Marcellus Shale Fracking – Transloading Bulk Materials for Marcellus Shale Drilling

Posts Tagged ‘transloading’

The transloading of silica sand or frac sand as it is sometimes referred to is a job done only in specific locations. This is not something most people have ever seen because of the location of a transloading station.

The transloading process for frac sand is first done at the quarry where it is loaded up on the rail cars by way of a conveyer belt. Since the silica sand at the quarry is the stationary item, the rail cars are moved under its opening for loading.

The opposite is true at the other end of the line for the frac sand. The train will need to locate a transloading station that is near the endpoint for distribution to the end user. This has to be prearranged after the order for the silica sand has been made. It is more efficient to leave the railcars stationary at this point and use mobile conveyor belts for the offloading of the material to the awaiting trucks.

This has to be done in the most efficient manner due to the demurrage of the rail cars. The cost of the railcars just sitting waiting to be offloaded is at no charge for the first 24 hours. After that point the rail service tacks on a hefty fee, which will dramatically affect the overall cost of the product being transported. In this case the silica sand.

This is why the technique of offloading silica sand at a transloading station is done so efficiently. In most cases one railcar can be offloaded per conveyer per hour. The appropriate number of conveyors is needed, usually 3 to 5, to make this an effect process in both the transfer and cost for the suppliers to keep their prices at a minimum.

Read our previous post about transloading silica sand.

Most people are unaware of just exactly what a transloading facility really is. This is because most of them are not in places that are commonly visited by most of the population. They are not near malls or other shopping centers but usually located out of town or in the industrial parks of the larger metro areas.

The business of transloading is one of the hidden mechanisms that are in the supply chain of most goods that are transported across America. Basically they are purposely built business that properly and safely load and off load tractor trailers and rail cars with bulk material.

This type of business can also handle special loads that require careful handling since their training and equipment is made just for this type of transfer. The training that is conducted by facility personnel is extensive. Speed and safety are the two things this type of facility specializes in.

If you are in search of a facility that handles transloading services, the best way to distinguish the competitor is by their safety records and their average demurrage time when they are handling a bulk material transfer. It is the way to compare apples to apples.

One of the common transfers is that of frac sand for the northeastern portion of the country. This is because this bulk material is needed in the natural gas and oil exploration in the Marcellus Shale deposit so fracking can be accomplished. The average time it should take to offload a railcar to the 5 tractor trailers should be just around an hour.

These helpful pointers are just a few suggestions on how a business can compare one transloading facility to another accurately. This is an important business decision that will be beneficial to your bulk material transfer needs when you are in need of it.

Contact our sponsor, TRAN-Z for your transloading requirements.

Most people are unaware of just exactly what a transloading facility really is. This is because most of them are not in places that are commonly visited by most of the population. They are not near malls or other shopping centers but usually located out of town or in the industrial parks of the larger metro areas.

The business of transloading is one of the hidden mechanisms that are in the supply chain of most goods that are transported across America. Basically they are purposely built business that properly and safely load and off load tractor trailers and rail cars with bulk material.

This type of business can also handle special loads that require careful handling since their training and equipment is made just for this type of transfer. The training that is conducted by facility personnel is extensive. Speed and safety are the two things this type of facility specializes in.

If you are in search of a facility that handles transloading services, the best way to distinguish the competitor is by their safety records and their average demurrage time when they are handling a bulk material transfer. It is the way to compare apples to apples.

One of the common transfers is that of frac sand for the northeastern portion of the country. This is because this bulk material is needed in the natural gas and oil exploration in the Marcellus Shale deposit so fracking can be accomplished. The average time it should take to offload a railcar to the 5 tractor trailers should be just around an hour.

These helpful pointers are just a few suggestions on how a business can compare one transloading facility to another accurately. This is an important business decision that will be beneficial to your bulk material transfer needs when you are in need of it.

Contact our sponsor, TRAN-Z for your transloading requirements.

The process of transloading is an essential part of the transportation of bulk goods from their place of origin to their final destination.  This is just part of the normal business process due to the lower cost of transporting large amounts of bulk material by rail.

The stations that offer the service of transloading are strategically located throughout the country. The numbers and placement of these stations are determined by the needs of the industry in the different regions of America.

An example of filling the needs of a particular sector of the country can be found in the Marcellus shale deposit region.  There are trans loading stations in both the state of New York and Pennsylvania. This is cost efficient for the different oil and natural gas well developers exploring the possibilities of the shale energy reserves.

The closer the trans loading stations are to the final destination, the lower the cost for the transportation of the bulk material by tractor trailer. This is because of the fuel and labor cost. For each rail car of frac sand, it takes 5 tractor trailers to hold the same volume.

While not all bulk material is transported in this fashion, most of it is. When there is a plentiful supply of a material in every region of the country, like water, it does not need the use of rail cars in most cases. For nearly everything else that is needed in large quantities, the use of rail cars and then the transfer of the material at transloading stations are just part of doing business.

CLICK HERE: TRAN-Z to see what services are available for your needs.

