The growth of hydraulic fracturing operations in the U.S. provided an economic boon to the areas sitting atop vast shale oil and natural gas deposits, from North Dakota to Appalachia to Texas and Oklahoma.
But fracking also helped a region hundreds of miles away: the Upper Midwest, which is home to the coarse variety of sand — known as frac sand — needed to crack shale rock formations and access the hydrocarbon fuels within them.
Both the fracking and the frac sand industries suffered after oil prices tumbled in late 2014, and although prices since stabilized, The Wall Street Journal reports that sand operations in Wisconsin, Illinois and elsewhere continue to struggle and appear unlikely to return to their pre-2014 heyday.
Meanwhile, shale operators in West Texas' Permian Basin found out how to use finer-grain local sand to boost production at their fracking sites, and investors began snapping up property in the area in hopes of supplying the oil and gas industry.
“Local sand is a huge disrupter that is beneficial to the shale producers,” Bud Brigham, who sold namesake oil company Brigham Resources last year, told the paper.
Brigham is currently funding Atlas Sand Co., one of 18 sand mining projects either proposed or under construction near Midland, Texas.
Although analysts say it's unlikely that all 18 will ultimately be built, the rise of the Texas sand industry is nonetheless likely to cut sand prices. That would further benefit fracking companies, who would also save the significant costs of shipping sand from Wisconsin.
The Journal noted that Texas' sand companies still face substantial hurdles, including a limited labor supply, a need for thousands of heavy-duty trucks and competition for the area's sparse water supply.
Northern frac sand producers, meanwhile, argue that their product will continue to play a role in the fracking industry in Texas and throughout the country.