Infill Thinking Lifting the O&G knowledge curve

In basin sand for the Mid-Con seems to be coming up more frequently in our conversations with industry contacts. Here’s three recent examples followed by analysis of SCOOP/STACK drilling rig activity trends. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and …

There’s a new thread over in our members-only discussion forum. In it, Infill Thinkers are discussing the implications of takeaway constraints in the Permian and the recent widening of the Midland crude price differential. Read more and add your response here >> There’s a lot more to this story… Login …

Liberty Oilfield Services may be the new kid on the pressure pumping block in the Eagle Ford, but they aren’t wasting time making a name for themselves here. Last week, we put boots on the ground in the Eagle Ford, gathering firsthand market intelligence on the local moves Liberty is …

The rapid advent of frac sand mining in Texas is not only drawing governmental attention from the Texas Comptroller’s office because of environmental impacts. Now the Texas legislature is taking a look too. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update …

The following report was filed in our email newsletter on April 6, 2018. We were just wrapping up a productive week in the Eagle Ford. In fact, just before sitting down to write this report, we climbed 15 stories up onto the silo roofs of one of the major area …

There are new details on the first big Mid-Con frac sand mine… and it could be here sooner than you might think. 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 …

A few local headlines in West Texas caught our attention this week. Oilfield traffic is becoming a bigger problem as the year goes on…   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 …

During a busy 1Q18, Infill Thinking published 102 research updates, shipped 27 subscriber newsletters, and hosted 3 reader meet-ups. Infill Thinking’s membership grew by 25% during the quarter. Here is a list of our top stories and also the top debates of 1Q18.   There’s a lot more to this …

Last week, the US unconventional oil rig count did something it hasn’t done since the downturn. 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, …

After publishing a “petition may be coming” piece last week, we talked to several more market participants who confirmed they expect action soon. Meanwhile, there have been a couple interesting developments that set the table for the legal battle whenever it begins. There’s a lot more to this story… Login …

This is the first installment in our Silica Valley Series which shines the spotlight on an increasingly critical part of the frac value chain: new software solutions in the last mile. A crop of new entrants are improving the frac sand industry’s “mind-muscle connection” on the highways from origin to …

When the term “new entrants” is mentioned in frac sand conversation, the focus immediately gravitates to the physical. New sand producers, new plants, new well-site storage containers, and new trailer fleets have been all the rage lately. Hardware gets the headlines, but new software solutions have swept in too. A …

The offshore drilling market is starting a comeback after the worst downturn in a generation (if not the worst ever). While dayrates are still barely keeping the contractors afloat, tender activity and utilization appear to be headed out of a trough. Bright spots in a few areas appear to be …

Antero made some interesting comments at an investor conference this week. We break down what you need to know about their frac supply chain 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 …

There’s a new thread over in our members-only discussion forum. In it we question whether the big Permian M&A deal this week marks the start of a push for scale. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our …

In an update earlier this week, we shared detailed production estimates for the seven Permian frac sand plants that we classify as open and commercialized. The obvious next question is: what’s the status of the next round of startups? We are tracking an additional 7 plants scheduled to open over …

This one is far afield from the pack and notable for four primary reasons. Login to read this exclusive on the newest Permian in-basin frac sand mine. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, you …

Login required. 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 …

The winding saga of Section 232 trade policy evolution and redefinition has whipsawed the OCTG markets this year. We have the latest on what it means for buyers and sellers here… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive …

In this update, we’ve canvassed the Permian in-basin frac sand mining scene to get a read on the timing of local sand availability. 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. …

Back in October 2017, we noticed a spike in Marcellus well permitting and wrote in this update: “Permits surging to 24-month high, look for spuds to play catch up into 1Q18. Fast forward to today, and this is playing out as expected, albeit slightly behind our expectations on timing. In …

In addition to the deeper Infill Thinking research updates published this week, three quick hits crossed our desk that are worthy of comment… 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. …

Guest Contributor Introduction From Joseph Triepke:  A couple months ago, an Infill Thinking subscriber from a large oilfield service firm gave me the heads up on something exciting happening in Houston. He told me about a group called Houston Energy Data Science, or HEDS for short. HEDS is a relatively new …

We devote a lot of bandwith to the most pressing concerns facing tight oil development here at Infill Thinking. In the long-run, other constraints rise on the horizon. These are the big picture sustainability sort of questions for tight oil development. In this post, we list these big picture issues …

If new Eagle Ford frac sand producers execute on the plans we’ve uncovered, then South Texas completions activity could be fully supplied with local proppant in the near future. That’s what the summation of our research suggests. In this report you’ll find a detailed data driven accounting of what we …

We have the very latest on another new Eagle Ford frac sand mine after an exclusive conversation with the team backing the project this morning. This sand story is moving fast folks, and Infill Thinking is the original source of real-time coverage on the latest developments in the in-basin saga. …

