Infill Thinking Lifting the O&G knowledge curve

About one week ago, the first truckload of finished frac sand left Atlas Sand’s gate in Kermit. Check out the latest on their ramp 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 …

This is a pretty interesting read. Are you subscribed yet? Our research service is available for less than a buck per report! Our goal is to democratize high-quality oilfield market analysis, making it available and affordable to a broad audience. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see …

The frac market is in flux. Who’s still planning to grow? Who’s not? Will plans be realized? We quantify and discuss… 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 …

US Silica’s Lamesa sand plant more than doubled in announced capacity this week, becoming the Xth Permian in-basin plant we track with an announced expansion vs. original nameplate capacity. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research …

More details to follow… 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 …

Supermajor capital has washed ashore to hunt short cycle returns in the Lower 48, having abandoned longer-cycle deepwater and international in the era of austerity following the 2014 oil price crash. These large companies have historically been thought of as less nimble than their smaller peers – the Independents who …

First tons and an on-time startup for Atlas mark this new entrant’s official arrival. We have analysis of the startup that goes beyond the press release here. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you …

After Hi-Crush’s news last week of a major contract win (pun intended) at a surprisingly strong price, we dug much deeper into the latest Permian Basin frac sand pricing trends this week. Please login to see this deep dive on Permian Basin frac sand price trends. There’s a lot more …

Each week we post analysis of the rig count, offering our own take on the trends. We also always include a thought piece, and this week digest some big contracting news. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive …

Occasionally readers send us photos from the field that are too good to keep to ourselves. This is one of those times… log in to see what we mean. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research …

Last week an executive affiliated with the newest acquirer on the frac sand block emailed us to let us know they are targeting frac sand logistics assets. During our phone conversation with the acquisition firm, we learned that… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full …

About 10 days before the H&P conference call this week, we wrote a report about something new the land contract driller is doing in the field – an onshore drilling first. In that report on these so called “piggy-back rigs,” we suggested H&P management might introduce and talk extensively about this …

Never a dull moment in pressure pumping. See what we landed in our “datapoint fishing net” during the past 48 hours. 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 …

Calling all DFW-area Infill Thinking members: we’d like to buy you a mid-morning coffee, shake your hand and chat oilfield trends with you. This is our sixth member event so far in 2018. We look forward to networking with members over coffee in Downtown Fort Worth in mid-August. There’s a …

While breaking the news about a MidCon mine construction halt exactly one month ago, we introduced a thesis to the market that MidCon frac sand mines would likely be delayed vs. initial expectations. With the potential for Oklahoma mine delays now well documented, we reiterate our first-to-market thesis that MidCon sand …

To say the Hi-Crush management team had a busy weekend might just be the understatement of the year. On Monday morning, the company dropped 3 press releases containing over 3,500 words. That’s 8 pages in Microsoft Word at 12 point font with single line spacing (yes we copy/pasted out of …

This is a developing story we are monitoring this morning. Details will be added as available (for now details are limited, but here is what we’ve learned so far)… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research …

We live-blogged our key takeaways from the Halliburton earnings call on Monday 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, or your membership …

Frac sand mining is evolving rapidly and the oilfield service company role in it is changing too. See what we expect to happen next in the full update. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, …

The Schlumberger conference call begins at 7:30 am this morning, and we are live blogging the highlights here. Before the call starts, we posted two observations from the press release. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our …

In our 2Q18 oilfield earnings season preview earlier this week, we wrote that Northern White Sand displacement anecdotes in the Permian Basin were likely to be heard on this upcoming round of conference calls (see point 6). It didn’t take long for this prediction to pan out… the first datapoint …

We digest and analyze reported mine activity and headcounts in the Permian Basin. 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 …

During the past week or so, pictures have surfaced on social media showing a US onshore industry first in land drilling: simultaneous drilling accomplished by joining together two land rigs. We talked with management to learn more and discuss the implications in this update. There’s a lot more to this …

Smart Sand has been on the fence on whether to build a Permian mine since last year. Here are the latest details on their plans as we await the next round of management commentary on the status of their intent to build. There’s a lot more to this story… Login …

Schlumberger will kick off oilfield service earnings season with their conference call on Friday July 20, with Halliburton’s report following on the next business day. Here are the top themes we will be listening for on 2Q18 conference calls: There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the …

It’s been a rough news week for Permian frac sand logistics. Incidents like this week’s fatal crash in Odessa remind us that driving is the most dangerous oilfield activity. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research …

We refreshed our drive time analysis for the X local Permian Basin frac sand mines that we consider “firm” (either operational or showing progress moving towards first production). For this analysis, we force ranked the Top 5 mines for each key Permian sub-market based on proximity. There’s a lot more …

In this update yesterday, we noted a changing local climate towards the frac sand mining rush in Oklahoma. It’s even worse than we initially thought. After doing some more digging, we have decided that… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this …

