Houston-based Halliburton Company and Maryland-based U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. announced Thursday the companies likely set a North American record by moving nearly 19,000 tons of U.S. Silica White® frac sand in a single train shipment from Ottawa, Illinois to Elmendorf, Texas.
According to a Halliburton press release, BNSF Railway was used to transport the largest shipment of its kind so it’s probable that the shipment traveled through Oklahoma during its journey to Texas. BNSF operates one of the largest freight railroad networks in North America.
Originating at U.S. Silica’s largest plant in Ottawa, Illinois, the unit train took five days to assemble and load. The train was received at Halliburton’s Elmendorf South Texas Sand Plant, which can handle two 115 car unit trains simultaneously and can hold 40,000 tons in its eight silos. The facility is located within the Alamo Junction Rail Park in Elmendorf, about seven miles from the company’s South Texas Operations Center in southern Bexar County.
“Utilizing sand unit trains enables Halliburton to respond to customers’ needs on a shorter timeline and deliver cost efficient sand on location to drive the lowest cost per BOE,” said Richard Gonzalez, Halliburton’s Vice President of Production Enhancement. “Our extensive infrastructure along with a great working relationship with U.S. Silica highlights our strength in collaborating and engineering solutions to maximize asset value for customers.”
“Unit train delivery, leveraging our combined logistical assets, is the most efficient and cost effective way to deliver high volumes of sand in the time constraints required,” said Don Weinheimer, senior vice president and president of Oil and Gas for U.S. Silica. “Unit train capability is increasingly critical to our customers’ success as sand demand per well continues to ramp up.”
