- Oil prices dropped by more than 2 percent among concerns of President Donald Trump’s plans to set tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and the recent resignation of top White House economic adviser Gary Cohn. April West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.03, or 1.7 percent, to settle at $60.12 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, marking its lowest finish since Feb. 13, according to FactSet data. May Brent crude lost 73 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $63.61 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange, also the lowest finish since mid-February.
- A major report from Energent, part of Westwood Global Energy Group, predicts dramatic changes to the frac sand supply chain to the Permian basin. Plants based within the Permian basin itself are now producing sand of the required technical standard and volume to meet the expected demand growth of 2.5 million tons per quarter over 2018-19. By the end of 2018, Energent anticipates more than 7 million tons per quarter of available premium sand capacity inside the Permian basin. This will remove almost 800,000 tons of sand requiring long-haul rail logistics in fourth-quarter 2018 compared with first-quarter 2018. The potential savings of in-basin sand are huge – as long as operators are satisfied that it meets their technical requirements, they could save up to 50 percent on frac sand hauled from Wisconsin.
- NexGen Mining Inc., formerly known as Brilliant Sands, held a shareholder meeting to approve and ratify the sale of the frac sand assets and change the company name. “Returning to the core of our business is a natural evolution of our company. The sale of our frac sand assets positioned NexGen for substantial future growth when advanced-stage precious and strategic metal asset acquisitions are complete,” said Marc J. Andrews, NexGen’s president and chief executive officer.