Infill Thinking Lifting the O&G knowledge curve

We take a look at some notable comings and goings. The frac talent pool continues to play musical chairs. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a member. If you are new …

In this update we study a different kind of flaring intensity – the flaring conversation intensity. This is not a new issue, but the conversation is heating up and evolving. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our …

“We are signing up operators that want to move away from outdated and unsafe………….” That’s what one growing wellsite storage provider in the frac supply chain had to say about their wellsite storage solution displacing the competition on their conference call this week…. There’s a lot more to this story… …

From the datapoint deluge this week, we’ve extracted these critical pieces of oilfield water market intelligence. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a member. If you are new to Infill Thinking, …

One week ago today, we quantified the reduction in force trend using 2019 headcount data from the 15 companies that had filed annual reports up to that point. Today, we’ve added another 22 companies that have released annual reports since then, and the number of jobs lost in US shale …

In this week’s regular rig count update, we take a look at what a large rig contractor said about customer plans… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a member. If you …

Here are the key bits of market intel that we picked out remarks made by three market share leaders in the wellsite storage game last week… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must …

We take a look at WaterBridge’s acquisition history and comment on their latest deal in this update… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a member. If you are new to Infill …

We did some digging after an E&P CEO’s damp sand frac patent claim last week sent a ripple through frac sand inner circles. Here is what we have uncovered… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research …

Last week, Hi-Crush said on their 4Q19 earnings call that January 2020 was the strongest month of sand sales in any January in company history. This datapoint is inline with our recent stream of reporting on stronger than expected frac activity – and sand demand – starting with this update …

A large E&P operator has firmly planted a legal flag of conceptual ownership in damp sand. This raises lots of questions for the broader adoption of the practice, including applications in in-field frac sand mining… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read …

This earnings season, a morbid data set is emerging from the shadows and becoming visible. Everyone in the oilfield is well aware of the reduction in force (RIF) trend that swept across the US onshore oilfield last year and continues this year. But the true extent of the damage has …

New pictures and a schematic have come to light as one of the first movers on the in-field mining trend continues making moves. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a member. …

We live blogged our key takeaways from a critical TX RRC report release via webinar on Tuesday afternoon February 19, 2020… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a member. If you …

Today we are giving readers a look behind the curtain at an important part of our research process. We’ve summarized the key themes we believe will be highly influential in shaping oilfield market fundamentals in 2020. Until now, these ideas have just lived on our whiteboard and post-it notes… There’s …

There are new developments today in the Uintah Basin local frac sand story. Our analysis of the new facts that have come to light can be found here… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, …

This week, we put a spotlight on drilling activity trends in the Canadian rig market… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a member. If you are new to Infill Thinking, or …

Listening to the FTSI call this week, here’s what stood out to us as far as market intel takeaways for the Lower 48 pressure pumping market… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must …

In addition to the other research we’ve posted this week, here’s an assortment of interesting odds and ends that crossed our desk and will be of interest to Infill Thinking members… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive …

This week, we had a chance to catch up with another mobile mini plant pioneer to learn about their approach. This is the third mobile mini plant provider we’ve profiled since writing a deep dive on the theme a month ago, which got folks talking and has drawn out new …

With fewer greenfield projects actively under construction now than at any time in the past three years, we believe that nameplate capacity activations at large-scale fixed local frac sand plants are mostly in the rear-view mirror now. Here’s a data-driven assessment of local sand mine activity in the Lower 48, …

While waiting for deal flow to pick back up, we dusted off our water M&A database this week. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a member. If you are new to …

A look at a leading indicator in a key southwest market is the subject of this weekly rig count data spotlight.. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a member. If you …

This week, two large pressure pumpers hosted 4Q19 earnings calls. Here are our takeaways from their remarks as it pertains to the 2020 pressure pumping market…     There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, …

2019 was a record year for M&A deals in oilfield water. Will 2020 be able to keep up the pace? There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a member. If you are …

If you are at HFTC or NAPE in Houston this week instead of the Permian Basin, count your lucky stars. If you are in the Permian on Wednesday, there’s a high probability you are: a) trying to reschedule your trip (or your meetings) because all flights have been cancelled b) …

In a meeting on Wednesday morning, county officials approved the latest… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a member. If you are new to Infill Thinking, or your membership has expired, …