The location of transloading for Marcellus shale drilling occurs in every region and state where there are exploratory wells for natural gas and oil, in this vast deposit of energy. The reason for this is simple, the closer the transloading stations are to the bulk supplies’ final destination, the lower the cost for the energy industry.

There are many different materials that are required by the drillers in the Marcellus shale region. The one that is used in the largest quantities and frequency is frac sand. Because of this, the transloading stations have become very proficient in the transfer of sand from the rail cars to the waiting tractor trailers.

On average, a well equipped transloading station can offload a rail car full of frac sand into 5 waiting trailers in just over an hour. This transfer is done with designated conveyors that are specifically designed for the handling of small granular material.

By having designated mobile conveyors for this transfer, the chances of contamination occurring during the transfer are significantly reduced. The mobility of these conveyors contributed to the speed at which a line of rail cars can be offloaded, so the frac sand can be on its way to the wells in the Marcellus region.

The Marcellus region uses the frac sand in larger quantities than other energy wells located in other parts of the nation due to the makeup of the rock bed where the natural gas and oil are located. This is the shale rock bed.

The hydrofracking procedure that uses the frac sand to crack the bed rock is the main mechanism to extracting the maximum amount of oil and natural gas from below the surface so it can be recovered. The transloading for Marcellus shale drilling of frac sand plays an important role in this process.

When the reference of Marcellus shale sand is used, most are not talking about a deposit of sand in the Marcellus shale region in the northeastern part of America. Their reference is to the frac sand that is used in the hydrofracking process to release the trapped energy reserves in the Marcellus shale rock layers that lie below the surface.

A large portion of this frac sand is actually called Ottawa white frac sand. This is a specific type of sand that is found in the northeastern part of America and the southeastern edge of Canada. Some in the oil and natural gas exploration field prefer this sand because of it symmetry.

Deposits of this frac sand can be found in Canada, along with Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ohio and Illinois. Their close proximity to the Marcellus shale oil deposits is the leading reason for this particular frac sand being the preferred medium used in the slurry by the energy explorers.

No matter if the frac sand comes from this area of the country or from the southern portion where the deposits are of the brown sand, all of it will have to use the railway for transport. Many suppliers down south discount their process to get the business in the Marcellus region. The only variable in the transport of the frac sand is then which transloading station is used to transfer the frac sand from rail car to tractor trailer.

Not all transloading stations are the same. There are a few that specialize in the TranZ loading of frac sand and other bulk material for the oil and natural gas industry. These are the ones that can do the fastest and most efficient transfer so the demurrage on the railcars is minimized.

If you are looking to have your Marcellus shale sand transported at the lowest possible cost, look into the many TranZ loading stations in the area for the best price and quickest service that will fit your needs.

The facilities that are involved in transloading silica sand are called transloading stations. These are purpose-built facilities that specialize in the transfer of mainly bulk material from railcars to tractor trailers.

This process might sound rather simple, but there is more to it than meets the eye. Mobile conveyors that are designed to only be used in the transfer of frac sand are necessary. This reduced the possibility of the frac sand from becoming contaminated with any foreign material or objects.

This is important since frac sand is purchased by the oil and natural gas explorers by a particular size. Each region and geographical formation uses a different kind and size of frac sand. If this becomes contaminated with foreign objects, it could cause problems in the wells where the hydrofracking will occur.

If the foreign material is water soluble, its visual appearance will not be present but the chemical makeup could cause an unwanted reaction in the solution.

Moving on to the actual transfer of the frac sand from rail car to tractor trailer, there is the time component that must be considered. A few of the important factors, besides the possibility of contaminating the silica sand, is the speed at which it can be accomplished.

People are able to increase the speed and efficiency of performing a specific task the more they do such a task. The same is with the transfer of bulk frac sand. The facilities that specialize in this field of handling non-food items know what works and how to perform the task at hand safely, along with being efficient with their time.

The average time it takes to off load one railcar of frac sand is generally around an hour. Knowing this, you can calculate how long it would take to off load your shipment by knowing how many designated conveyors are available at the transloading station. This will allow the calculation of the demurrage so cost can be kept at a minimum.

There is a lot more involved with transloading silica sand than just playing in the sand box.

The natural gas shale industry is booming, not only in the Marcellus deposit region in the northeastern part of America, but around the world. Shale rock formations have long been known to contain large amounts of natural gas and oil deposits. The reason this industry did not boom until lately was that the demand for natural gas has increased and the free natural gas deposits are limited and not meeting the demand anymore.

The most influential reason the shale deposits are being invested in and recovered is the profit potential. Back in January of 1981, the price of natural gas the American consumer paid a thousand cubic feet was $3.94. Since this time, the price has steadily risen. 20 years later, in January of 2001, the price for the same amount of natural gas used by the American consumer had risen to $10.12. The historical peak in price reached $20.68 in July of 2008.

With a 2 ½ fold to 5 fold increase in price, it has now become economically feasible to invest in the shale rock deposits for the recovery of natural gas. To help with this endeavor, the development of horizontal drilling and the use of hydro fracking have dramatically increased the potential of each well that is bored.

