Halliburton has opened Argentina’s first sand storage and loading facility to support the country’s transition from shale exploration to development, according to a press release. This facility will support Halliburton customers’ development of unconventional shale formations, enhancing well productivity and lowering operating costs. The facility will improve surface efficiency by reducing the number of personnel on site, easing sand-loading procedures, and reducing HSE exposures, according to the company.

The multimillion dollar facility, located in La Meseta, is 10.46 km (6.5 miles) from the company’s Neuquén operational base. It includes a warehouse and three storage silos and substantially increases the company’s proppant storage capacity. The new facility features a fast-loading gravity mechanism that improves the delivery process from the silos to the proppant trucks. This will ensure efficient and safe loading to Halliburton’s own transportation fleet, allowing the company to provide efficient service delivery, according to the release.

To complete the efficient and safe handling of the proppant, the proppant trucks have a pneumatic unloading capability, which allows the proppant to be loaded into large Mountain Mover systems at the well location, eliminating large bags of proppant on location.