National Crane NBT45 supporting oil field activities

Barden Oil Field Hauling recently added a National Crane NBT45 boom truck to its fleet of haul trucks. The NBT45 is mounted on a tri-drive dual steer Kenworth C500 semi-tractor.

Barry Anderson owner of Barden Oil Field Hauling near Alberta Canada says the combination of the NBT45 on the semi-tractor is valuable because it allows them to lift and transport loads with one vehicle.

“Having a crane that can also haul is a huge cost savings for our customers ” he said. “Without this feature we would need a separate truck to haul equipment and that adds to the cost of the job significantly.”

In addition the latest environmental regulations in the oil fields require crane operators to place equipment from a longer radius. With the NBT45 Anderson says they can now work at radius 30 ft (9 m) longer than their previous boom truck.

“With the NBT45 we don’t need to move and reposition the crane as much ” he said. “We can now reach almost 90 ft (27.4 m) to place tanks and other equipment instead of the 60 ft (18.2) radius that was our maximum reach before adding this crane to our fleet.”

A typical job for Barden is hauling and placing 400-barrel oil tanks. For this type of job they must also haul and install about one hundred rig mats which measure 8 ft x 40 ft (2.4 m x 12 m) and weigh 9 000 lbs (4082 kg). The oil tanks themselves are 20 ft (6 m) tall and weigh between 12 000 and 14 000 lbs (5443 kg to 6350 kg).

Barden worked closely with its National Crane dealer Strongco to have the NBT45 mounted on the semi-tractor. The crane has worked so well for them in the field that they have recently purchased a second tractor-mounted NBT45. The second one will be mounted on a lighter semi-tractor to allow for more payload to be hauled.