Infill Thinking Lifting the O&G knowledge curve

Several interesting things came out of a rail company’s write off and disclosures yesterday and as it pertains to the frac supply chain… 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. …

A noteworthy point of contention in a big frac sand bankruptcy came to our attention this week… 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 …

With multiple large scale frac sand producers in the relatively early stages of CH 11 bankruptcy proceedings, we spent Thursday morning combing through court records for new market datapoints. The search was fruitful… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read 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 must be a member. If you are new to Infill Thinking, or your membership has expired, please email us to discuss our current subscription options at [email protected]. (Current …

Back on March 9, 2020, we wrote in the last sentence of this update: There comes a point in every oilfield cycle where things get Darwinian, and in this downcycle, that time is now. We own our mistakes, and the above point missed the mark on two fronts: i) early timing, …

It’s on! 2Q20 earnings season is underway and here is our take on the first important market commentary of the season… 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 …

Another oilfield service name that was a presumptive IPO candidate just a couple years ago, is now bankrupt… 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 …

Lower 48 local sand capacity peaked in 4Q19. Here’s what’s happened to this supply stack since then… 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 …

Hot on the heels of an aggressive move by trade partners in another frac sand bankruptcy case, a similar movement could be brewing in the largest bankruptcy process going in this sector… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and …

There are some interesting new developments in a big frac sand bankruptcy proceedings worth noting as other companies fall into Ch. 11 proceedings… 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. …

An important E&P update this week conforms with our reopening outline and reads well for both oilfield activity and oil prices… 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 …

Three quick datapoints worth flagging this morning that didn’t give us quite enough content for full-bore research updates but are notable none-the-less: 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 …

The total US rig count hit 258 last week as the land rig count dipped below the important 250 mark to 246 rigs turning to the right. With absolute certainty, this is the lowest level in seven decades (since Truman was president). With high confidence, this is the There’s a …

We believe this market color bears repeating verbatim here, and we quote: 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 …

Long awaited news materializes just before the deadline… 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 …

News on the in-field sand production front could be brewing… Meanwhile a handful of crews are going back to work as the industry expects a couple dozen “fractivations” this quarter.  

A big study was recently released finding favorably for Northern White Sand vs. in-basin sand. See what some smart completions engineers with ties to in-basin sand think here… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, …

Clearly, based on the following table, the PPP loan program provided a material source of capital for many smaller firms in the US oilfield at the cyclical bottom, specifically those in the often ignored frac supply chain. Good! We are happy to see that employees in this critical segment of …

Are we there yet? To the bottom? 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 …

This is a firm we’ve flagged as a potential restructuring candidate in several recent posts (most prominently in a newsletter last week when we wrote “all eyes turn to Covia to see if they announce restructuring”). Today, we provide analysis of the news… There’s a lot more to this story… …

By The Stats – Membership Resources Provided During 2Q20 In the 90 days ended June 30, 2020, the Infill Thinking research team: published 86 independent research updates, emailed 25 original Infill Thoughts newsletters to active members, issued 14 data releases to Think Sheets® members, got in one last great member meetup …

Our Friday newsletter began with these words, which bear repeating in the wake of Sunday’s news: “Rather than a long, dragged-out process, the erasure of financial obligations in the US oilfield this cycle could play out expeditiously during 2H20 and early-2021, clearing the slate for… consolidation?” Chesapeake’s bankruptcy press release …

With oilfield bankruptcy and restructuring news heating up into 2H20, the industry has fallen into low-cycle restructuring mode much more expediently than in prior cycles. We take a look at some interesting correleations and discuss what it might mean going forward in this chart of the day update… There’s a …

Several weeks ago and again on Tuesday, we highlighted a group of oilfield  firms that had yet to report 1Q20 earnings. We warned towards the end of the post that some might announce restructuring along with earnings. On Thursday, several of them did just that. One of them is the …

Our guest post this week comes from the Fort Worth desk of Paul Shearer. His post is our second guest contribution this month that comes from a frac sand specialist on the open market who also majored in journalism. That’s an Infill Thinking Friday guest post series first, and it …

A wellness check this week on on the key economic engines of the oilfield industry reveals some interesting trends… 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 …

  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 subscription options at [email protected]. (Current …