It has been estimated that the natural gas in the shale rock deposit in the Marcellus region has enough to supply the needs of America for almost 116 years. With this type of energy reserve potential buried under America, the chances that our country will become independent from foreign oil and gas imports is a dream that may be realized in the future.

The natural gas shale industry will be a large part of America fulfilling the dream of not being reliant on the Middle East for our energy needs.  TranZ, our sponsor will be there to serve this industry with transloading the necessary materials and equipment needed to produce this natural gas.

The process of well drilling is nothing new to the natural gas and oil industries, but these were not the first types of wells that were used. Water was the first resource that mankind drilled into the ground in an attempt bring it to the surface and recover it. These early wells were dug by hand and not very deep.  To support the sides many were lined with masonry block.

The modern process of drilling a borehole is much more complicated. The shafts are longer and narrower. Because of the number of wells being drilled and the increased companies performing this process, regulations and regulating agencies have been established to set limits and define the process.

Today, there is the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) that has defined the process to help guide and standardize the industry. The limits on the downhole pressure and hydraulic pressure profiles can be found in the Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD).

Part of this process is the use of the appropriate drill bit. The soil is generally categorized into one of three conditions. There is soft, medium, and hard.

The soft condition is generally made up of sand, clays, shale, and soft limestone. The soil is considered medium when calcites, hard limestone, hard shale, and dolomites are present. Hard soil conditions are when hard shale, mudstones, and cherty limestone are in the ground being drilled.

For the most part when drilling a well for the natural gas and oil industry, one of two types of bits will be used. The drag bit is a polycrystalline diamond compact hammer bit (PDC bit) that is used in the soft soil conditions. The second, used on deep holes, is the roller bit that has teeth on wheels that crush the rock in the path of the borehole.

One little known fact of well drilling is that this is the most widely known use of diamonds in the world.  They will never look good on a finger, but they can cut through rock like butter.

You might be wondering what well drilling has to do with Transloading.  This blog is sponsored by TranZ a freight handling company that specializes in delivering goods and materials to the Marcellus Shale fracking sites.  You may contact TranZ by CLICKING HERE.

To meet the demand of the American consumer, the natural gas drilling for new wells is ever increasing. This has become a windfall for many landowners that sit on top of the Marcellus shale oil and gas deposits.

With drilling companies being able to incorporate horizontal drilling techniques in the wells they are currently boring in the Marcellus region, there is less of an environmental impact on the surrounding land. What is actually being drilled for is shale gas. This is gas trapped in rock. Until recently, this trapped gas was not economically feasible to recover. But with natural gas futures at $4.19 per MMBtu at the end of April, the demand needs to be met.

Natural gas supplies 22% of our nation’s needs for energy each year. The US Energy Information Administration has estimated the natural gas reserves in America at 1744 trillion cubic feet in April of 2009. This is what is technically referred to as recoverable natural gas. Of that, 211 tcf is already proven reserves of which 19.3 tcf are currently being recovered each year to meet the demand of the American consumer.

The Marcellus shale gas is referred to as technically unconventional gas. This category not only includes shale gas but also tight sands and coalbed methane. These three combined make up 60% of the on-shore recoverable reserves of natural gas. This brings the total amount of reserves to nearly 2300 tcf.  At the rate of 19.3 tcf as recorded in 2007, the natural gas reserves of America will last for the next 116 years.

Texas shale gas recovery already accounts for 6% of the natural gas found on the market. With the other shale reserves from Haynesville, Fayetteville, Marcellus, and Woodford coming into production, shale gas will soon be a vital source of the valuable energy.

The natural gas drilling for both conventional and unconventional gas reserves is a way to help keep America independent from foreign energy sources.  This blog at Transloading.org serves the gas drilling industry by providing services and transportation to the drillers.

The pipe yard is an important component for the energy sector. Without a constant supply of pipes in the right dimensions and type of material, drilling and hydraulic fracturing process would be delayed or not possible.

Just like the sand that is used for oil and gas exploration, the piping must be correct and undamaged. This means that the proper care and handling of the pipe from the yard to the drilling field must be conducted with care. The transloading of this material from the yard by forklifts to the rail cars must be done correctly.

The reason this is so critical is the time and money that is lost when a pipe is lifted into place on the rig and they are damaged could be very costly. This leads to a delay in the process which is money.

Both ends of the pipe must be protected at all times so the threads are not damaged. This makes loading them on the drilling platform a smooth process. The most common length of pipe that is used in the energy drilling field is 30 feet long. This takes experience to balance and turn a forklift without damaging the product.

For this reason professional transloaders are used. They have experience with moving long sections of pipe without letting them come in contact with any other objects so when delivered, they are just as they were when they were produced at the factory.

Every step in the process of drilling for an energy sector is crucial to the overall performance of the components and the profits each well will obtain. One of these critical components start at the quality pipe yard that supply’s your rig with this necessary hardware.