Clearly the forceful jury verdict in the last mile solution case this week is a significant win for the plaintiff, but final outcomes for the defendant could still span a wide range of possibilities… and have big implications for the last mile marketplace. There’s a lot more to this story… …

We submitted a series of public record requests to Oklahoma mining regulators this week to learn more about pending frac sand mine permit applications in the MidCon. Even before we submitted our questions, we observed a notable development in motion regarding MidCon regulation… There’s a lot more to this story… …

There’s always a risk of reading too much between the lines when analyzing executive comments. But the use of the word “first” to describe an in-basin mine in a recent investor presentation could have big implications. Does it foreshadow some in-basin capacity consolidation? There’s a lot more to this story… …

Continuing our World Cup / drilling analogy theme from last week, in this week’s rig count update we take a look at the trend in drilled wells that have been suspended from the completions “field of play.” There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To …

2Q18 was active in the field. Our research desk was hopping too. Infill Thinking published 99 updates, shipped 25 subscriber newsletters, and hosted 2 in-person reader meet-ups during the past quarter. You’ve got some fast growing company here. Our membership hit a new record high during 2Q18, growing by 19% …

2018 is halfway in the books. In the first half of the year, the US unconventional rig count increased 105 rigs to 827, a 15% increase. In the second half, “Bench Basins” are going to have to step up due to takeaway injuries suffered by this game’s superstar. There’s a …

A team of last mile specialists breaks down the MidCon sand procurement scene, digging deep into well, transload, and mine data to determine mileage differentials as procurement shifts to local sands. Don’t miss this chart and map… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  …

As discussed in this Infill Thinking update four months ago, the Texas Comptrollers Office is in the process of re-writing the Texas Conservation Plan for the DSL – a key step in light of the recent petition to list the species as endangered filed by two private environmental groups. The old “Hibbits …

In the Permian Basin, frac sand mines took off with very little permitting friction. In fact, if you take the dunes sagebrush lizard out of the conversation, we actually can’t recall a single headline about regulatory hurdles slowing down project. Will the same be true as the Mid-Con mining story …

After publishing our Mid-Con in-basin sand plant map PDF a couple weeks ago, some readers have been asking the question: who is Forenergy? Searches on InfillThinking.com for the company have picked up as well. So we talked with the founder and CEO to get you some answers. There’s a lot …

Back in January 2018, we discussed some of blockchain’s potential applications in the oilfield supply chain. This morning, Diamond Offshore announced the first application of blockchain technology in offshore drilling. Diamond’s new blockchain features include some of the same possibilities we imagined five months ago. There’s a lot more to this story… …

It seems odd to make the following statement right after a bullish OPEC meeting that sent WTI surging 5% higher on Friday: We believe that the Permian Basin rig count has very likely… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update …

One of the biggest challenges relative to Permian sand mine infrastructure, which is critical to the successful development of these facilities, is the availability of a viable supply of water for not only sand production, but potable use as well. A significant amount of effort has gone into finding reliable …

You probably saw this press release yesterday from Shale Support announcing in-basin M&A. We spoke by phone today with Co-Founder and CEO Kevin Bowen and got the full scoop. In addition to sand specifics, one of the big takeaways for us was that exploratory drilling and completions could heat up …

After oil’s 2014 crash, the US shale “popularity pendulum” swung hard against animal spirits, moving in favor of capital discipline. Outspending in shale is now taboo on both Wall Street and Main Street. But is the recent societal shift emblematic of lasting structural change or is it simply cyclical banter? …

In some large tight oil well AFEs these days, the frac sand line item can be as much as a quarter of well cost. Of course there is a lot more involved in shale development capex than just individual well costs. So for this chart of the day exercise, we …

One week ago, we got the first tangible datapoint on Permian takeaway capacity slowing down the world’s busiest oilfield. That datapoint came on the completions side as C&J slowed their frac spread deployment cadence. Today, we have the first tangible datapoint of an operator cutting back on the drilling side. …

With crude poised to potentially overflow Permian installed takeaway capacity, we thought it’d be worth taking a look at some big picture production vs. rig trends as the feature of this week’s regular rig count update. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To …

A 60-year old Northern White sand producer who has been selling proppant for the past 5-10 years is the latest company planning an in-basin frac sand entrance in Texas. We learned more details after conducting an exclusive interview with the company’s president this morning. There’s a lot more to this …

Business schools often talk about the life cycle of an industry: Introduction, Rapid Growth, Maturity, and, eventually, Decline. While the last 18 months has made it clear we are still in the Rapid Growth phase, much of that growth is also due to the maturation of the industry and the …

Is the frac sand greenfield rush of 2017/2018 finally over? It’s a question worth asking since each of the Big 4 markets are now flush with planned local sand supply. In the chart below, we compare our total 2019 frac sand demand estimates for four major markets to announced local frac …

In a slide deck released this morning, Schlumberger provided some interesting comments on frac sand. 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 …