A weekend fire at a frac-sand plant in San Antonio could have devastating effects on oil and gas exploration in the Eagle Ford play of South Texas…a region where some Oklahoma companies are active.
The blaze occurred early Saturday at the Superior Silica Sands LLC sand-processing complex. No one was injured but because of water shortage issues, Bexar County firefighters spent several hours dealing with the fire.
Superior is a company headquartered in Chandler, Arizona. The fire at the San Antonio plant could leave some oil and gas exploration companies without adequate supplies of the sand that is necessary in frac operations. It is used in the fracking process and is pumped into shale wells where it cracks open the rock and releases crude oil and natural gas.
An official with the energy-research firm Lium LLC told Bloomberg News that the fire might “be pretty disruptive to Eagle Ford sand supplies.” The official said the supplies were already tight before the fire.