The Oilfield Technology Group (OTG) of Hexion Specialty Chemicals, Inc., today announced the startup of a new manufacturing plant and the opening of additional transload facilities to provide resin coated proppants to fracturing service companies and operators in the oil & gas industry.
Hexion's new plant in Cleburne, Texas.
“Hexion is the leading supplier of resin coated proppants to the energy exploration industry and this expansion will increase our manufacturing and delivery capabilities to meet the growing requirements of our customers,” said Hexion OTG Vice President Jerry Borges. “These new facilities are strategically located to provide product in proximity to where it is needed in the field. These investments demonstrate our continued commitment to the industry.”
Hexion has commissioned the first production line in its new manufacturing plant in Cleburne, Texas, which produces its patented ValuBond(TM) curable resin coated proppant. This new plant along with its specially designed transload operation is well positioned to serve the surrounding Barnett Shale area. Exploration companies operating in the Barnett as well as other areas will now have access to a larger supply of resin coated proppants, including Hexion’s newly introduced ValuBond 20/40 mesh proppant.
In addition to the Cleburne transload facility, and to provide customers with an efficient and cost-effective supply of proppants, Hexion also has opened new proppant transload facilities in the following locations:
- Corpus Christi, TX
- Rock Springs, WY
- Fairview, ND
- Batesville, AR
The Corpus Christi location serves the emerging Eagle Ford Shale play in south Texas, while to the north, the Rock Springs facility primarily serves Wyoming and Colorado. The Fairview transload facility supplies the rapidly developing Bakken play in Montana and North Dakota, while the Batesville transload supplies the Fayetteville Shale area in Arkansas.
Resin coated proppants are used in the hydraulic fracturing process to help optimize production from oil and gas wells by maximizing fracture flow capacity from the reservoir to the wellbore. Technological innovations and Hexion’s introduction of enhanced materials have expanded the use of resin coated proppants into unconventional reservoirs that feature complex and hard to reach geological formations.
“We are committed to having the most extensive proppant supply network in the industry to deliver our expanding portfolio of patented products to customers,” Borges said. “We also continue to provide educational programs that leverage OTG’s many years of fracturing experience to inform the industry about new methods of utilizing proppants to increase value and well production. The opening of this new plant and strategically located transloads are the first of many milestones related to achieving our ongoing expansion plans.”