Infill Thinking Lifting the O&G knowledge curve

About this time last year, Infill Thinking member Paul Sparks penned a guest post this website titled Independent E&P Consolidation Is The Future, Is 2018 The Year? His case for consolidation turned out to be prophetic. We discuss the implications of three E&P M&A deals this week alone… There’s a lot more to this …

The term “Budget Exhaustion” has caught on like wildfire on OFS and E&P calls alike over the past few weeks. We provide context around the concept (and conversation) in this update. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive …

With stories like this that can’t be found anywhere else, why would you go anywhere else for your completions supply chain news and analysis? 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 …

It’s earnings season and if your office looks anything like ours, you’re probably up to your eyeballs in reading material. So we’ll cut to the chase 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 …

Last week’s frac sand conference in San Antonio, hosted by the Petroleum Connection, featured some of the most thoughtful logistics panels that we’ve seen at any oilfield industry event. With three panels on focused squarely on logistics, frac sand hauling and handling issues featured prominently into the discussion. The challenges …

We are able to offer some timely context for the supply chain and procurement implications of this morning’s big M&A news in E&P. 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. …

The old Keystone pipeline debate from the past several years doesn’t hold a candle to this one. In fact, the most recent analog we can think of is the 2010 Gulf of Mexico drilling moratorium imposed by the Obama administration in the wake of the Macondo tragedy. Yet even that …

The Lower 48 market share battle in frac sand’s last mile has escalated again. Last week, we learned about three new gen solutions that are now targeting customer wellsites in the Lower 48 for the first time. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To …

This week, the Infill Thinking team attended and participated in the largest annual conference in the frac sand industry, which was hosted by the Petroleum Connection in San Antonio. Between serving as Master of Ceremonies for the conference and moderating an in-basin sand panel, our busy team met with many …

Halliburton reported earnings Monday morning and hosted their quarterly conference call with investors. Here are four things to know from their remarks. 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 …

In part three of our industry survey results presentation, we share what a whole bunch of smart Infill Thinking members think about key issues in the hydraulic fracturing market. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research …

In part two of our industry survey results presentation, we share how a whole bunch of smart Infill Thinking members shake out on key 2019 frac sand market debates. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research …

This month, we asked Infill Thinking members a series of questions about the outlook for 2019. Our survey honed in on key debates in the turbulent US onshore oilfield service business. A whole bunch of smart people weighed in; here’s what they had to say… just as year-ahead planning starts …

Today marks an important milestone for the team here at Infill Thinking. This is the two-year anniversary of our very first oilfield research newsletter. As we paused to take a walk back down memory lane by revisiting Issue Number 1 this morning, we were overwhelmed by feelings of gratitude and …

By this time next year, you may be hearing a whole lot more about a new way to move local sand. In this Thinking Ahead update, we “do the numbers” on a cutting edge idea in sand logistics. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  …

We take a look behind the curtain at some key trends in frac water. 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 …

In this week’s weekly rig count, we check out some key unconventional drilling trends during 3Q18 across the major US shale plays. 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 …

Our channel checks reveal that the pain being felt by Northern frac sand producers continues to escalate at a rapid pace. Read the latest developments in the supply stack disruption rippling through this important completions segment here. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  …

At Infill Thinking, we are very aware of what our greatest asset is. Without a doubt it is our members roster. We are honored to have on this list some of the most accomplished executives in the US onshore business. Soon the rest of the oilfield market will shift their …

Even though WTI oil prices were strong during 3Q18 (consistently trading near $70/bbl), the quarter was extremely volatile in the Lower 48 oilfield service marketplace. It was a quarter marred by what can best be described as mid-cycle turbulence. Oilfield service and product pricing came under pressure across multiple completions-related …

In addition to the deeper Infill Thinking research updates published this week, a few other quick hits crossed our desk that are worthy of comment. So here are four short stories… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive …

As many readers know by now, there have been rumblings about some big changes happening at the company in recent days. We have learned more about what has transpired and what to expect going forward. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read …

Rig consolidation is back in the headlines this week after a big deal offshore on Monday (Ensco and Rowan merged). Although it’s received less attention, consolidation has picked up in onshore drilling too, with two material deals in the past three months. So this week, we took a look at …

