Infill Thinking Lifting the O&G knowledge curve

Last week, we asked readers to answer 13 questions about the outlook for 2018. The focus of our survey was key trends and themes in the US onshore business. Participation was strong, with a diverse mix of respondents – all of whom are well informed on Lower 48 trends. In …

Since 2013, the offshore drillers have underperformed six other upstream sectors we track by an average of 70%. In this update we look beyond the market cap dislocation at a key hire and recent IPO filings. There’s a lot more to this story… To read this update and receive our research …

Each Friday in the last month of each quarter, we pass our keyboard to an Infill Thinking subscriber to weigh in from their field. In October, two ENGOs provided a notice to the Comptrollers office of their intent to petition the US Fish and Wildlife Service to list the dunes …

Three Permian Basin mines are producing frac sand today.  Over the next four months, six more plants are planned to begin commercial production in the Basin. Will all go according to plan? And who will win the race to be the next plant online? We have field-level updates on all …

We poll subscribers on key questions about the 2018 oilfield service outlook. Our Q&A will reveal consensus among some of the industry’s smartest minds about 2018 trends, themes, and debates. To participate and view the results, please login or subscribe. At Infill Thinking, we are very aware of what our …

In our weekly rig count update this week, we take a look at how frac sand volume per rig has trended the past few years. Plotting the sand/rig ratio reveals a rapid sea change in the Lower 48 oilfield service value chain.   There’s a lot more to this story… …

If oil drivers are leaving for sand in larger numbers now, that would suggest that frac sand hauling rates may have reached a tipping point that converts drivers. We examine the differences in hauling oil vs. sand both pay and scope and discuss a potential tipping point that could have …

High winds ripped through the West Texas dune strip during the past couple days, reminding us of fugitive dust and inventory erosion risks. West Texas poses a unique environmental challenge that the frac sand mining industry has never had to deal with at scale before. We believe wind will be …

Helmerich & Payne closed out C3Q17 earnings season for the land drillers late-last week. Here are the three statements that we found most interesting… There’s a lot more to this story… To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a subscriber. If your free trial has expired, …

There’s a new reader-submitted post in our thinking aloud forum, please visit the thread here to read and discuss how (and potentially why) the oil price rally is masking some important disconnects. Emerging discounts are impacting tight oil producers who sell product based of WTI benchmarks, but it may not …

This is the kind of update we hate to write. Every O&G company we know goes to great lengths avoid fatal accidents. Few industries emphasize safety as much as O&G. But in a physical business like this, occupational hazards are very real. Our coverage will serve two purposes and two …

Infill Thinking visited the third Permian Basin frac sand mine to come online back when it was under construction in August. With the plant coming online last week, we share exclusive details from our time on site with management as well as the very latest on the startup from our …

Today we are wrapping up our frac sand scattershooting series with our third installment.   feature image used with creative commons license There’s a lot more to this story… To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a subscriber. If your free trial has expired, renew here. (Current …

We did some math on the record breaking well announced by the STACK leader this week. There’s a lot more to this story… To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a subscriber. If your free trial has expired, renew here. (Current members login here.) Subscribers get Exclusive research update newsletters High-caliber, data-driven …

Anadarko’s 2018 capital spending program was released Thursday morning. It is one of the first detailed 2018 E&P budgets to be released this budget season. Given their focus on discipline and returns and leadership in crafting a sustainable framework for developing tight oil, Anadarko’s E&P capex budget should help establish …

We provide an update on the industry’s first frac sand exchange and a look behind the scenes at some new features the platform is rolling out. There’s a lot more to this story… To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a subscriber. If your free trial …

In this weekly rig count update, we take a quick look at the rig count evolution of today’s two most important US onshore markets: West Texas and Oklahoma. You may remember the following chart from an update early this year when we wrote about the bifurcated Permian market place….   …

