Yesterday morning, a letter announcing the closure of of a huge pneumatic hauler crossed Infill Thinking’s research desk. Due to the gravity of the letter, we waited to publish it until we were able to confirm its authenticity with the company. We confirmed that it is genuine this morning after …
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Goodnight Comments On Terminated Transaction, While Another Water M&A Deal Is Announced
Infill Thinking has obtained a statement from Goodnight Midstream in the wake of the M&A termination. CEO Patrick Walker told Infill Thinking… 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 »Liberty’s Take On The In-Basin Sand Vs. NWS Debate
Here is the latest new oilfield market participant to weigh in on the debate on the future of in-basin sand. 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 »Frac Sand Pricing Sentiment Has Hit Rock Bottom [Chart Of The Day]
We had a conversation with a frac sand supplier this morning that went alot like many others we’ve had with contacts in the supply base recently… 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 …
Read More »A Brief History Of Oilfield S-Curve Shifts, And A Couple To Watch…
Food for thought. The one thing we do know with certainty is that change is the only constant we’ve ever been able to rely on in the oilfield marketplace. While some big step changes have been made over the past 15-20 years, there are always more to come… In this …
Read More »An “E-Frac Killer”? Too Soon?? A Few Questions Come To Mind…
In this update, we share our thought progression upon seeing talk implying that a new frac pump design might be considered to be an “e-frac killer.” 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 …
Read More »If You Are Marketing MidCon Rigs… The Trend Is Not Your Friend
Well… the Saudi drone strikes did nothing to curb the unyielding US rig count decline last week. The chart below maps the major basins year-to-date to see where the pain’s been the greatest. Marketing MidCon rigs is such a tough sell right now that it might take the swagger right …
Read More »Wild Wild West – Some Big News Brewing In A Key West Texas Ranch Sale Process [EXCLUSIVE]
Infill Thinking has confirmed that an LOI on a sales agreement has been signed on a West Texas ranch at the center of a bidding war, family controversy, and the oilfield water frenzy. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update… To read this update …
Read More »Iran’s Ill-Advised Attack On Saudi Was Actually A Gift To The Kingdom [Friday Follow-Up Guest Post]
The Friday before last week’s drone attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure that caused oil prices to momentarily spike, Bill Edwards wrote a guest post for Infill Thinking titled Historical Oil Price Perspective & A Sober Long-Term Outlook [Friday Guest Post]. The way oil has traded in the wake of the …
Read More »Vizualizing West Texas 2019 SWD Leaders [Chart Flip-Book]
Company by company timeline charts for the top injection well permitters. These charts tell us a lot and also provoke some interesting questions… Consolidation ahead? 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 »Is It Really Different This Time? [Friday Guest Post]
Our latest guest post contains an important message regarding the current state and future of the E&P industry. We are bringing it to you in two pieces. This week, our guest contributor sets the stage on the current environment and tiers that have developed in the E&P industry. Next week, …
Read More »Paying A Visit To A Sand Team That Tends To Fly Under The Radar [Eagle Ford Stops Along The Road]
During our recent field trip to the Eagle Ford, we met with the seasoned management team of a sand company that tends to fly a bit under the radar. Here is what we learned and saw… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update… To …
Read More »A First Look At The New Supersized Sand Revolution Systems [Exclusive]
We have learned more about an engineering tweak of large proportions… 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 »Signal Peak Silica Site Visit Notes [Eagle Ford Stops Along The Road]
Last month during our Eagle Ford market intel gathering trip (see the big picture highlights here), we stopped by the Signal Peak Silica frac sand production facility for a tour and meeting with management. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update… To read this …
Read More »A Victory Claimed In A Major Last Mile Legal Tiff, But There Will Be An Appeal
In the ongoing legal dispute between company X and company Y over intellectual property… two notable responses from both parties to a judgement in the past 24 hours. There is also another separate and ongoing IPR dispute in the same sector between… There’s a lot more to this story… Login …
Read More »The Top 15 New Injection Well Owners Of The Year In West Texas [Chart Of The Day]
Operators still factor pretty heavily into the new injection well owner lineup, and we wonder how much longer that will be the case as many E&Ps continue to evaluate the separation of their wastewater management. A couple other interesting observations before we get to the data: There have been… There’s …
Read More »This US Drilling Drought Is Right Up There With The Longest Dry Spells In Modern Oilfield History
There have only been two periods of time in the past two decades with… 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 »A Shot In The Arm, But The US Frac Supply Chain Still Needs Surgery
Sunday was not a day of rest for most folks who think about the oil and gas industry for a living. We’ve never seen so many weekend news updates and research notes hit our inbox, and for good reason. In the days (and possibly weeks) ahead, you will see countless …
Read More »Water You Doing On October 4?
