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Oil and gas drilling rigs have traditionally been powered by diesel generators. But a generator powered entirely by natural gas could give energy companies greater choice while benefiting the bottom line and the environment.

Increased North American drilling has made natural gas competitive with diesel, and allows contractors to use natural gas produced onsite, eliminating the need to transport diesel by road. In addition, natural gas burns cleaner than diesel, reducing emissions of greenhouse gases by about 90%.

The mobileFLEX natural gas-powered generator set (genset) is manufactured by GE’s Waukesha gas engines and distributed by Waukesha-Pearce Industries (WPI) of Houston, Texas.

“WPI used to be very active in the drilling space until 25 years ago, when GE stopped manufacturing its diesel engine,” says Fred Stow, WPI sales director. “However, more recently drilling contractors had been looking for ways to pull out of diesel, not only because of the cost of diesel fuel, but because of the increased environmental scrutiny regarding diesel emissions. At that point, our sales group had a serious talk with GE on how we could collaborate to repenetrate the drilling market with a natural gas engine. We still had significant relationships in the energy industry and a reputation for service and GE had the technical expertise.”