We checked in with Aequor management out in Culberson County for an update on the Permian Basin’s second online frac sand mine. There’s a lot more to this story… To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a subscriber. If your free trial has expired, renew here. (Current …

The recovery in oilfield service (OFS) activity and pricing outside the US has been waiting in the wings for three years. Outside the US, there have only been a few international bright spots – non-US oilfield growth has been non-existent. Most countries’ oilfield service markets have been dragging bottom all …

Another installment in our popular series of tidbits on Permian Basin frac sand mine scene happenings. There’s a lot more to this story… To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a subscriber. If your free trial has expired, renew here. (Current members login here.) Subscribers get Exclusive research update newsletters High-caliber, data-driven …

On the heels of an industry-first Delaware Basin water deal signed about a week ago comes a report from a Permian rancher to our desk that a historic spring has gone dry. In this update, we examine the brackish water requirements implied by frac sand volumes, discuss the dry spring’s …

US Silica reported better than expected 3Q17 and a very strong outlook for 2018 Monday evening. Tuesday morning on the conference call, we recorded market insights on SandBox, West Texas capacity, updates on US Silica’s Crane & Lamesa plants, 2018 overall demand, contracting activity, the outlook for Northern White, among …

The following list is baker’s dozen of assorted datapoints and tidbits we’ve heard about the frac sand business over the past couple weeks. This piece addresses the goings-on in Permian frac sand. We’ll have another installment of frac sand scattershooting later this week to address trends in the broader market. …

A new type of land rig is being proposed to tackle mega-pads in the very deepest sections of the Wolfcamp. In this post, check out the latest on operator interest as well as the features that make this rig unique and cost about 30% more than the current shale-ready rig …

This week, E&P management teams talked with investors about the big picture framework and mindset this budget season. We recap the key takeaways from the key players and review the overarching themes of 2018 budget season and what this means for oilfield service contractors. There’s a lot more to this …

The unrivaled STACK E&P leader (and major Delaware player) said this Wednesday that they have contracted all of their 2018 frac sand requirements. This is newsworthy in and of itself, but more noteworthy is the geographical sourcing. We provide details and think through the market implications here. There’s a lot …

Last quarter, Mark was just getting his footing and undertaking a strategic review of the organization he inherited. This quarter, he got much more specific on what the Weatherford of the future will look like. Mark’s plan is more than a fresh coat of paint and new granite counter-tops. It’s …

On Tuesday, Forum Energy Technologies said their NAM completions business has become their largest revenue generator. Completions and production/infrastructure (C&P) segment revenues contribute 80% of the global oilfield products company’ top line. Moreover, 85% of Forum’s sales are onshore and 80% come from North America (NAM). This is a company …

A very constructive conference call this morning went along way to offsetting the investor disappointment on volumes sold during 3Q that we noted yesterday in this update. The stock reversed its after-hours decline and is trading materially higher this morning. Here are the key points we jotted down from the …

Quick take after Hi-Crush released earnings this afternoon. There’s a lot more to this story… To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a subscriber. If your free trial has expired, renew here. (Current members login here.) Subscribers get Exclusive research update newsletters High-caliber, data-driven analysis and commentary New angles on stories you’ll …

The following brief analytical editorial was excerpted from our twice-weekly newsletter on Tuesday October 31, 2017.   There’s a lot more to this story… To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a subscriber. If your free trial has expired, renew here. (Current members login here.) Subscribers get Exclusive research update newsletters …

There is a new oilfield service company scheduled to price a $300mm initial public equity offering on November 3. This isn’t an ordinary IPO though – it is a blank check company backed by some oilfield industry titans.   There’s a lot more to this story… To read this update and receive …

Wind presents a big risk factor for West Texas mines. It’s a challenge that mine builders don’t have to design to in Wisconsin, so cookie cutter designs may face issues with open sand pile erosion. After a windy week in West Texas, we put pen to paper to chart the …

