Frac Sand Weekly News Digest
Nick Cook, Editor
Issue #267 | April 15, 2020
Lots of difficult news from the oil patch these days. Lots of other interesting news. Take the time to read through this week’s issue. Have a good rest of the week.
This Week's News
Permian Frac Sand Mine Closures Officially Begin. Here’s Who To Watch In The Next Wave Of Local Sand Capacity Reduction
This morning comes official news of the first Permian sand mine closure since Black Monday. This may be the first official Permian closure in the pandemic era, but it a) won’t be the last and b) might not be...
Covia Announces Actions In Response To COVID-19 Pandemic And Disruptions In The Global Oil And Gas Markets
Covia, a leading provider of mineral-based material solutions for the Industrial and Energy markets, announced a series of actions taken recently to strengthen safety protocols, reduce capacity...
Covia Shutting Utica Facility 'Indefinitely'
If a world-wide virus wasn't enough, a major employer is shutting down indefinitely. That was the message delivered to the 60-some employees at Unimin in Utica Monday. Employees, we...
Quality Transportation Services and Spur America Merge to Become Lotz Logistics
Finally! After hours upon hours of conversation, late nights, and planning, we are ready to announce the merger of Quality Transportation Services and Spur America! Although QTS has been in business...
Athabasca Minerals Announces AMI RockChain Completion of $1 Million Order and Corporate Update
Athabasca Minerals Inc. is pleased to announce AMI RockChain’s recent achievement in completing a $1 million job order for the supply of specialized aggregates product to...
Signal Peak Silica Amends Layoff Details
Signal Peak Silica has updated the details of its mass layoff at its field operations location at 243453 US Highway 270, Oakwood, OK 73658. The company has laid off 87 employees and closed the location...
Spreading the Word Regarding New Career Opportunities
During this particularly difficult time for the oil & gas sector many of our colleagues are looking for new career opportunities. We’d like to help. If your company has opportunities available anywhere...
Wet Sand Direct To Blender Might Be Music To Our Fracing Ears
In addition to the personnel exposure benefit, the elimination of the drying process has a very real impact on energy consumption and the resulting emissions. Converting an annual operation that...
Key Minerals Launches New Website
Key Minerals is proud to announce our NEW web page! You are welcome to visit our web page and contact us if you have any questions. Please feel free to share this post with anyone you...
OPEC, oil nations agree to an unprecedented production cut
OPEC, Russia and other oil-producing nations on Sunday finalized an unprecedented production cut of nearly 10 million barrels, or a tenth of global supply, in hopes of boosting crashing prices...
How the OPEC+ Deal Could Impact the Market
In this episode of Industry Focus: Energy, Nick Sciple and Motley Fool contributor Jason Hall chat about news from the oil industry, answer listeners' questions, and talk about some recession-resistant...
Covia And Baker Hughes Join Ballooning List Of OFS Spending Cuts
E&P operators announced their spending cuts a week or two before most of the oilfield service industry. We are tracking the E&P capex pullbacks in real-time here, and their planned rig...
Oil and gas production cuts continue in the Permian Basin, industry opposes limits
A major oil and gas producer in the Permian Basin announced it planned to scale back capital spending by almost a third in response to plummeting oil prices and reduced operations due to the coronavirus...
Houston-based service companies take more hits as oil industry weakens
The three largest oilfield service companies continue to face economic difficulties even as OPEC, its allies and other nations reached a milestone deal over the weekend to cut production...
Baker Hughes to write down $15 billion, cut spending
Houston oilfield service company Baker Hughes plans to write down the value of its assets by $15 billion and cut capital spending by more than 20 percent from 2019 levels as market conditions worsen...
OPINION: Oil prices will be $65 per barrel by the end of 2020
Sit tight and don’t panic. We’re going to be fine. We’ve been here before. I remember signs in the front yards in Midland, Texas after the 1973 Oil Embargo saying “God, Please give us higher oil prices...
Opinion: Trump’s big oil deal won’t save the weakest of shale producers
President Donald Trump said the “big Oil Deal” sealed on Sunday will save hundreds of thousands of American jobs. But the agreement he brokered depends on a sharp downturn in shale that will likely bring about a wave of bankruptcies and job cuts. Days of frantic diplomatic maneuvering...
Houston oilfield service company lays off dozens in Oklahoma
Houston-based NexTier Oilfield Solutions is laying off several dozen workers that provided hydraulic fracturing and other services to shale plays in Oklahoma. NexTier has laid off 85 workers at its...
Coronavirus is Killing Argentina’s Shale Boom
Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale is on life support just weeks after the meltdown in global crude oil prices. On Thursday, the regional news outlet in the Vaca Muerta, Rio Negro, reported that...
Look at the Link between In-Basin Proppants and Well Production Decline Rates
Pretty interesting read, and a lot of good questions to be thinking about. I still wonder if we are going to ever examine the link between in-basin proppants and well production decline rates, and get...
Technical Paper: A Study on designing appropriate hydraulic fracturing treatment with proper material selection and optimized fracture half-length in tight multilayered formation sequence
Hydraulic fracturing is widely accepted technology to unlock unconventional reservoirs and produce the hydrocarbon fluids at feasible rates, but reaching these rates requires an optimal designing...
BBC Reporter Shows His Anti-Fracking Bias
This BBC correspondent seems to be uneducated in the topic about which he writes
He spends many paragraphs explaining how due to urban development pressures, sharp sand is becoming rare...
Shooters – A “Fracking” History
Ever since America’s earliest oil discoveries, detonating dynamite or nitroglycerin down-hole helped increase a well’s production. The technology – commonly used in oilfields for almost a century – would be...
No-holds Barred Guzzling of India Groundwater in Silica Sand Washing Plants
New Delhi: Taking advantage of a loophole in the guidelines issued by the Central Ground Water Authority pertaining to groundwater extraction, massive quantities of it are being exploited without...
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