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Pressure pumping is required in hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” of tight formations such as shale to allow trapped oil and gas to be recovered. The technology is credited for a boom in oil and gas production in the United States.

Trican shares closed Tuesday at 39 cents, up two cents. Its stock has ranged from 33 cents to $5.84 in the past year.

Keane bought the wireline assets of Calgary-based Calmena Energy Services Inc. in 2013 for $12 million. On its website, it says it has 300,000 horsepower of pressure pumping capacity and lists hydraulic fracturing offices in Pennsylvania, North Dakota and Texas.

In November, on its third-quarter results conference call, Trican said it had parked its last two fracturing crews in Texas, leaving it with only six of its 16 U.S. pressure pumping units still operating.

During 2015, Trican suspended its operations in Australia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Colombia, leaving only completion tools businesses in Norway and Russia in its international arm.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, it reported a net loss of $202 million, compared with a net profit of $38 million in the same period of 2014, as revenue fell 53 per cent to $326 million from $688 million. The loss included an asset impairment of $162 million related to low commodity prices and excess capacity in the pressure pumping market.

Trican reported U.S. operations suffered an adjusted operating loss of $14 million compared to a gain of $20 million a year ago in the quarter. It said pricing there was down 30 per cent from peak prices at the end of 2014.

Trican said in September its overall head count was off 2,400 to 2,500 people compared to a year earlier, mostly in North America (and not including its Russian employees). It laid off about 1,600 staff earlier last year, then had another 30 reductions at head office.

dhealing@calgaryherald.com

Twitter.com/HealingSlowly