Three of the largest US land drillers (together controlling 35% of the market) openly resisted the downward trending rig count last week. The US land rig count fell in 9 of the last 12 weeks and is off 5% from peak. The prevailing view has been that this decline would …

During earnings season, an ocean of content comes at you fast. 7,000 words are spoken on the average earnings conference call. There were 27 oilfield earnings conference calls this week. We did the math. That’s the word count equivalent of 200 Infill Thinking posts. How much of this info overload …

We take you behind the scenes in another market beyond the Permian that may be fully supplied by in-basin frac sand by the end of next year. The story of these new Louisiana sand mines reminds us that there is plenty of potential for in-basin deposits beyond the dunes of …

The heat on the lizard is rising so US Silica’s news of inclusion in the Texas Conservation Plan TCP is well timed. More thoughts on the news and who else is in… There’s a lot more to this story… To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be …

Subscribers only. Breaking and exclusive reporting on the very latest in the dune sage brush lizard story from Infill Thinking. There’s a lot more to this story… To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a subscriber. If your free trial has expired, renew here. (Current members login here.) Subscribers get …

Superior Energy Services, the ninth largest US pressure pumper by active horsepower, spoke comprehensively about the North American oilfield service market (and Permian completions in particular) on Tuesday morning. We’ve organized our notes from the conference call into the following key points. There’s a lot more to this story… To …

Based on a study of job openings on Indeed.com, we estimate that upwards of 20% of advertised job listings in the Kermit/Monahans area of West Texas are posted by startup frac sand mines. In the full article, we show which sand miners have positions open and who they are competing with …

The falling rig count is playing heavily into early 3Q17 conference call discussions, particularly after last week’s big drop. We’ve long thought this correction was expected, but reaction to the decline reminds us that nothing is ever truly “priced in” until it happens. Here’s some context on where we’ve been, …

Halliburton hosted what we saw as a generally positive and realistic conference call Monday morning. The stock took a hit, we believe due to slowing NAM cyclical growth overall not because of HAL-specific concerns. The US rig count is pulling back as expected. In that context, Halliburton is focused on …

Listening to Schlumberger’s conference call this morning, we were reminded just how much Big OFS has changed. In this update, we focus on takeaways relevant to the oilfield’s general population – specifically the outlook for US pressure pumping, international OFS, new offshore contracting models, and the oil macro. There’s a lot …

Over the next three weeks, 86 oilfield companies we monitor will host conference calls to discuss results and outlook. We’ve got a cool sector timeline plus heatmap to help you know when to tune in to hear from sectors you care about. We also share an easy to digest list …

Yesterday morning, we had an opportunity to get out of the weeds a little bit and think about the big picture. We were preparing for an “introduction to the frac sand market” conference call with a consulting client who is new to the space and looking to get up to …

We break down a very important offshore drilling contract, explaining what it means for the deepwater market. There’s a lot more to this story… To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you must be a subscriber. If your free trial has expired, renew here. (Current members login here.) Subscribers get Exclusive research update newsletters …

There is a new discussion topic over in our members-only discussion forum today. Click here to read the full thread and discuss In it we ponder whether enough Permian transload capacity is in place to service demand growth if in-basin frac sand mines fall short of expectations. Understandably, investment appetite …

Several Permian Basin mines are now shipping sand. But only one is still fully operational. What’s the latest on the next two in terms of startup schedules? Based on our recent discussion with management teams of the new plants approaching the finish line, we provide readers with a status update …

On Monday morning this week, we sent out an email survey to a select group of industry insiders who subscribe to Infill Thinking. We asked these folks to provide feedback anonymously on the risk to oilfield activity posed by phase-in of electronic logging device regs this December. We got some insightful …

Starting this week, we begin an analytical tour around basins outside the Permian. The focus feature in each of our regular weekly rig count updates over the next couple weeks will provide an overview on D&C activity trends in key basins beyond West Texas. Here are five Marcellus Shale charts …