Where is the rig count going to strike bottom and how high will it go in the next cycle? We discuss this and other key issues in land drilling with the insight of the top land rig CEO There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full …

We recently published data showing how the upstream industry’s conversation on critical structural issues has been interrupted by the immediacy of a dual-threat crisis (pandemic + oil price crash). In reality, that data is just the tip of the iceberg… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see …

Eric Barton probably needs no introduction among Infill Thinking’s readership. He is a well-known frac sand sourcing veteran who has spent close to a decade in supply chain and procurement roles for publicly traded E&P operators. Eric was one of the early pioneers of the now widespread direct sourcing strategy, …

In this time of business turmoil, operational issues can seem like an afterthought. In a piece several weeks ago, we presented data showing how the pandemic and oil price crash have distracted industry leaders from critical field development optimization issues. In this update, we argue that it’s time to get …

Consensus may differ on the shape or strength of the coming recovery, but the focus on three key themes is virtually unanimous across the oilfield business as green shoots form…. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our …

This week’s bankruptcy filing shows pressure pumper left holding the bag on a multi-million dollar trade payable equal to 6% of their 1Q20 revenue in the latest E&P restructuring case… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our …

The fine print in the latest frac sand bankruptcy filing is a cautionary tale of hidden frac sand inventory that could weigh on the market when bid activity picks up… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our …

What happens to land rig contractor market share when the rig count gets demolished? These visuals explain the company-by-company fallout. 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 …

Infill Thinking membership includes some of the smartest folks in the oilfield. Here’s what the real oilfield capital allocators are saying about their expectations after the worst downturn in shale’s history… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive …

We are excited today to share the results of our well-attended industry marketplace survey… 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 …

A large frac sand producer has declared bankruptcy… 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 …

There’s been a lot of focus on the Lower 48 natural gas plays as a source of relatively strong oilfield service demand in the oil crisis. This week, we took a data-driven look at a variety of activity metrics in the play – a “wellness check” if you will… There’s …

Frac sand is highly litigious and public legal records often shed light on behind the scenes operational and market naunces. In this update, we summarize some intel revealed in the allegations of a new legal matter in the sector… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the …

Infill Thinking membership includes some of the smartest folks in the oilfield. Here’s what the real oilfield capital allocators are saying about their expectations after the worst downturn in shale’s history… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive …

It’s still a month until July Fourth, but there are already some bottle rockets being lit in the oilfield. Here’s what the stock market says about the state of things in the oilfield… Login to see the full update… To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must …

Earlier this week, we outlined an 8-stage “reopening plan” for the US onshore oilfield. Since publishing our initial reopening piece early this week, we’ve encountered several more datapoints that further this narrative. Here are eight of them: There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  …

By putting our heads together as a group, Infill Thinking members will establish an important baseline this summer for understanding the “what now” and “what next” in the new paradigm emerging for the oilfield marketplace after the worst crisis in shale’s history. There’s a lot more to this story… Login …

Anyone else glad May 2020 is history? The way things are starting off in June 2020, it looks like we’ll be celebrating it’s end as well. That being said, the turn of the month is accompanied by a welcome tone shift in the oilfield conversation at least. As highlighted by …

Shale E&P and service are tough businesses in the best of times. Even absent any disruptive outside forces, there are always pressing technical and business problems to solve – problems that require capital and an intently focused talent pool. Since Infill Thinking’s inception nearly four years ago, we’ve covered the …

From peak to trough, last cycle’s X% rig count in South Texas decline took X months. This cycle, a X% drilling decline has played out in just X months…. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research …

1Q20 earnings season will go down as one of the most unusual and uncertain public company reporting periods in our lifetime. Adding to the surreal nature of withdrawn guidance and uncertain outlooks this earnings season was the fact that some oilfield management teams… There’s a lot more to this story… …

We estimate the active frac fleet count across the two big Texas oil plays has fallen from up near X crews in 1Q20 down to only about X active fleets today. This is now old news, but it still takes our breath away to see that in print. Obviously, nobody’s …

This update offers up a mixed bag to the many good Infill Thinking members whose economic interests lie in the oilfields of Midland, Carlsbad, Kermit, and the surrounding area. Feature image taken by the Infill Thinking team on a recent trip to gather in-basin market intel for members… There’s a …