The Fracking Sand Story

Start with this: each hopper car carries 100 tons of fracking sand.

When you see a 100-unit train carrying sand, that amount of sand will frack one Permian well, maybe five Bakken wells at most.

Some data points for newbies:

• the shale revolution began with fracking sand, maybe 500,000 pounds per well in one stage. BEXP broke new ground when they began routinely using 4 million lbs to frack a well. Since then, EOG has taken the lead. 
• EOG is using upwards of 30 million lbs of sand to frack a well in the Permian, others using similar amounts in the STACK.
• operators in the Bakken appear to be using about 8 million lbs as the standard, though there are outliers, mostly at 10 million lbs, but there are some Bakken wells fracked with as much as 20 million lbs (rare).
• there appears to be a movement away from ceramic (incredibly expensive)
• one rail hopper car can carry 100 tons of fracking sand.
• a unit train is generally 115 cars. Some are as long as 130 cars.
• it takes 4 - 5 18-wheelers to empty a single hopper car.
• 30 million lbs of sand (one Permian well) / 200,000 lbs (hopper car) = 150 hopper cars = 750 18-wheelers (5 trucks per rail car). 
• 4 million lbs of sand (one Bakken well) / 200,000 lbs (hopper car) = 20 hopper cars = 100 18-wheelers (5 trucks per rail car).

 I often make simple arithmetic errors. Let me know if I've made an error here.

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If any links below are broken or wrong, please let me know. 

Previous posts on fracking sand and the takeaway. This represents only a fraction of all the posts in which fracking sand is a significant topic:

January 27, 2017: fracking sand use will double from current levels by 2018.

October 15, 2016: HAL, US Silica set rail frack sand record; 19,000 tons to Texas on one train.

August 20, 2016: STACK, Delaware and Midland use up to 30 million lbs of sand / well -- Filloon

August 6, 2016: mega-fracks; from 2004 to 2013, operators increased proppant usage by 636% in North Dakota.

August 4, 2016: 30 million lbs of proppant/well in the Permian -- Filloon

August 3, 2016: 30 million lbs of proppant/well -- Bloomberg

July 23, 2016: despite slump, frack sand producers are spending millions to increase production

April 19, 2016: ceramic proppant demand is down 49% year-over-year -- Filloon

November 9, 2015: increased volumes of fracking sand being ordered?

July 6, 2015: UNP sets frack sand shipment record; 130-unit train.

June 9, 2015: EOG uses almost 20 million lbs in a typical long lateral.

May 27, 2015: locations and sources for fracking sand.

December 7, 2014: energy demands driving rail car industry backlog.

October 21, 2014: operators stockpiling sand.

October 21, 2014: a small trucking company in Minnesota is trucking 52 loads of fracking sand / day from Wisconsin, 7 days/week, which translates into almost 2.5 million lbs of sand on a daily basis from one trucking company.

September 23, 2014: monster sand off-loading and storage site at Richardton, ND

September 22, 2014: ceramic vs sand.

September 12, 2014: update on Richardton frack sand terminal; some key dates.

September 5, 2014: update on fracking sand in the Bakken.

August 26, 2014: transportation costs for Wisconsin fracking sand.

June 10, 2014: the cost of mining frack sand in Illinois.

June 10, 2014: Dakota Plains Holdings frack sand transloading facility, New Town, ND

June 7, 2014: fracking sand in southwestern South Dakota.

June 7, 2014: increasing amounts of frack sand generate rail, truck activity.

April 21, 2014: another source of frack sand? Illinois?

April 17, 2014: frack sand spurs grain-like silos for rail transport.

February 24, 2014: another staggering EOG well in the Bakken; 54 stages; 17 million lbs of sand.

January 23, 2014: railroad renaissance -- Forbes.

December 3, 2013: in fracking, sand is the new gold. 

October 21, 2013: price of fracking sand could go parabolic -- Filloon.

August 29, 2013: government looking at new rule for regulating fracking sand.

August 21, 2013: the Minnesota experience.

August 20, 2013: a monster EOG well; 49 stages; 10 million lbs of sand.

July 5, 2013: Wisconson's fracking sand -- National Geographic.

June 5, 2013: Canadian National Railway advancing timeline on rail upgrades to accommodate bigger rail sand cars.

June 2, 2013: it's all about sand. EOG, Eagle Ford completion techniques moving to the Bakken -- Filloon.

May 14, 2013: fracking sand, the Minnesota experience.

March 1, 2013: sand mining surges in Wisconsin.

October 28, 2012: how big is the Minnesota/Wisconsin fracking sand story? Huge.

August 21, 2012: EOG with another huge well; 9 million lbs of sand.

July 29, 2012: nice human interest story from Wisconsin.

July 23, 2012: fracking sand operations doubled in Wisconsin.

June 11, 2012: random comment on fracking/ceramics.

May 14, 2012: fracking sand in Minnesota, Wisconsin.

December 29, 2011: amount of sand used to frack a well can be staggering: 4 million lbs.

December 26, 2011: Ohio has the perfect fracking sand.

November 25, 2011: Frack sand specs.

April 23, 2011: Minnesota may have the sand needed to frack wells in the Bakken.

This may have been the first post in which I mentioned "fracking sand":

October 25, 2009 -- EOG.