In three weeks from now, on October 4 in Downtown Houston, US oil industry leaders and investors will gather to discuss oilfield water’s evolving business model, market structure, and latest trends. Oilfield Water: Industry Update delivers the most exciting produced water business topic agenda of any conference this fall season. …
Read More »Historical Oil Price Perspective & A Sober Long-Term Outlook [Friday Guest Post]
Here at Infill Thinking, we are humble oilfield service guys by trade not well heeled oil price pundits. That said, we regularly talk to some of the best crude oil minds in the business. When they share noteworthy observations, we pass them along. One such oil price expert we check …
Read More »More Sideline Stuff From The Big Completions Supply Chain Conference Last Week
Earlier this week we shared five talking points from our sideline conversations at the Petroleum Club’s completion supply chain conference last week. We wrap up our event coverage today with these additional points from our conversations. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update… To …
Read More »More Panel Hot Takes From The Petroleum Connection Conference Last Week
An update earlier this week summarized some key quotes from the panels on in-basin and northern white sand at the largest completions supply chain event of the year. In this update are similar recaps of some of the more poignant statements from two other panels at the event… There’s a …
Read More »Which Basins Have Been Beaten Up The Worst In The Unyielding Drilling Activity Decline Of 2019?
Rig count. Yep… it’s down again. It’s been X weeks since the US onshore rig count registered an uptick. Year-to-date, the US onshore rig count is down X rigs. As the unyielding drilling decline continues, it’s worth noting how… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the …
Read More »Sideline Stuff We Heard At The Petroleum Connection’s Frac Sand Supply & Logistics Conference Last Week
Everyone knows that you often learn just as much in the side hallways of industry events as you do in the main hall. In that vein, here are 5 interesting things that we learned in conversations with industry contacts at the event. These are pretty dense and provide plenty of …
Read More »Tracking The Produced Water Re-Use Leaderboard & Changes In It [Chart Of The Day]
Last week, we published a research update discussing why produced water reuse as frac fluid is on the rise and what factors might drive the next leg up in the treated water trend in fracing. The catalyst for that piece was a research project our team was conducting to update …
Read More »Hot Takes From The Big Stage During Last Week’s Local Sand & NWS Panels At The Petroleum Connection Event
Last week’s three-day Petroleum Connection was the biggest event of the year in the frac sand supply and logistics industry, drawing over 500 attendees and the who’s who of the completions supply chain. The agenda was well constructed, and we tip our hats to the conference organizers for their thoughtful …
Read More »A Potential Game Changer In The In-Basin Sand Story…
Infill Thinking participated in the Petroleum Connection’s frac sand conference in San Antonio this week. We will share a full recap of our key takeaway in a piece early next week – we learned quite a bit on the sidelines of the show as well as during several of the …
Read More »A Quality Carrier’s Permian Exit Escalates Frac Supply Chain Sustainability Questions [Read The 2nd Letter]
A good, quality, upstanding outfit just exited stage left. While industry-wide capacity reductions are needed, we see this news as a bad omen for the industry at large… 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’s What We Are Listening For At 2019’s Biggest Frac Sand Conference Happening This Week…
The Infill Thinking team has arrived in San Antonio to participate in the biggest (and best) frac supply chain trade show of 2019, hosted by Petroleum Connection. Infill Thinking is pleased to announce our participation as an exhibitor, panel speaker, and as event MC for the first day of the …
Read More »Uptick In Unusual Compliance Disclosures By A Permian Pressure Pumper (And One Of Their Customers)…
This chain of events may end quietly with little fanfare and that’d be great. But we’ll be keeping an eye out for additional filings here as it’s not every day we see this much action on the legal disclosure front… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see …
Read More »Of ‘Quartz’ You Can Pump In-Basin Sand In The Permian [Guest Post]
We first learned that Wood Mackenzie had conducted an independent study on the performance of local sand downhole in a tweet from Robert Clarke, the firm’s Lower 48 upstream research director who some of you may have met at our recent member meetup in Fort Worth. Respecting Robert and Wood …
Read More »Produced Water Reuse Is Rising, But The Ceiling Is Still High
Over the past 24 months, several driving forces have advanced the upstream industry mindset on water recycling, causing reuse to rise sharply. But there’s still plenty of room to grow, and we take a look at why, where things stand now, and what’s next in water recycling. If you are …
Read More »Monarch Silica Is Ramping In The Eagle Ford [Eagle Ford Stops Along The Road]
Last week during our Eagle Ford market intel gathering trip (see big picture highlights here), we stopped by the Monarch Silica frac sand production facility situated about 20 miles due south of San Antonio. In our meeting with management at the location we learned that… There’s a lot more to …
Read More »Read The Letter A Big Sand Hauler Sent To Permian Customers Drawing A Line In The Sand This Week [Exclusive]
