreover, the service from the Lubricant Division of Petro-Canada has always been great. The service team tables any issues or questions we might have and gets right back to us with an answer. The group has always been very helpful and innovative in coming up with new ideas to help us out."

If you would like to know more, please contact us at:

Petro-Canada on the internet www.petro-canada.com

Petro-Canada Lubricants 2310 Lakeshore Road West Mississauga, Ontario Canada L5J 1K2

Canada West: Phone 1-800-661-1199
Canada East (English): Phone 1-800-268-5850
Canada East (French): Phone 1-800-576-1686
Other areas phone: (416) 730-2408
E-mail: lubecsr@petro-canada.ca

Petro-Canada America Lubricants
980 North Michigan Avenue
Suite 1400, #1431
Chicago, Illinois
USA 60611

Phone: 1-888-284-4572
Fax: (708) 246-8994
E-mail: email@petro-canadaamerica.com

Petro-Canada Europe Lubricants
The Manor, Haseley Business Centre
Warwick, Warwickshire
CV35 7LS
United Kingdom

Phone: +44 (0) 2476-247294
Fax: +44 (0) 2476-247295