- Smart Sand Partners (SSLP) is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Hi-Crush Partners and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), with a record-breaking IPO. Like the previous two fracking sand MLPs, SSLP produces Northern White frac sand from sand mines and a processing facility in Wisconsin. Its integrated facility has on-site rail infrastructure and wet and dry sand processing facilities, enabling the delivery of approximately 2.2 million tons of frac sand per year. As of June 30, SSLP had approximately 217 million tons of proven recoverable sand reserves and 64 million tons of probable recoverable sand reserves.
- The city of Winona, Minn., is believed to be the first Minnesota city or county to offer an official opinion on regulation of the booming silica sand industry since the Legislature ordered the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to create state standards last session. The Winona City Council voted 5-1 night to approve a five-paragraph resolution that supports air monitoring of particulate matter and silica at existing and new silica sand facilities in the state. Jeff Hedman, of the MPCA, said Monday that Winona is the first city or county he’s aware of to support such monitoring.
- A new study by Visongain suggests that continual expansion of unconventional oil and gas development in the United States and around the globe will necessitate steadily increasing proppant sales throughout the next 10 years. While most of the proppant spending will take place in the Americas, and in the United States in particular, annual growth rates for other nations and regions are more aggressive, as the unconventional oil and gas boon spreads across the glove over the next 10 years. Of particular note are the proppants markets in Argentina, throughout the Americas, and in China; these nations and regions have extensive unconventional oil and gas reserves and the global trend toward natural gas as the dominant feedstock will ensure significant political and fiscal capital is spent developing them.