Here’s what we learned from a “repeat restructuring” E&P’s latest filings… 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, …
Read More »Latest Thoughts
Historical Context As The Rig Count Slide Continues
Rig count remains under pressure, slipping AGAIN this week, down five and now threatening to move down into the 220s next week. Here are two… 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 …
Read More »A Different Data Angle To Quantify The Permian Frac Crash [Chart Of The Day]
In this update, we break down an obscure data set – a second order effect of the frac crash – to produce fresh insights on the depth and velocity of frac market contraction in West Texas… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update… To …
Read More »Situational Awareness – 7 Short Briefs On Distressed Frac Sand Company Happenings
The future of the frac supply chain’s competitive landscape is being rapidly reshaped by restructuring activity. Maintaining situational awareness in multiple fast-moving cases is key. And 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, …
Read More »Here Lizard Lizard Lizard… DSL Rears Its Head Again, This Time Factoring Into Permian Sand Bids
While the press always has a field day with the lizard headlines, oilfield customers are paying attention to listing and habitat exposure. And so we are too! Here’s what’s happening a level deeper than the media headlines in today’s oilfield marketplace… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to …
Read More »Drilling Market Share Changes From Top To Covid Bottom
This week we take stock of market share evolution in the US onshore drilling business during these crazy Covid times… 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 »A Cashless 2H20 Oilfield Bounce? [Charts Of The Day]
Lots of analysts, ourselves included, are writing about the uptick in completions and frac crew count. But let’s be careful not to put the cart before the horse… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update… To read this update and receive our research newsletters, …
Read More »18 Frac People On The Move
We take a look at some notable comings and goings. The frac talent pool continues to play musical chairs. 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 …
Read More »What The Customers Are Saying… About Frac Crews & DUCs
Being a great analyst starts with being a great listener. So we listened… and listened… and listened some more! And here’s what we learned about frac plans… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update… To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you …
Read More »What The Customers Are Saying… About Their Frac Sand
A great many analysts have opinions and prognostications. Forecasts for oilfield services are a dime a dozen. But who’s really listening to what your customers are saying? We are! And here’s what you should know about what they are telling investors about frac sand sourcing… There’s a lot more to …
Read More »What The Customers Are Saying… About Their Oilfield Water
A great many analysts have opinions and prognostications, which they broadcast loudly – predictions are a dime a dozen these days. Who’s really listening to what oilfield customers are saying? We are! And here’s what you should know about their oilfield water strategies… There’s a lot more to this story… …
Read More »Frac Focus – Pressure Pumping Market Color From 6 Firms That Control About 1/3rd Of The NAM Frac Market Today
What’s going on in the frac market, hhp trends, working crews, pumping hours etc etc? Read all about it here! 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 »In March, Two Land Drillers Had More Active Rigs Than The Entire US Does Today & They Agree There Is Still Downside
In this week’s rig count update, we shine a spotlight on a squishy bottom and lack of visibility in the US land rig market where two contractors took a different tone to discussing the bottom than one of their peers’ bolder statement several days earlier… There’s a lot more to …
Read More »Still Some Work To Do, But Big 2Q20 Cuts Helped US E&Ps Get Back On Budget Track [Chart Of The Day]
Want to know what to expect for the rest of the year in the US onshore oilfield? This update is a must read… 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. …
Read More »Solaris Estimates The US Frac Crew Count Can Rebound 35-45% In 3Q20
Solaris Oilfield Infrastructure hosted their 2Q20 call on Friday morning. On the call, we…. 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 …
Read More »US Silica On Track To Harvest $27mm In Customer Shortfall Payments During 2Q20 and 3Q20
US Silica hosted their 2Q20 call this morning. One thing that… 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, …
Read More »Judge BLASTS Sand Abandonment. Meanwhile, Landfilling Activity Implies Negative Value For Northern White Sand
Some surprising things came to light this week regarding NWS’s value (or lack thereof), railcar rejections and the general sand market in a bankruptcy hearing yesterday that was not short on fireworks… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update… To read this update and …
Read More »Foreclosure Sale At Big Last Mile Logistics Firm Will Likely Do Little More Than Change The Equity Structure
On Wednesday afternoon, several newspapers (including the Dallas Morning News and Houston Chronicle) ran a public notice regarding a foreclosure sale involving a large last mile logistics firm scheduled for mid-August. Here’s our understanding of this fluid situation… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full …
