We are a leading provider of water-management solutions to the oil and gas industry in North America. We also develop, manufacture and deliver chemical solutions for use in oil and gas well completions and production operations. Within the major shale plays in the United States, we believe we are a market leader in water sourcing, water transfer (both by permanent pipeline and temporary hose) and temporary water containment prior to its use in drilling and completion activities associated with hydraulic fracture stimulation or “fracking,” which we refer to collectively as “pre‑frac water services”. In addition, we provide testing and flowback services immediately following the well completion. In most of our areas of operations, we also provide additional complementary water‑related services that support oil and gas well completion and production activities, including monitoring, treatment, hauling, water recycling and disposal. We also manufacture a full suite of specialty chemicals used in the fracturing process, and we provide chemicals needed by our customers to help increase oil and gas production and lower costs over the life of a well. We believe we are the only company in the oilfield services industry that combines water-management services with related chemical products.
The diagram below illustrates the primary water solutions and oilfield chemicals services we provide during the completion and production cycle of a horizontal well:
Advances in drilling and completion technology have propelled U.S. shale-oil production from about 500,000 barrels per day in 2010 to nearly six million barrels per day in 2018. Concurrently, the total volumes of water required in the fracking process have grown dramatically. For example, in 2010 the completion of a typical horizontal well might require roughly 75,000 barrels, or the equivalent of approximately 575 tank truck loads of water. Today, current horizontal well completion designs can call for in excess of 500,000 barrels for a single well, roughly equivalent to 3,850 truck loads of water. Multi‑well pad completions can require in excess of five million barrels, or the equivalent of 38,500 tank truck loads, of water per pad. Significant mechanical, logistical, environmental and safety issues related to the transfer and subsequent containment of such large volumes via tank truck have resulted in tank trucks no longer representing a viable solution for the transport of frac water. Accordingly, E&P companies have shifted their pre-frac operational focus away from traditional tank truck operators and small, local water service providers, to larger regional and national players like us, who have the expertise, technology and scale to provide high quality, reliable, comprehensive and environmentally sound water-management solutions.