Dissolvable technology has been an evolving success story — innovation answering necessity in an industry never short of challenges. Today, dissolving plugs are a frequent if not typical component of most well completions, in all wellbore or downhole environments. Dissolvable plugs have proven to be particularly effective in long laterals with higher stage density. In […]
Line in the Sand
Basin frac sand mines may face a shakeout in the last quarter of 2019. By Paul Wiseman The oil and gas economy is always compared to a roller coaster ride, but nowhere in the sector has the ride been crazier over the last decade than in frac sand. Until the early 2000s, frac sand mining […]
Spillover
Last month’s issue was called our “Water Issue” (see photo), so we can’t slap that label on this issue, or this coverage, anyway. We’ll just call this “Overflow.” It’s some additional insights we weren’t able to squeeze into the April issue. By Jesse Mullins Some isolated, maybe random, observations about H2O and the tidal […]
To Turn Up the Pressure
The year 2019 began with the the frac industry under pressure as a whole, and pressure pumpers were no exception. A sudden oil price drop in December, coupled with downward pricing impetus from backlogged pipelines and year-end budget exhaustion led to a drop in completions—and a freefall in demand for fracturing crews and frac sand. […]
Sands of Time
Care and Grooming of a Frac Sand Mine An acute driver shortage can almost be categorized as infrastructure challenge as well. By Paul Wiseman Reminiscent of the 1889 Oklahoma Land Rush, the 2018 Permian Basin sand rush saw excited investors descend on the Basin, opening approximately 19 new sources of this granular gold. Black Mountain […]
Shifting Sands
In less than 10 years, frac sand sourcing has migrated from Wisconsin/Illinois to Brady to local basins, and cut fracturing costs by millions in the process. Meanwhile, expect another sand boom. By Paul Wiseman While hydraulic fracturing traces its roots as far back as 1947 with Stanolind Oil and Gas engineer Floyd Farris’s unsuccessful trial, […]