Infill Thinking Lifting the O&G knowledge curve

If there’s one thing we can say with certainty about the 2019 US shale business it’s that oilfield water management is trending. You’ve probably noticed an uptick in water research here at Infill Thinking (example 1, 2, and 3). And we aren’t alone… check out newly launched oilfieldwater.com. So when …

Price is a powerful lever. And falling sand prices have extended payback periods for new greenfield frac sand plants. What does this mean for interest in building new plants? In this post, we take a data-driven look at the current status of a once-in-a-lifetime silica mining rush. There’s a lot …

An activist investor continues to trade punches with a big Delaware Basin land bank. The proxy battle has big oilfield water and land management implications. Here is analysis on the latest developments in this proxy battle over a vacant trustee seat as the vote looms large… There’s a lot more …

Ultra-fine proppant has been in and out of the news for the past several years without a real inflection in traction in completion design. Will that fact pattern change in the future? We discuss the microproppant outlook and a new datapoint in the story here. There’s a lot more to …

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 …

What can Eagle Ford frac sand customers and suppliers expect for the rest of 2019 on the local sand greenfield front? We’ve rounded up data on the next round of plant startups. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and …

When Chevron bid for Anadarko two weeks ago, the first line of Infill Thinking’s newsletter that day underscored the importance of Oxy’s failed bid. “The most interesting headline coming out of today’s Mega-Scale M&A news might actually be Oxy’s failed bid for Anadarko.” – Infill Thinking Headline From 4/12/19 Come …

On Monday, Halliburton was the second oilfield service company to host a conference call so far during the early days of 1Q19 earnings season. Here’s what you need to know from the call if you work in the US completions supply chain. There’s a lot more to this story… Login …

Today’s news was widely expected. It’s what comes next that’s less clear. 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 …

With a shareholder meeting to pick the next TPL Trustee one month away, the activist investor’s pick for the vacant seat has launched a video campaign in which he questions the Trust’s land and water strategy. The vote for this seat has big implications for the Permian land and water …

In this update we shine a flashlight beam on one of the Permian Basin’s ugliest metrics relative to the rest of US shale. 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. …

In a five-minute read, here’s what completions supply chain pros need to know about Schlumberger’s market commentary Thursday 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 …

Here’s what completions supply chain folks need to know about Union Pacific’s market commentary Thursday 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 Infill Thinking, …

It’s only Tuesday, but two major frac sand industry gatherings have already happened in Texas this week. Much of the buzz we picked up from these events (one of which our team attended) seemed to be in line with recent Infill Thinking reporting and presentations at other recent frac sand …

Status quo in frac sand? Yep. For the first time in two years, disruption is in the review mirror not smack dab ahead of us. See how and what’s next in this thematic piece… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this …

Our regular weekly rig count update this week shines the spotlight on the SCOOP/STACK rig count. 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, …

The Coloradan E&P industry is braced for the earth to move beneath their feet, and tolerance for QHSE risk is about zero among the operators navigating this challenging regulatory landscape. When we talk with our O&G contacts in the Rockies, regulation invariably comes up. So here’s an update on where …

On Monday April 15, 2019, most Infill Thinking readers are either: 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, …

Infill Thinking was honored to participate and attend the SPE’s Permian Symposium in Houston yesterday. Special thanks to all the events organizers and presenters – it was a great experience and we learned a ton. To all the Infill Thinking members we ran into, it was great seeing you in …

Much is being written about Chevron bidding $33bn to take over Anadarko this morning, and rightly so. Instead of yet another transaction rehash, here are four quick thoughts on our mind after waking up to the news this morning: … There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see …

The Infill Thinking team will be attending and speaking at the Permian Basin Symposium hosted by the SPE Gulf Coast Section this Thursday, April 11 in Houston. If you’ll be there, please say hi… we’d welcome the chance to shake your hand and chat oilfield trends. Infill Thinking founder Joseph …

Infill Thinking has learned some new details in the Permian Basin saga involving the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard (DSL). These details involve a key leadership change and the 2019 conservation plan. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our …

One of the key takeaways from our Permian Basin recon trip a couple months ago was that intra-basin railing of local sand was about to become reality. In this boots-on-the-ground piece in March, we wrote that first shipments could happen by the end of 1Q19. The timing of that prediction …

We learned that an operator had some very nice things to say about local sand to their investors in New York on Tuesday morning… Check out why this is notable here. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive …

