Terves Inc., Euclid, Ohio, announces that it has broken ground on a 12,000 sq. ft. expansion to its magnesium foundry. This will enable further growth of capabilities in metal processing, heat treatment, and machining. Plans include additional permanent-mold, materials handling, and storage space. It also includes the addition of sand casting, squeeze casting, and diecasting capabilities for custom magnesium and magnesium alloys and composites, as well as further expansion of build-to-print component CNC machining services. These additions enable the company to support aerospace and defense magnesium applications in addition to Terves’ leading position in the dissolvable oilfield tool market.
“Dissolvable metals are the new composites as far as oilfield tools are concerned,” says Andrew Sherman, CEO of Terves. “Oilfield tools made from composite materials were adopted in the industry about two decades ago, and today they occupy a sizable market share. Now we are seeing a major adoption and growth trajectory for oilfield tools made of dissolvable magnesium materials.”
At the end of 2017, roughly 2% of all frac plugs deployed in the field were made of dissolvable metals. The market is expected to grow to 5% of all frac plugs deployed in the field by the end of 2018 – a 250% growth in one year, with adoption and use increasing through 2025.
Mr. Sherman thinks that innovation will likely continue, as the industry gains extensive field experience with these multifunctional materials, including several new staging and completion tools engineered of dissolvable materials.
Dissolvable tools primarily eliminate post-completion drill-outs, and also have the ability to do longer laterals. Therefore, dissolvable tools could replace over 30% of drillable tools used in well completion over the next three to five years.
Terves is also investing in a further doubling of production capacity for cast and wrought magnesium products, and the expansion frees up space in existing facilities for initial production of new engineered response products, including revolutionary expandable structural materials and gas-generating reactive materials.
