In the chart below, we’ve attempted to quantify a relatively opaque, highly competitive, and rapidly evolving last mile market segment – well-site frac sand handling and storage. As completion intensity exploded over the past few years, frac sand handling at the well-site just before it enters the blender and is …
Read More »$3.5 Billion Per Year. That’s How Much Cash Permian Dune Sand Could Save The US E&P Industry [Economic Impact Study]
A year from now, 20 new Permian frac sand mines could be operational if all build-out plans unfold as expected. Many risks linger in this story, particularly surety of supply at the wellhead and downhole performance. But let’s imagine for a moment a future world where the West Texas frac sand …
Read More »Cattle Guards Cause Permian Sand Truck Traffic To Reroute
In July, we wrote about the risk of hidden delays for trucks carrying locally sourced frac sand from new plants direct to wells, noting that some challenges are impossible to understand by simply looking at a map. These are things like stop lights, rail crossings, road quality, school zones, left …
Read More »Ghosts Of Frac Sand Past, Present, And Future [Rigs vs. Mines Maps]
Since April, the geo-transformation of the frac sand business has accelerated. In the following charts, we’ve taken our previously published rigs vs. mines cartographical analysis a step further. In the slideshow below, we’ve included a map of historical frac sand supply sources, the new map with three West Texas in-basin …
Read More »About 80 Trucks A Day Are Moving Out Of Aequor’s Gates Out In Culberson County Right Now
We checked in with Aequor management out in Culberson County for an update on the Permian Basin’s second online frac sand mine. 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 …
Read More »US Silica Customer: “Most West Texas Frac Sand Mine Sites Are Just A Wooden Shack At The End Of A Long Dirt Road”
US Silica reported better than expected 3Q17 and a very strong outlook for 2018 Monday evening. Tuesday morning on the conference call, we recorded market insights on SandBox, West Texas capacity, updates on US Silica’s Crane & Lamesa plants, 2018 overall demand, contracting activity, the outlook for Northern White, among …
Read More »How Busy Is The West Texas Frac Sand Market? It’s This Busy… [Video]
We share a peek at trucks waiting on frac sand sent into us by a reader 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 …
Read More »Solaris Silo Six-Packs Are Spreading Fast [Update, Analysis, & Site Visit Observations]
Solaris Oilfield Infrastructure’s shale presence is expanding rapidly. If you blink you might miss their next system deployment (most deployments are configured as silo six-packs). In this update, a look at their progress, their system up close and personal, and what’s next for this fast growing newcomer in the US …
Read More »Nameplate Kermit Sand Trucks Would Circle The Earth – Drive Time Rankings & Capacity Distribution [Part II]
A year from now on the Kermit blacktop, it will be 110° Fahrenheit with a 90% chance of gridlock. We believe competitive advantage will increasingly be tied to location and logistics as in-basin mines battle for market share. In this update, we rank each of the hopeful new mines based …
Read More »Trucking All That Kermit Sand: Hidden Delays & Major Routes [Part 1]
Today we are kicking off a two part series addressing the trucking needs for yet-to-be-produced Permian Basin frac sand. In this installment, we have maps of the mines vs. major trucking routes to well sites. We have also recorded some thoughts on the hidden logistics challenges that no one is …
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