This week, a very large carrier that hauls frac sand sent an important letter to customers. This has big market implications for the frac supply chain. In the letter, the company’s president…. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update… To read this update and …
Read More »Embedded In The Eagle Ford – A Dozen Market Takeaways From Our Latest Completions Supply Chain Field Trip
In South Texas last week, we drove out to 13 local mines and 1 rail terminal. We went behind the gate with management teams for discussion and site visits at about half those locations. It was a busy couple days! Starting today, you’ll find the market intelligence we’ve gathered shared …
Read More »Thinning The Herd – The Public E&P Universe Is Shrinking Via M&A, Delistings
On the heels of yet another combination of public E&P operators this morning (PDC Energy and SRC Energy), we spent some time thinking about the expansion, peak and contraction of the public E&P universe. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update… To read this …
Read More »Lower 48 Drilling Activity Falls To Nearly A Two Year Low
Analysis of the deep cuts in drilling activity across multiple basins last 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 Thinking, or your membership …
Read More »A New Buzzword In Oilfield Water Plus More Big M&A Deals This Week… [Exclusive CEO Chat]
There were three notable transactions in oilfield water management this week. In two of them, a new buzzword emerged that we like and think could stick as the roll-up of legacy E&P oilfield water systems by third-party water midstream firms continues… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to …
Read More »Frac Supply Chain Takeaways From Meetings In Fort Worth
We welcomed about 40 Infill Thinking subscribers for coffee, knowledge sharing, and networking on Wednesday in Fort Worth. This was the 16th reader appreciation event we’ve hosted in the past 2.5 years. Thanks to our highly engaged members, these events keep getting bigger and better. We also met with various …
Read More »Delaware Basin New Injection Well Demand Is On A Record Setting Pace In 2019 [Charts Of The Day]
The Delaware Basin is the epicenter of the oilfield water revolution for several reasons including its concentration of unconventional activity and high water cuts relative to other plays in Texas and the Lower 48. As a result… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update… …
Read More »An Important Inflection For Permian Drilling This Summer, Predicted By Permits
The rate of positive growth in Permian drilling activity began to slow down in mid-2017. It stagnated in 2018. And it has faded into contraction in 2019. Over this period, the relationship between… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update… To read this update …
Read More »90 Days Later… NGL Is Digesting Mesquite
We provide an update on a northern Delaware Basin water behemoth, which was created through M&A this May. 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 »Tying It All Together: Mapping Logical Destinations For Utah Local Frac Sand [Part 4/4 Utah Sand Series]
We may be wrapping up our Utah frac sand spotlight series today, but our coverage of this emerging local sand market doesn’t end here. We’ll be reporting on the local sand story in Utah as first shipments begin later this year, reporting on adoption trends, competitive dynamics, quality, surety of …
Read More »Fort Worth Member Meet-Up Is In The Books
Calling all DFW-area Infill Thinking members: we’d like to buy you a mid-morning coffee, shake your hand and chat oilfield trends with you. We look forward to networking with Infill Thinking members over coffee in Downtown Fort Worth in mid-August (this event is included with your membership). There’s a lot …
Read More »A New Last Mile System Is About To Make Its Permian Debut [EXCLUSIVE]
As we write, a brand new wellsite storage system is on the road making its journey towards a West Texas where it will attract quite a few spectators over the next few weeks. It’s arrival in the Basin tomorrow will mark the first time this system has entered the Texas …
Read More »Thinking Through The 2H19 E&P Spending Setup [Chart Of The Day]
After updating our company-by-company E&P capex model this week, we’ve concluded 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 …
Read More »More… Still More. Another Local Sand Plant Is Going Vertical In The Permian
Back in the heyday of the Permian local frac sand boom (2017), Infill Thinking was breaking news about an incremental Permian frac sand plant once a week it seemed. With the Permian now oversupplied, all’s been quiet on the greenfield construction front for the past year. Here lately, we’ve been …
Read More »What Does It Say About E&P Appetite When Rig Contractors Can’t Even Drill For Free?
One day, we’ll all be able to tell our grandkids “I was there when contractors couldn’t put rigs back to work for free.” US onshore operators have lost their appetite for growth so much so that… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update… To …
Read More »Southern Red Sands Spotlight After CEO Chat [Part 3/4 Utah Sand Series]
In an exclusive series of updates over the past couple of weeks, we have been analyzing frac sand market conditions in the often overlooked Utah completions market where big changes are happening in the supply stack. In this third installment of the series, we shine a spotlight on one new …
Read More »An Industry Full Of Companies “Focusing On What We Can Control” [Chart Of The Day]
After about the sixth management team this earnings season said “we are focused on what we can control” we decided to spend a little time thinking about… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update… To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you …
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