There’s a new thread over in our members-only discussion forum. In it are observations on the new OSHA respirable crystalline silica regs that kick in just three months from now. We have some theories on why this critical issue isn’t yet getting the attention it deserves. It’s a much bigger …

The tentacles of in-basin frac sand exploration continue to extend and expand, wrapping new basins up in the plans of more new entrants. We review the latest development in the in-basin frac sand trend, which has drawn in yet another new entrant, this time on a new frontier where we’ve …

In this week’s weekly drilling rig count update, we take a closer look at Eagle Ford permitting trends. In addition, we are preparing for an upcoming Eagle Ford Shale market intelligence gathering trip. The early-April trip itinerary is taking shape and will include the following stops: There’s a lot more to …

Smart Sand’s 2018 budget is $85-$95mm. $71mm of that is spoken for with their Oakdale plant expansion, efficiency enhancements and routine maintenance. The $19mm remainder (at the midpoint) is where things get interesting… Will they go with boxes or silos? We think we have the answer… There’s a lot more …

These days when we ask C-level executives what keeps them up at night, labor is always at the tip of tongue. Recruiting and hiring are tough problems right now, for there are not enough experienced hands to staff all the equipment going to work this year. In this post a …

We spent the first week of February on location in the Permian Basin gathering market intelligence on the completions supply chain. In addition to taking it all in from the road this week, we have met with a variety of management teams and visited operations in the field. During our …

Atlas Sand was one of six in-basin sand plants (various stages of development) that we visited in the Permian Basin in early-February. Like with our five other in-basin frac sand stops, our purpose here was simply to learn more about the company’s in-basin initiatives and document our observations. In this …

We highlight an interesting appearance at a San Antonio area job fair 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 Thinking, or your …

Newly minted public frac company Liberty Oilfield Services hosted their first ever quarterly earnings call on Tuesday March 13, 2018. We are live-blogged it, and these are our key takeaways… There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our …

The frac sand logistics market is a happening place these days. Here’s a few things we’ve uncovered in the past week or so… Have you seen these yet? There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To read this update and receive our research newsletters, …

In our weekly rig count update this week, we slice and dice the latest drilling permit data in the Permian, divining clues about the future direction of the rig count in the Permian Basin and beyond. There’s a lot more to this story… Login to see the full update…  To …

In the table below, we start with the range of estimates we’ve heard for Halliburton’s fleet count from our contacts recently and then we walk through what that implies for HHP at various crew size levels. Here’s our sensitivity table with a few thoughts on what you are looking at …

With the transformational impact of in-basin frac sand being written about by some of the mainstream press this week, we figured it’d be a good time to dust off our In-Basin Frac Sand Economic Impact Study published on InfillThinking.com two months ago back in early-January. If you joined Infill Thinking …

In our typical Friday guest posts, we get to hear the perspective of one Infill Thinking member at a time. And that’s usually pretty great, but as the old saying goes two heads is better than one. This post (or conversation really), is the brainchild of two Infill Thinkers who …

This is our fifth and final installment of Permian Points (quick notes from the road) from the first of two February trips we made to West Texas to gather on-the-ground market intelligence. Revisit Permian Points 1-4 at the links below: Permian Points 1 Permian Points 2 Permian Points 3 Permian …

On Tuesday evening, Solaris reported 4Q17 earnings. On Wednesday morning, we live-blogged our takeaways as we listened to their conference call. 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 …

This is our fourth installment of Permian Points – quick notes from our time on the road in West Texas in February. Permian Points 1 touched on the local sand business, including pricing and construction status updates; Permian Points 2 hit oilfield activity levels and labor; Permian Points 3 covered issues we …

In this weekly rig count update, we take a spin around the basins looking at relative performance from recent peaks and valleys. Studying rig count changes during mini-cycles within the big picture trend can illustrate the level of operator commitment to various plays and reveal drilling program volatility within each …

Shortly after pressing send on an early-February 2018 edition of the Infill Thinking newsletter, we hit the road in Odessa bound for a visit to High Roller Sand’s Kermit frac sand plant. The facility had been open less than a week at the time of our visit, about four weeks …

Things are happening fast in the oilfield / sandpatch right now. In addition to the Infill Thinking research updates published this week, some third-party stories crossed our desk that are worthy of passing along. All links will open a third-party article in a new tab. There’s a lot more to …

Each Friday in the last month of each quarter, we pass our keyboard to an Infill Thinking subscriber to weigh in from their field. We hope you enjoy reading these hand-picked contributions as much as we do. Guest Contributor(s) Introduction From Joseph Triepke: Today’s guest post comes to us from …

Industry sources tell Infill Thinking that [NAME REDACTED] mine’s first truckloads are rolling out from their new frac sand plant near Monahans as you read this update. Login to see the plant’s name that is shipping and learn exclusive details about the planned ramp up here…. There’s a lot more …

We have sorted through 1,000+ pages of E&P conference call transcripts to come up with the most important things customers are saying about frac 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 look at the latest import data, trade protection measures, and capacity and pricing commentary from a market leader. 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 …