  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 …

Oilfield water management’s rapid evolution from cottage industry to stand-alone business is attracting dozens of new players (and capital) across the entire water value chain. As startups join stalwarts in a business model revolution, our Aqua Men series brings this fast developing space to life. This is the second profile …

2019 got off to a shaky start in the US onshore oilfield service business (largely due to macro volatility into year end). But as 1Q played out and WTI rallied, sentiment and completions activity indicators improved. Here with the second quarter only about a week old, we are pausing to …

During 1Q19, the Infill Thinking team: sent members 26 e-newsletters published 90 original research updates issued 17 data releases to Think Sheets® members hosted 3 member meetups across Texas, welcoming north of 80 members to share coffee and conversation spent a week in the Permian conducting boots on the ground …

In research, going down one path often leads to another. And that’s often when things become most interesting. While updating our recycled water leader board chart, first introduced in 4Q18, we got side-tracked by a quick thought exercise. In this update, we use operator spending budgets in conjunction with their …

After a relatively quiet couple of weeks in the frac sand marketplace, chatter in the channels we check has picked back up a bit. Here are five things that matter that we’ve heard this week… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read …

In this week’s regular weekly rig count update, we zoom in on a leading indicator for drilling activity in the Eagle Ford shale. 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 did a little thinking about the pipeline of M&A in the oilfield water business this week. For obvious reasons, it’s far easier to write about deals that have happened in the past rather than those that might happen in the future. But here’s some angles we’ll be watching in …

Who’s suing who in the frac sand space? Here’s the latest intel gleaned from our review of public records… 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 …

What’s interesting is that not all sand dunes are suitable for frac sand, which seems counterintuitive. This is due in part to the age of the formation – the sand hasn’t been in the rock tumbler (environment) long enough to smooth out the rough edges like the older marine formations …

Oilfield water management’s rapid evolution from cottage industry to stand-alone business is attracting dozens of new players across the entire water value chain. As startups join stalwarts in a business model revolution, our Aqua Men series brings this fast developing space to life. This is the first profile in our …

With the last mile market now sufficiently supplied by new gen equipment, competition is hot even if you have the latest and greatest gear. If you have equipment built more than 5-10 years ago… well… you might be looking for the exit. In April, one owner will put a fleet of …

In addition to the in-depth updates published early this week, a few other interesting items crossed our desk. 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 …

With just a week left in the quarter, we quantified a leading indicator for Permian drilling activity in this edition of our weekly rig count 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 …

This government data set is worth highlighting this morning, since it directionally lines up with recent frac sand management commentary on the bottom… 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. …

The sense of urgency and rapid changes that now characterize the produced water space are attracting a host of new players. Startups are joining stalwarts in bringing new ideas, infrastructure aggregation concepts, and plenty of dry powder to the table. It’s early days for the oilfield water midstream model… so …

Frac sand plants lower on the cost curve are whistling past a graveyard that is filling up with idled capacity. In this data-driven update, we take a look at the trend and discuss its implications for the marketplace. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full …

Water supply is a critical component of all Permian Basin proppant sand mine operations. Assuming that demand for and production of sand remain high many of the basin mines will need to extend excavations below the water table and consequently address aquifer dewatering issues. In this guest post, three experts …

Real-time takeaways – what you need to know as Covia speaks this morning… just the points with read-through for the industry… We live-blogged this conference call. 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 this week’s regular rig update, we note that while Total US land rig counts are down 27 rigs month over month, they’re up 28 rigs since this time last year. If the unconventional Permian rig counts is any sort of leading indicator, US land rig counts as a whole …

The debate over take-or-pay frac sand contract sanctity continues, as a producer has turned to the courts for contract enforcement. 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 …

Our latest round of Permian market intelligence focuses on datapoints in frac sand’s last mile and wellsite handling 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 …

US Well Services, one of a handful of electric frac fleet technology pioneers, hosted their first earnings conference call as a public company yesterday. A couple things stood out to us, including … There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update …

What were you up to in 1974? That’s when our guest author today started working in frac sand logistics. He’s seen it all and done it all. And he shares it all in this post. If you are a history buff, you are going to love this one… Two of …

Today’s chart of the day sits at the intersection of water sourcing and frac sand mining. 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, …

The great local sand rush of 2017-2018 has cooled off in 2019 after industry-wide frac sand pricing collapsed into a trough over the past 6-9 months. We estimate that Permian FOB mine prices are down some 65% y/y, which has put a damper on interest in expansion projects (greenfield or …