Select Sands Corp. announced financial and operational results for the third quarter of 2017 Third Quarter 2017 financial highlights include:
• Revenues grew 148 percent to $6.6 million from $3.1 million in the second quarter 2017. Contributing to the increase was the combination of higher sales volumes for frac sand and increased average sales pricing for frac and industrial sand.
• Gross margin for the company’s sand operations was $1.4 million as compared to $0.8 million in the preceding quarter – a 75 percent sequential quarterly increase.
• During the third quarter, Select Sands made continued progress on further enhancing the logistics capabilities of its operations. This included starting construction on a new road from the facility that will reduce transportation costs as it will provide shorter distance and direct access from the facility to a recently rebuilt multi-lane highway. Since the new access road will reduce travel on county roads, it will allow the option to increase operating hours as required.
• To ensure optimal inventory management, Select Sands continues to produce at levels consistent with its ability to deliver product, which is primarily by rail. During the third quarter, the Company leveraged its recently expanded offsite rail car storage facility to improve the sequencing of trains. Complementing these efforts, the Company continued to work closely with interstate and short-line railroads to further enhance service through increased efficiencies and loading capabilities.
• Supporting it logistics efforts, the Company recently received its first purchase order to ship product by barge. Under the terms of the agreement, Select Sands will ship 10,000 tons of frac sand to the Northeastern United States for use in the Utica and Marcellus shale basins.
Zig Vitols, president and chief executive officer, commented, “The third quarter represented another period of improved financial performance and significant progress on multiple fronts for Select Sands, and I cannot be more pleased with our results. It was our first quarter to generate positive net income and adjusted EBITDA, which is outstanding given we only began commercial production at the start of this year. Our success is a direct result of our dedicated employees, and I want to thank them for their extraordinary efforts as we continue to build a business designed to further capitalize on a positive industry backdrop.
“We anticipate growing demand for our Northern White frac sand product due to its premium quality and the strategic location of our operations relatively close to the some of the most prolific producing oil and gas basins in the U.S., including the Permian, Eagle Ford, SCOOP/STACK/Woodford, Haynesville, Utica, Marcellus and DJ”, concluded Vitols. “To better serve this need, we remain laser-focused on enhancing our logistics capabilities. As part of these efforts, our ability to now also deliver by barge provides important optionality as we target selling into additional oil and gas basins. It also moves us closer to our goal of reaching our facility’s maximum annual production rate of 600,000 tons and provides further visibility for product deliveries as we evaluate plans for the potential future development of a new, much larger production facility on the acreage for which we recently entered into a purchase option.”