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Ovintiv began a study to understand, test, support, and implement regional and local sands coming into the market. 4), allowing fresh scrutiny of the way things were done. 3).īy removing several layers of logistics, the local sand evolution brought sand producers closer to their end users (Fig. Local sand sources quickly took market share from both Northern White and regional sand suppliers, completing a cycle which drove out more than 90% of the required transportation distance, about 40% of total sand cost (Fig. Several sand sources were identified and developed close enough to fields to bypass rail. 4 The acceptance of these sands spurred the search for even closer supplies. Infinite-fracture conductivity modelling, however, showed that these lower-conductivity sands had no impact on well performance, and they were quickly adopted. 3 These regional sands typically had lower API specifications than Northern White. Landed costs, however, were cut by reducing the distance travelled. Much of the next wave of alternative sources still required rail to transport the sand to producing basins. As traditional mines started to expand to feed growing demand, others started exploring local supplies to cut logistical costs and complexity. A modern-day completion often requires 100 rail cars and more than 400 truckloads to deliver sand to a single well. Sand is a low value yet high-volume product for which handling and logistics make up about 70% of total cost (Fig. The Northern White supply chain can be deconstructed into four primary activities: mining, transporting to basin, transporting to wellsite (last mile), and delivery to the fracturing stream. 1 This reduced fracture conductivity and drove up completion costs due to increased proppant volumes and price inflation. As the industry developed tighter resources, proppant volume per well increased while proppant particle size decreased (Fig. After placement, the sand provides highly conductive connections between the well and reservoir hydrocarbons that were considered stranded before the shale revolution. This sand is spherical, pure quartz, strong, and well suited for API’s recommended frac-sand specifications. The Saint Peter Sandstone formation, running from Minnesota through Wisconsin and Illinois, extending into Arkansas, has historically produced Northern White dry sand for fracture applications.