American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2016 - 74

SpecialReport: Insurance And HS&E Update

Cost-Effective Tools Improve Safety
By Colter Cookson
During the past two years, the exploration, drilling and production sector has
lost both knowledgeable veterans and
ambitious young workers. While many
of these individuals will return as activity
recovers, oil and gas companies will be
forced to continue coming up with ways
to accomplish more with less. At the
same time, operators will need to maintain
the industry's track record of improving
safety while meeting ever-present demands
to reduce costs and enhance efficiencies.
Fortunately, note experts within the
service and supply sector, the industry
has its share of sharp-eyed entrepreneurs
who have the experience to anticipate
future needs and the creativity to come
up with better ways to meet them. Many
of their ideas, which address everything
from hydraulic fracturing to remote production monitoring, simultaneously improve safety and efficiency.
As the rig count recovers, one of the
industry's biggest challenges will be transporting sand for hydraulic fracturing, predicts Kevin Fisher, chief executive officer
of Proppant Express (PropX™) LLC. He
says one of the distinct trends in shale
plays is higher volumes of proppants
pumped per well, with total proppant
volumes effectively doubling over the
past couple years.
"This means the amount of sand that

must be moved for each stage is increasing
significantly, so as overall activity grows,
the industry will need to move ever larger
amounts of sand," he says.
The industry also will need to meet
tighter regulations on silica dust, which
Fisher notes has been linked to lung and
kidney diseases. "Under U.S. Occupational
Safety and Health Administration regulations, a company needs to have a plan
in place for cutting dust levels by threefourths. By June 2018, that plan has to
be implemented," he details.
"OSHA is requiring industry to get to
an actionable limit of 25 micrograms per
cubic meter and an absolute respirable
silica limit of 50 micrograms per cubic
meter of air," Fisher reports. "That is not
much. In fact, two hunters walking down
a dirt road probably kick up that much
dust."
Container System
Even with tight seals, Fisher says silica
dust comes off the pneumatic trailers traditionally used to deliver sand to a well
site as drivers empty them with blowers.
Although he acknowledges it is possible
to limit the amount of silica dust created
by installing vacuum-like equipment on
trailers, using specially-coated proppants,
and reducing blow-off speeds, Fisher says
it is more practical to employ a new
method of transporting proppant.
"This method replaces pneumatic trail-

To help operators meet regulations limiting silica dust exposure, Proppant Express LLC
has developed containers for transporting sand. Once at the well site, the containers
empty by gravity onto conveyor belts, which take the sand to the blender-hopper. According to the company, this process is a boon for worker health and comfort because
it generates a fifth as much silica dust as blowing off pneumatic trailers.

74 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

ers with flatbeds that carry sand in small
shipping containers," he outlines. "When
the flatbed gets to a location, a forklift
sets the containers to the side. The driver
then pulls into a staging area to pick up
empties and heads back to the trans-load
facility to get more sand."
This process eliminates the dust and
high-pitched, irritating noise associated
with blowing off pneumatic trailers, Fisher
says. "With the new system, the drivers
will spend only 10 minutes at the well
location," he adds. "With pneumatic trailers, drivers might spend an hour or two
in line to connect to the sand kings, then
45-75 minutes blowing off their trailers.
In better days, which we expect to come
again, the associated standby charges
could be significant."
Because the container-carrying drivers
use flatbeds rather than specialized trailers,
and do more trips each day, Fisher says
operators will be able to negotiate better
rates. "In the Permian and Denver-Julesburg basins, we have seen a 20-25 percent
lower cost per mile for each pound of
sand delivered," he illustrates.
According to Fisher, the containerbased system also may minimize the
chance of sand running out during an
operation. "The containers can be stacked
on location ahead of time, so if a project
is going to require a lot of sand, the operator can build a buffer of 1 million or 2
million or more pounds before fracturing
even starts," he explains.
"In North Dakota and other areas that
limit vehicle weights during winter and
spring, prestacking can be extremely useful," Fisher continues. "The operator can
stock the location ahead of a road ban or
bring one container at a time instead of
two to stay under weight limits."
During the job, the containers empty
through gravity onto a conveyor belt that
takes the sand to the blender-hopper.
Once a container is empty, a forklift removes and replaces it, Fisher describes.
"Because the conveyor is fed by gravity
and has a framework around the belt and
panels, there is no dust generated along
the length of the belt," he comments. "The
only place sand is exposed to wind is at
the end of the belt, where it falls into the
hopper, and even there, dust generation is
controllable. Tests show the system will
contribute 10-20 percent as much dust as
a normal pneumatic delivery system."

American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2016

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