Tag Archives: proppant

In this update, we provide a round up of Wall Street frac sand demand projections for 2017 and 2018 and discuss how the forecasts have evolved dramatically over the past 4-6 weeks. We also discuss whether the leading edge estimates are even possible for the industry to deliver on. There’s …

The conversation about frac sand this year has largely revolved around access to it. Topics of debate have fallen into three buckets: i) inflation, ii) logistics, and iii) whether the mines will be able to meet (or overshoot) the rising call on supply. But skyrocketing sand pumped per well has an …

This earnings season has been rough on the sand stocks. The sell-off appears to be the classic case of a crowded trade. Sand stocks we monitor had increased 433% from the bottom about this time last year. In the past three weeks (as they reported 4Q16 earnings), they’ve fallen 30%. Big Oil …

Retail giant Amazon and the hydraulic fracturing business have something in common: costly and complex last mile logistics. Distributing proppant requires just as much sophistication as distributing Echo Dots, Yeti Tumblers, and Kleenex. In 2017, more truckloads of sand per well will be pumped than ever before. The frac industry is trying …

Six weeks ago, we identified last mile logistics for frac sand as a potential choke point in the 2017 recovery. Frac sand’s last mile is a tedious dance between operators, trains, trucks, pumps and thousands of tons of sand. Halliburton validated our concerns on Monday evening. There’s a lot more to this …

The big public frac sand suppliers (companies like Hi-Crush, US Silica, Fairmount Santrol, and Smart Sand) will be closely watched when they report earnings this quarter. Expectations for increased proppant demand are high as the US shale industry gets back to work. But Big Sand won’t be talking about their own …