The impact of in-basin sand on the US supply stack is not only the key debate in the silica industry today. It is the single most important debate in the entire US oilfield at present. Today, three-fourths of US frac sand is sourced north of the Mason-Dixon line, but there are …
Read More »Knock-On Effects Of Rising Sand/Well – Oilfield Iron Abrasion
The conversation about frac sand this year has largely revolved around access to it. Topics of debate have fallen into three buckets: i) inflation, ii) logistics, and iii) whether the mines will be able to meet (or overshoot) the rising call on supply. But skyrocketing sand pumped per well has an …
Read More »For Schlumberger, It’s Love And Hate In The Lower 48
Schlumberger’s position and perspective on the North American market might best be described as a love-hate relationship. Endorsing the Lower 48 onshore outlook is simply not in Schlumberger’s DNA. Even as the company describes challenges that may make the North American E&P model unsustainable, it can’t resist getting bigger in …
Read More »Schlumberger Doubles Down On North America, Absorbs Weatherford’s Frac Horsepower
Friday was a potentially transformative day for the US frac business. Not to be outdone by Halliburton’s big news Friday morning, Schlumberger and Weatherford dropped their own bombshell Friday evening. Schlumberger and Weatherford are combining their hydraulic fracturing businesses into a OneStim JV, which will be 70% owned by Schlumberger. …
Read More »Reader Response To 64-Well Pad Research Reveals Another Monster In The Making Among Other Findings…
Earlier this week, we published an in-depth look at Encana’s Davidson pad in the Permian. 64 wells are planned at this site, making it the largest full-scale development in the Permian. We believe that reader response to a report like this can often be more compelling than the report itself, for …
Read More »A Massive Paradigm Shift In Frac Sand’s Last Mile Is Happening Now
Retail giant Amazon and the hydraulic fracturing business have something in common: costly and complex last mile logistics. Distributing proppant requires just as much sophistication as distributing Echo Dots, Yeti Tumblers, and Kleenex. In 2017, more truckloads of sand per well will be pumped than ever before. The frac industry is trying …
Read More »Horsepower Feeding Frenzy In The Permian As ProPetro Launches The 2nd Frac IPO Of The Year
Following the well received initial public offering floated by Keane Group (ticker FRAC) in January, ProPetro filed for their IPO on Wednesday. They take the ticker PUMP – stale oilfield comp sheets are getting a trendy new makeover. This Permian pumper is going to grow fast – sign in to read all …
Read More »Let The Building Begin! NOV Books Its First Large Frac Pump Order Of The Recovery
There is optimism in NOV’s tone again. In this update, we share the very latest on their orders and outline what they are seeing from customers in terms of inquiries, needs, and technology demands as pockets of newbuilding return for the firs time in over two years… There’s a lot …
Read More »All Available US Frac Capacity May Be Consumed This Year
As we write, the US onshore rig count is breaching the 700 mark (it stood at 689 last week). In this update, we explore what happens when a rig count of 900 is reached (which could happen sooner than you might think). We dig into the details of how much …
Read More »Reports From Big Sand Are Still A Few Weeks Out, So Here Are Three Datapoints To Tide You Over
The big public frac sand suppliers (companies like Hi-Crush, US Silica, Fairmount Santrol, and Smart Sand) will be closely watched when they report earnings this quarter. Expectations for increased proppant demand are high as the US shale industry gets back to work. But Big Sand won’t be talking about their own …
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