We are able to put some important context around the first newsbyte about Hi-Crush’s mobile mine solution beyond their official announcement about the new division launch last week. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, …

  There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a member. If you are new to Infill Thinking, or your membership has expired, please email us to discuss our current subscription options at [email protected]. (Current …

Permian sand plant staffing reductions effectively de-rated production capacity in 4Q19. The trend in this chart helped set up the supply crunch we’ve dubbed Sandemonium when customer budgets reset seasonally in January… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and …

It’s been a week and a half since we first reported “Sandemonium” when the Permian surprisingly “ran out” of 100 mesh frac sand. Here’s an update on where things stand today followed by our answers to the most common questions Infill Thinking members are asking us as this situation continues …

This morning both Chevron and Exxon hosted conference calls. These are our key takeaways… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a member. If you are new to Infill Thinking, or your …

Every once in a while, laughter is the best medicine. So on a Friday when disruption potential is once again at the top of mind for the collective frac sand industry, we offer the following bit of levity. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full …

Since we first published this in-depth primer on Jan. 17, 2020 about the “in field” frac sand mining opportunity, the industry’s public conversation about mobile-mini plants has gone from zero to sixty in a heartbeat. We have begun to hear directly from other first movers with their own mobile-mini plant concepts. These solutions …

On Tuesday, we hosted 50+ Infill Thinking members for coffee and conversation at one of our favorite Houston coffee houses. Special thanks to the Siphon Coffee team and patrons for letting us invade your space and putting up with us – we sort of took over the place! The event …

Hundreds of oilfield decision makers came to our member meet-ups in 2019 (these are included with your subscription). Will you be there when the industry’s smartest minds and leading executives gather again with us in 2020? Login to get the details on our first gathering of the new year and …

From strength to strength in January for this important West Texas drilling activity indicator.. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a member. If you are new to Infill Thinking, or your …

Just when everyone assumed the Permian was hopelessly oversupplied with sand comes a supply crunch that will make everyone question their beliefs! There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a member. If …

With the days of large-scale in-basin mine construction vanishing, we wonder if the miniaturization trend this chart reveals is a precursor to the rise of mobile-mini plants? There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you …

A new entrant sand miner launched last last year is quickly advancing a brand new local frac sand mine project for the Bakken through the local permitting process in North Dakota. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive …

Sustainable business models in oilfield water management will be a hot topic at The Oilfield Water Markets 2020 Conference coming up this May in Dallas. We’ll be there and hope to see many of you there… The Rolling Stone feature story on oilfield water that we flagged for our readers …

In this asset-intensive business, talent shifts are often ignored. But people matter. Talent shifts affect how business is done and competitive advantage, and here are ten moves that matter for how business is done in the sectors we cover in early 2020… There’s a lot more to this story… Login …

Here’s just what you really need to know from the Halliburton US onshore outlook provided on Tuesday morning… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a member. If you are new to …

A quadfecta is a set of four events. The following four items aren’t really events yet, they are futuristic concepts that we know some very smart folks with various levels of access to capital are looking at and working on at the moment. Whether any of these (or a combination) …

A datapoint this week emphasizes the disruptive impact that a combination of automation software and depressed rate sheets is having on the frac sand hauling industry as another large carrier rolls up and…. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update …

4Q19 earnings season is officially underway in the oilfield with Schlumberger’s call kicking things off this morning. Three months ago, their last earnings conference call prompted us to ask: What Is Schlumberger Going To Do With Their North America Business? Since then, we’ve all heard the speculation that… There’s a …

On New Year’s eve, we sent a newsletter. Despite the holiday, it was one of our most opened and shared newsletters of 2019. Why? It introduced a new idea with disruptive potential. Just when we all thought the frac sand was sufficiently disrupted by the advent and maturation of in-basin …

Please pardon our publishing silence over the past 24 hours or so… our research team is busy working on deep dive. One might say that our head is buried in the sand. It’s topical. It’s controversial. And it has massive implications for value creation / destruction in the frac supply …

In addition to the in-depth research we’ve published this week, several datapoints crossed our desk that advance the narrative on stories we’ve recently covered. We are sharing these followups in the five-point list below: There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this …

The widespread pandemonium we recently documented in frac sand’s last mile during Christmas and New Years has died down somewhat now that we are two weeks into the new year, according to our latest channel checks. However… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  …