Read More »The Most Important Thing To Watch This E&P Earnings Season If You Are An OFS Provider [Chart Of The Day]
With E&P earnings heating over the next 7-10 business days, one critical thing we’ll be watching closely is how…. 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 …
Read More »Tallying Up The Damage As Another E&P From Our Bankruptcy Watchlist Files Chapter 11
Like many of the other filings in recent weeks, Rosehill was one of about 20 names on the Infill Thinking bankruptcy watchlist published in May 2020. Here’s a few things we learned in their filing… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update… To read …
Read More »TX Oilpatch Layoff Trends [Chart Of The Day]
This week, we updated our WARN notice chart, tracking oilfield mass layoff activity back to 2011. We noticed that… 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 …
Read More »Permian Rig Count Ticks Higher For First Time Since March
Not going to make a big difference in anyone’s business, but it’s good to see… 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 …
Read More »Brief Notes On The US Completion Outlook From Thoughts Shared By Three OFS Leaders This Week
Over the past couple of days, we heard from the management teams of Patterson-UTI, Schlumberger, and Core Lab. Here’s what’s… 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 »1/2 The Rail Cars That Used To Move NWS Are Now In Storage With More Piling Up By The Day…
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. …
Read More »Not So Fast My Friend… Resistance To A Sand Producer’s Plan To Walk Away From Thousands Of Cars
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 …
Read More »A Plan For Stranded Sand… Plus Some Eye Opening Frac Sand Financials
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 …
Read More »Permian Rig Count Finding Firmer Ground
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 …
Read More »A Career First For Us ALL… Plus, Three More Bankruptcy Bullet Points
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, …
Read More »5 Things To Know From Halliburton’s Lower 48 Frac Outlook On Monday Morning
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 …
Read More »Chapter 11 For BJ Services Adds To Frac Sand Woes As The Company Winds Down
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 …
Read More »The Rise & Fall Of In-Basin Sand Supply [Chart Of The Day]
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 …
Read More »More Frac Sand Bankruptcy Drama Brewing?
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 …
Read More »Drama In A Big Frac Sand Bankruptcy Case, As Unsecured Creditors Demand Liquidation – Hearing Set For August
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. …
Read More »A Large Permian E&P Takes Step 5 Of Our 8-Step Reopening Plan For The Oilfield
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 …
Read More »The Lost Quarter, Pressure Pumping M&A, & Another Distressed Firm On Our Watchlist Caves…
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 …
Read More »Last Time The US Rig Count Was This Low, Abraham Lincoln Was President
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 …
Read More »Frac Sand’s Downtrend Concisely Articulated
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 …
Read More »Hi-Crush Commences Chapter 11 Proceedings After Striking Productive Deals With Lenders & Lessors
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 …
Read More »Potential Mobile-Mini Plant Deployments & Frac Crew Reactivations. Green Shoots Can Be Found If You Look Hard Enough!
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.
Read More »2 Smart Takes On The Latest Shots Fired In The White vs. Brown Sand Debate
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, …
Read More »A Boost At The Bottom – PPP Money Flowed Mightily Into The Frac Supply Chain As Crews Fell [Chart Of The Day]
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 …
Read More »Only Minus 1 Rig! The US Land Drilling Trajectory Continues To Flatten
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 …
Read More »Frac Sand’s Biggest Name From The Northern White Era Files Chapter 11 And Abandons Thousands Of Rail Cars
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… …
Read More »It’s Hard To Believe This Year Is Only Halfway Done! Here Are The Top 20 Updates Of The Second Quarter
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 …
Read More »As The Dominoes Fall… Some Stand To Lose Millions, Some Stand To Lose It All
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 …
Read More »This Oil Price Drop Has Triggered A Nearly Simultaneous Restructuring Response
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 …
Read More »Bankruptcy Claims A 14th Major Casualty In Frac Sand… The Biggest Name So Far
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 …
Read More »Navigating A Tough Market With Advice From An NFL Legend [Friday Guest Post]
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 …
Read More »Flat As A Pancake… [Chart Of The Day]
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 …
Read More »Still Waiting… Is A “Mini-Earnings Season” About To Commence?
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 …
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