Oklas

Oklas, oil equipment developer from Moscow

Oklas Technologies Ltd. is a Russian company that develops innovative equipment for marginal wells, for oil mining and oilfield service companies. The company is an offspring of the innovation center Skolkovo in Moscow, a partnership institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Oklas is participant in the project of creating and ensuring the functioning of the innovation center Skolkovo. Although a start-up company just founded in February 2018, Oklas is partnering with the largest Russian oil mining companies (including Gazprom, Rosneft and Tomskneft). The cooperation includes pilot testing of innovation products. Oklas actively collaborates with oil mining companies in the Russian region (EAEU) to collect information about current issues in mechanized oil production and development of new solutions.

Oklas invented and continues to invent unique equipment for effective oil production from marginal wells. The equipment of Oklas is: energy efficiency (low power consumption), reliability of the equipment (reduction of idle wells), submersible drive (oil production from deep, inclined, curved wells), low cost. Oklas aims to enter the North American market with these three innovative products:

• Ursus Pump – Unified submersible pump with a reducer
  Energy efficient well pump designed for operation in low-yield wells (up to 30 m³ / day). This pump has all the advantages of centrifugal and sucker rod pumps and with the same doesn’t have their disadvantages. Replacing the currently operating pumps with this one will increase the efficiency and reliability of oil production. Target market is marginal stock of oil wells.
• Ursus Check Valve UCV-73-225 – Ball check valve
  Designed to hold the formation fluid in the oil-well tubing when the submersible pump stops to prevent reverse rotation of the pump shaft, facilitate the re-start of the pump.
• ESP Turbostop – Device for preventing turbine rotation
  ESP Turbostop is designed to block reverse rotation of the shaft of the ESP (electric submersible pump) at the stop of the motor and leakage of a check valve, or without a check valve. It provides torque transmission from the motor, direct and reverse rotation. It is installed between the motor and protector. The use of Turbostop in the ESP with a motor with permanent magnets will prevent the generation of electric current by the motor during turbine rotation, which will ensure the protection of the control station and the safety of personnel. The use of Turbostop in the ESP without a check valve or with a leaking check valve allows to start the pump when draining fluid from the tubing string. The use of Turbostop in the ESP without a check valve will allow direct flushing of the pump through the tubing, as well as to reduce the time of killing the well.

2020 economic situation

Our search was at the height of the Covid-19 crisis, when oil prices dropped strongly. For cost reductions, many people were fired, including people in senior positions in the oil & gas industry. This was also why we couldn’t find some managers, just because they lost their jobs.

Where the US and Canada normally had saturated markets, innovative products have a chance in particularly in this momentum. While before 2020, innovative equipment was “just something nice”, in the new situation oil companies need to look for more efficient, innovative equipment. Due to the lower oil prices, it’s no longer efficient to drill for new wells. It requires a smaller investment to buy innovative pumps and valves.

Project results

Alliance experts found three very different «short-listed» partner candidates in the US and Canada, with whom Oklas can work together to organize the market entry. These companies understood that technology is the solution in a quickly developing world. We have found a marketing specialist, a technical specialist who can locally manufacture the equipment, and a sales specialist with many shops for oilmen in the US oil heartland.

Alliance experts currently remains in touch with Oklas and the North American partners, to guarantee good communication and results.