Session 5. Oral Presentation for: Delivering Australia’s biggest frac: a step change in sand logistics and automated bulk handling systems in the remote Beetaloo Basin

Presented on 19 May 2026: Session 5 This paper explains the sand logistics and handling innovations that enabled Australia’s largest hydraulic fracture stimulation, placing 22.5 million pounds of sand across 67 stages in the remote Beetaloo Basin. The scale nearly doubled the previous national record and required breakthrough supply chain coordination and last-mile handling to sustain 24-h operations at pump rates above 100 barrels per minute. Sand logistics were coordinated across dual supply chains from South Australia and Queensland, with triple-trailer loads travelling up to 2700 km to site. A shift from conventional 2-tonne bags to bulk stockpile management eliminated crane-intensive loading and de-bottlenecked supply, enabling continuous large-scale stimulation. Australia’s first automated wet-sand conveyor system was deployed, providing uninterrupted feed from stockpiles to Halliburton’s blender systems at rates exceeding 8000 lbs per minute. This supported pumping at designed concentrations and six stages per day, with each stage consuming about 400,000 pounds of sand. Bulk handling reduced manual labour, improved efficiency, eliminated weather-related sand saturation, and freed critical pad space previously filled with thousands of bags. Efficiency gains included removal of crane use, reduced double handling, and lower personnel exposure. The system achieved 98% uptime during the 20-day campaign while safely handling 11,000 tonnes of sand with zero HSE incidents. The paper concludes by discussing how this innovation enables future scalable development in the Beetaloo Basin, with capacity to support 10–12 stages per day in future wells as frac spread uptime improves with zipper fracture stimulations. To access the Oral Presentation click ‘Supplementary data’ below. To read the full paper click here