Getting Granular with Proppant Logistics

Delivery of the proppant required for a hydraulic fracturing job can quickly become a weak link in operational excellence. New technology in the oil and gas industry has been hyper focused on well site efficiency but has missed out on the synergies that can be leveraged between proppant delivery and hydraulic fracturing operations. A new logistics solution was developed to take advantage of these synergies and support higher operational efficiency. The new proppant logistics solution was built on an established hydraulic fracturing field data collection platform. Driver and proppant load information was ingested into the new solution with a software program used to order the proppant loads to be delivered to the job. The combination of these two systems synergized the new solution and ensured the supply chain of products needed for a hydraulic fracturing job would not create a weak link in the chain of operational excellence. With the world still feeling impacts from the 2020 pandemic, worldwide shipping and logistics markets sank into a supply imbalance. This supply-demand disparity combined with the consistency of over-the-road trucking as compared with the historically volatile nature of proppant delivery, over-the-road trucking became very desirable for existing proppant delivery drivers. This paper will present a case study reviewing how a new software solution was built and implemented to facilitate rapid field data delivery and will also discuss how this solution was utilized to build out differential visual and predictive analysis tools to promote timely delivery of proppant needed at each fracturing location. After implementing the new solution, success was measured through the following observations. 90% decrease in proppant delivery downtime.35% decrease in drivers needed for a job, lowering the footprint of drivers on the road.Individual drivers delivered 20% more loads per day.33% decrease in total time required to deliver a load of proppant.Enhanced competitiveness among drivers lowering the cost to produce a barrel of oil. With this new solution, proppant logistics teams are now able to leverage intelligent solutions to help dispatch proppant so that operational excellence is maintained to the highest standard.