Frac Sand Weekly News Digest

Nick Cook, Editor

Issue #248 | December 4, 2019

Not surprisingly, due to Thanksgiving, the past week has been pretty quiet in regards to frac sand news. That said, based on the number of inquiries I have had in the last couple of days, people are turning their attention to 2020. Several companies reached out regarding speaking and sponsorship opportunities at the 5th Annual Frac Sand Industry Update. Please let me know what topics you would like to see covered at the January event. Given the state of the industry, we expect to have some new topics (potential speakers or panels on mine reclamation, asset management, etc.). We will also be showcasing some frac sand assets that are available for purchase or projects looking for investors, so there will be plenty of reasons to attend. Check it out and register at https://petroleumconnection.com/event/5th-annual-frac-sand-industry-update/

This Week's News

Select Sands America announces Transload Operations in George West, Texas serving the Eagle Ford Basin

Select Sands Corp. is pleased to announce that the Company will start transload operations in George West, TX in Live Oak County in January of 2020. As a supplier of high quality Northern White Sands, the proximity of its mine in Arkansas...

U.S. Silica Announces Price Increases on Industrial and Specialty Products

U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. said today that part of its Industrial and Specialty Products business will increase prices for most of its non-contracted silica sand, aggregate diatomaceous earth and clay...

U.S. Silica: Not Buying the Bounce, Yet

I haven't talked about the sandies (companies that supply sand or proppant for fracking) in a while, certainly not since the Hi-Crush debacle of 2018, where I went from being moderately bullish to avoiding the sector entirely...

What Are The Biggest Risks & Opportunities Headed Into 2020? 100 Decision Makers Answered…

About 100 Infill Thinking members answered this open ended question in our recent 2020 Vision Oilfield Outlook Survey. In this post, you can read their responses...

Tarmac International

Fracking Slowdown in Permian Basin Leads to More Job Losses

The throttling back of fracking in the world’s biggest shale patch is hitting the unemployment line in Texas. Fracking contractor Superior Energy Services Inc. slashed 112 jobs from its Pumpco unit in the Permian Basin last...

RIF Watch: Details On This Week’s Mass MidCon Frac Layoff

After an open records request, we’ve been able to learn some new insights about the massive MidCon reduction in force happening this week in the oilfield service industry...

Halliburton to close office in Oklahoma, lay off 800 employees

Houston oilfield service company Halliburton plans to close an office just west of Oklahoma City where more than 800 employees are losing their jobs. In a Monday morning letter filed with the Oklahoma Office of Workforce Development...

NOV to lay off employees, suspend operations at Galena Park facility

Struggling oil field service company National Oilwell Varco plans to suspend operations at a facility in the Houston suburbs and lay off 85 people. In a letter Nov. 22 letter to the Texas Workforce Commission, NOV...

CST_Frac Sand Banner

Rig Count’s Been Laid To Waste, But Operator Drilling Program Outlooks Still Skew Negative

In this week’s rig count update, we have summarized the latest 2019/2020 US onshore drilling program outlooks, operator-by-company, picking out those rig customers who are adding, dropping, or keeping their rig counts flat...

Why Shale was once Viable at $45WTI but it’s not anymore. That’s why OPEC can dictate the price again.

Over the past year the penny that shale-oil output growth was going down, not up, finally dropped for most commentators (1-to-7). Although EIA, IEA, OPEC and Rystad Energy are all sticking with their predictions for a 900,000 bpd or so...

Saudi Arabia signals it's had enough of OPEC+ quota cheats

For the last year, Saudi Arabia has largely turned a blind eye to cheaters within the OPEC+ alliance, cutting its own output more than agreed to offset over-production from the likes of Iraq and even Russia...

Bid/Ask Gap In Big Permian Land Auction Exemplifies The Need For A Broad Reset Of Expectations

Infill Thinking readers may recall this update from October on a big Permian land auction of 13,500 acres with historical significance. This ranch has a rich O&G history dating back to the 1920s, when Gulf Oil...

Advertiser Space Available

First proppant frack for Tacrom in Uzbekistan

First proppant frack for Tacrom in Uzbekistan! Congrats...

Video of frack job in Turkey

Taking care of business. A big thank you to TPAO for this Proppant frac opportunity! Great job guys...

Fracturing Creates Hundreds of Fractures—Only a Few Matter

After nearly a decade as co-leader of ConocoPhillip’s one-a-kind test site in the Eagle Ford, Raterman, a reservoir engineering advisor at the company, has had the opportunity to use just about every sort of diagnostic test...

Crowdsourcing campaign aims to fast-track South Australian mining discoveries

South Australia’s government will be the first globally to host an AUD$250,000 crowdsourced open data competition to fast-track the mining sector. ExploreSA: The Gawler Challenge partners with open innovation platform...

Inside the Blenko Glass Company, one of the last survivors of West Virginia’s once-thriving glassmaking industry

West Virginia has a rich tradition of glassmaking. Thanks to its abundant deposits of the silica sand necessary to make glass, the state once saw as many as 60 glass ventures operating. Today, nearly all are gone...

Frac Sand Weekly News Digest logo

Get relevant announcements and news from major outlets, industry leaders, and local media so you always know what’s happening and changing in the frac sand industry.

Subscribe to get our carefully curated summary of relevant frac sand related news and analysis delivered to your inbox each Wednesday morning.

We keep your data private and share your data only with third parties that make this service possible.

Share Your News

Send us your press releases and any other news articles which you believe would be of interest to our readers. Email submissions to [email protected]

Advertising

Do you offer goods or services focused on the frac sand supply chain? Advertise in the Frac Sand Weekly News Digest.

The Frac Sand
Summer Happy Hour

Event Registration – $25