Frac Shack Inc. comprises three main operating businesses for upstream oil and gas, all designed with carbon emissions reductions, efficiencies, performance, and total cost savings in mind. These businesses include Frac Shack® bi-fueling of frac fleets, SideKick™ field natural gas processing units, and Sandtinel® sand separation technologies.

The industry is currently experiencing a dramatic shift in fracking technologies and volumes. Nearly all producers are increasing lateral lengths up to 10,000 feet or more. We are seeing more sand per lateral foot each year, with 2,500 lbs per lateral foot becoming common. Zipper-fracturing has become the norm, while Simul-frac experiments show promise. The industry shift to low-emissions technologies is driving the rapid adoption of bi-fuel frac fleets, as well as the uptake of eFleets and natural gas driven drilling rigs.

Frac Shack® has been at the forefront of this technology shift, beginning with its invention in 2010 for the automated fueling of frac fleets to greatly increase efficiency and safety compared with manual fueling during fracture treatments. Frac Shack® has since become the de-facto standard for fracking throughout North America. In 2014 we saw the coming requirements for diesel substitution with field gas, allowing for reduced cost, trucking, and emissions, and since 2020 our bi-fuel frac fleet fueling is now evolving into another de-facto standard for operators.

Along these lines, in 2017 we also commenced development of our SideKick™ line of field natural gas processing units to take field gas and process it to ideal BTU values providing optimum fuel spec ranges for operations of frac and drilling equipment. Besides supplementing bi-fuel automated fueling, this technology is being used for drilling rigs as well as for flowback capture of gas and various uses during post-completion phases of the operation.

The increased volumes of sand and longer lateral lengths are impacting post-frac sand management. There is increased erosion on production equipment. As a result, producer’s demands on sand management solutions are greatly increasing. But current solutions have remained static and therefore ineffective at handling these increased sand volumes, especially where sand sizes are reduced. Producers are starting to see higher levels of sand carrying over into key production and facility assets causing wear and tear, plugging and erosion, and leading to increased downtime and repairs which is affecting production rates and operational expenditures (OPEX).

In 2013, Sandtinel entered the market on a mission to design and create a technologically advanced sand control solution that would transform how sand is separated, controlled, and removed from production—while creating the least emissions possible during drain cycles. We started by acquiring powerful resources in the field of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), a tool used to analyze fluid and particle behavior then rapidly prototype and develop particle separation innovations.

Our objective was to design and engineer a particle separation platform technology that would not only take a giant leap forward in performance but could easily be adjusted, configured and adapted to evolving fracs and extreme well conditions, all the while reducing emissions during drain cycles to the absolute minimum possible. Our CFD team invented the most advanced, and only, multi-phase separation system on the market which met all of our criteria around performance, operability, emissions reduction, and safety. 

Its performance is unrivaled, proving to remove 95+% of produced sand and eliminate up to 55X of emissions vs. typical Cylonic SKO’s on every drain cycle from the most challenging basins across North America. Very specialized internals on an army of spherical vessels are ready to combat and eliminate produced sand in any basin, in any condition, in any application. These create a new standard on pads ranging from single-well flowback to multi-well/facility applications.

We have units for almost any well conditions, including the Maverick, Defender, and General series. In 5 years of operation, the Defender, for example, has averaged a 95% or better sand capture rate on over 2,000 locations across North America, including the Permian, Eagle Ford, Scoop/Stack, Bakken, and Montney in Canada. The Defender has helped companies save millions of dollars while enhancing productivity, reducing chargeback “red money,” and reducing emissions. Sandtinel is trusted by more than 30 E&P and Flowback companies in North America.

  • Reduces OPEX & CAPEX through 95%+ capture rate; downtime, repairs and chargebacks are essentially eliminated.
  • Operational footprint is reduced by eliminating ineffective, redundant sand control solutions on sites.
  • Maximizes productivity with the quickest sand removal in the industry.
  • Operators are not only safe when removing sand they are also reducing up to 55 times less site emissions and minimizing wear on drain systems.
  • All vessels and E/I equipment are manufactured in North America.
  • All vessels follow ASME Section 8 Div 1 with elements of Div 2 for 10,000 psi vessels.
  • Only flanged primary connections are used, to improve safety.

Sandtinel not only provides quality manufactured vessels and a solid integrity management program, we also offer over 150 years of experience in operations, coupled with deep product knowledge and broad customer service expertise. From partnership and continuous improvement to always-on service, we ensure our customers get the best value out of a Sandtinel vessel. Our research team has the expertise and tools to work as an extension of your sand management team. Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology, we analyze and accurately predict vessel performance against your pre-install well data. 

Our field support team consists of field, electrical and instrumentation technicians in all major basins across North America. They ensure seamless vessel installation and implementation as well as provide orientation and training to ensure on-site staff are proficient in operating and maintaining the vessel. Our field support team works on the ground with our customers’ operators and/or service companies. We schedule frequent site visits, solicit valuable feedback for continuous product improvement, provide ongoing training, and resolve any problems that might arise with the Sandtinel vessel.

Contact your Sandtinel sales representative to provide additional information and case histories. Thank you for considering Sandtinel.