Hi-Crush

Proppant oilfield service operators are preparing for a likely decline in U.S. land operations through the second half of this year and into 2020, with a “rationalization of supply” said already underway.

Proppant sand providers, which faced headwinds during the first quarter from low prices and conservative spending by their customers, will have to deal with a supply and demand imbalance that could pressure prices into the foreseeable future.

Houston-based Hi-Crush Partners LP, which provides proppant sand for North America onshore operators, on Monday reported a sharp downturn in sales for the fourth quarter and it has subsequently suspended quarterly distributions because of current market conditions.

Houston-based Hi-Crush Partners LP unveiled a triple shot of expansions on Monday, with the takeover of a Manitoba-based silo-based sand storage business and build out of proppant operations in Wisconsin and the Permian Basin.

Houston-based Hi-Crush Partners LP, which reported a sharp increase for proppant sand during the fourth quarter, is slapping down $275 million to buy out a Permian Basin sand supplier in its biggest deal ever.

The oilfield services industry has been mangled, chewed up and spit out since commodity prices began tumbling in late 2014. Like a champ, operators picked themselves up and fought back by revamping customer contracts, improving efficiencies and costs, and as they have always done, delivering ever-better technology.

Houston-based Hi-Crush Partners LP, which provides northern white sand to pressure pumpers across North America, has secured partners to help fund an innovative logistics company for the proppant industry.

In a sign suggesting that the U.S. unconventional boom is not abating, Halliburton Co. has extended an agreement with Hi-Crush Partners LP to increase through 2018 its annual Northern White sand volumes.

Halliburton Co., one of the largest onshore oilfield services providers, has obtained a long-term agreement through 2018 with Hi-Crush Partners LP for sand to use in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations.