FAQ: How Much Sand/Ceramic Is Used To Frack A Typical Well In The Bakken?

Over at FAQs, this was the posting as of August 30, 2016, and obviously needs to be updated:

[Update: October 21, 2014].  Click here for update posted in early 2011. [October, 2011: I am starting to track fracking specifics: it turns out some companies, like Hess, are using less than 1 million pounds of sand to frack, whereas some companies like BEXP are using up to 4 million pounds of proppant (sand plus ceramics); and sometimes the amount of ceramics used is more than the sand.] [Update: June 9, 2015. When I first started blogging, one million lbs of sand was common and then, as noted, BEXP pushed it to 4 million lbs. Maybe two years or three later EOG, with its own sand mines in Wisconsin pushed it to 10 million lbs for a long lateral. Now, EOG has used almost 20 million lbs in a long lateral.]

Updates

August 20, 2016: Mike Filloon talks about mega-fracks --

• Mega-fracs continue to use large volumes of sand per well, with some operators now using up to 3,000 lbs/ft
• The combination of increased locations completed in the STACK, Delaware and Midland basins with enhanced completions using up to 30,000,000 lbs per well could aid in increasing sand pricing
• Frac sand producer stock prices have improved, significantly from earlier this year but with demand growing at its current pace there could be extended gains into year end 

In the Bakken in North Dakota there is very little fracking being done in 2016 due to depressed commodity prices. However, of the wells that have been fracked in the past twelve months, it appears that for a long lateral:

• number of stages: 35 - 45 stages seems typical; there are few exceptions on the low side; more exceptions on the high side
• sand/ceramic: 4 million lbs to  8 million pounds seems typical; again, there are few exceptions on the low side; more exceptions on the high side.