From Diesel to Gas, From Highway to Oilfield

You know Caterpillar for its diesel engines, which date back to the D9900 “Old Betsy” prototype manufactured in 1930, but how did the company get from diesels powering trucks and machines to gas engines powering the world’s oilfields? Take a look at this quick timeline for the answer. (Tip: A “D” before a model number indicates diesel; a “G” indicates gas.)

The 1950s

In 1955, we introduced the G342, G375 and G397 dedicated natural gas engines, with turbocharged models available. Three years later, we added aftercooling to those turbocharged engines to greatly increase power and minimize site derating.

The 1960s

The G353 was launched in 1960, marking the beginning of the 6.25-inch bore family, with the G333, G379, G398 and G399 soon to follow. This engine series helped Caterpillar gain a foothold in gas compression applications, and many 6.25-inch bore engines are still running in the field today.

The 1970s

We embarked on an aggressive new engine introduction campaign in the 1970s. Development of the D3400 family of diesel engines began in 1969, with the first engines entering production in 1973. The D3300 diesel series was introduced in 1972-73, with natural gas versions following in 1978-79.

The 1980s

In 1980, we shipped more than 1,000 gas engines in a single year for the first time. The D3500 engine family went into production in 1981, and in 1985, production of the 1000 rpm D3600 engine series began. (We’ll be celebrating 36 years of the 3600 series in 2021.) G3400 and G3500 families launched between 1985-88, modernizing our gas engine lineup and marking the end of the 6.25-inch bore era. By 1989, reciprocating engines accounted for a quarter of our sales and revenue. 

The 1990s

Seeing an opportunity for even larger natural gas engines, we launched the innovative G3600 natural gas family in 1991, starting with the G3606. That greatly extended the range of our engine offerings — by 1993, we were the world’s largest producer of gas engines by total power.

The 2000s

Ongoing development and significant advances in exhaust manifold, turbocharger, ignition system and electronic control technologies resulted in wider ranges of applicability, better efficiency and lower emissions for all of our medium and large engines. In 2000, we introduced ADEM electronic engine management for the G3600 family — a significant advance in reliability that was soon made available for the G3500 series as well.

After acquiring Maschinenbau Keil GmbH’s marine diesel engine division, known as MaK, we adapted one of its platforms into a large, medium-speed gas engine series. Introduced in 2001, the GCM34 series represents the largest gas engines ever produced by Caterpillar — by far. The largest model, the 16GCM34, is 331 inches long, 118 inches wide and 153 inches high and weighs 181,000 pounds.

The 2000s also saw the introduction of our Ultra Lean Burn technology, which began with the G3520B, migrated to other G3500 models and is now used in today’s G3500J models.

The 2010s

In 2015, we introduced the ADEM A4 version of the G3600, which provided increased power at higher elevations, better fuel flexibility and significantly lower NOx emissions. With this advancement, the G3600 line for gas compression extends from 1895 to 5045 hp at 1000 rpm. We also introduced the CG137 series and the G3516 TA, our next generation rich-burn engine, in the 2010s.

After completing more than four decades of aggressive new gas engine series development, Cat® gas engines today cover a range of 95 to 8180 hp for compressor drives — and they’ve successfully logged more two billion operating hours in the field. In other words, they’ve come a long way from the highway.