Infill Thinking is pleased to announce that Joseph Triepke, founder of Infill Thinking, has been invited to serve as Master of Ceremonies during this month’s frac sand conference in San Antonio hosted by the Petroleum Connection. In addition to serving as MC, Joseph Triepke will moderate a highly anticipated panel …

The shuttering of “out-of-basin” capacity is key to a return to health in the oversupplied frac sand segment. Over the weekend, we saw a datapoint that suggests that this is happening quickly now, and not just at NWS mines…. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the …

I can’t think of another time in my career that such a substantial upward move in oil prices was accompanied by so little investor enthusiasm for E&P and OFS stocks. At times over the last 18 months, it’s felt as if the group has collectively traded like a dying industry. …

We have rounded up some important Permian stuff that caught our eye this week. Here you’ll find several items that are worthy of putting on your weekend reading list as well as our thoughts on implications and feedback from contacts in industry on these topics. There’s a lot more to …

Some quick thoughts on what can only be described as a shocking court judgment this week in the last mile space. 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 …

Our investigative reporting reveals the latest on the MidCon mining front. 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, …

Check out an underappreciated financial statistic that we think is important to monitor into the upcoming earnings season as a sign of industry health. 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 …

Each week we break apart the North American rig count in new ways that allow readers to dive beneath the week-to-week changes and better understand what the future may hold. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our …

Last week, we spoke with the management team of a private company that is building a 1.5mmtpa mine in Red River Parish, Louisiana. 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. …

We analyze trends in E&P C-suite conversations about frac hits and parent-child well interference and share a metric derived from our proprietary linguistic analysis of industry discussion. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you …

It is our honor to welcome the Chief Financial Officer for the state of Texas as an Infill Thinking guest contributor today. Glenn Hegar was elected as the 36th Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts in November 2014. Glenn and his team at the Texas Comptroller’s office have played a high …

Infill Thinking first reported talk of out-of-basin plant closures a month ago back in August. Here’s an excerpt from our “Zombie Plant” update on August 24: “Some NWS producers are evaluating plant closures and others may have actually already begun the mothballing process for some higher cost plants.” Infill Thinking, …

We share more boots-on-the-ground intel on the community and regulatory reaction to the frac sand mining rush playing out in the MidCon. 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 …

In this week’s regular rig count update, we analyze the latest Permian bear call and shine a spotlight on Permian permits to discern clues about the near-term outlook for drilling after a better than expected 3Q rig count. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full …

From what we could see driving up to and around the property (it was raining hard during our site visit), the first northwestern Oklahoma frac sand plant looked substantially complete with just last minute connections remaining on the punch-list. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the …

In this update, we follow up on several recent Infill Thinking stories with what’s new. Follow-up topics include: wellsite storage replacement cycle appearing in the mainstream press. a new mine opens confirming an exclusive report. … … There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  …

The sand dune fields in Winkler County Texas that are now home to almost two dozen frac sand mining projects have historically been used for cattle ranching. Some of these cattle ranches have been owned by the same families for generations. For this guest post, we invited these long-time area …

During our recent MidCon Recon trip, we learned from speaking with locals that a frac sand producer new to Oklahoma was actively looking at property for a new frac sand mine near Fay. We reported that datapoint in the first of several takeaway pieces from the trip several weeks ago. …

Late breaking news tonight of the unfortunate variety. Updates are being posted as we learn more… 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, …

Just when one thinks things cannot possibly get any more interesting in the frac sand supply transition story, things get more interesting. In this update, we think through what the big news from a critical logistics provider means. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full …

All new gen wellsite storage suppliers have enjoyed remarkable growth trajectories, but how long will this continue to be the case? We examine a potential inflection point incorporating takeaways from a proprietary study we conducted in this update. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full …

We caught up with the management team of a private company gunning to open the next Permian mine. 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. …

Today we’re checking in on a Permian prediction made here three months ago. 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 …

More notes from the road from the time our team invested researching the MidCon on location. 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, …

Our guest author today is knowledgeable on the properties of both Texas and Northern White sand and has a great deal of firsthand historical context to back up his perspectives on both. We were particularly intrigued by his thoughts towards the end of his guest post on frac sand deposit …

Schlumberger went to town on a long-term risk in the Permian that we have been calling an existential threat for several quarters now. 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. …

Quick thoughts on the breaking news Tuesday afternoon that a leading E&P has taken a stake in an in-basin frac sand plant. 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 …