Story By By , Oil Editor| Midland Telegram Reporter | Construction of the 42-mile electrified conveyor system carrying sand from Atlas Energy Solutions‘ mine at Kermit into Lea County, New Mexico, is nearing completion.
The company announced earlier that it has begun commissioning the $400 million Dune Express, which is expected to be completed sometime in December.
“We’re wrapping up the construction phase (and) we’re now installing the electrical equipment,” Kyle Turlington, vice president, investor relations with Atlas, told the Reporter-Telegram.
As the electrical equipment is installed, he said the system will be turned on to ensure the motors are running and the parts are moving, and sections of the system will be tested at a time.
“We’ll then do a dry commissioning, running the conveyor belt, sometime in October or November. And in December, we should start running the product,” he said.
In announcing the commissioning of the Dune Express and providing a third-quarter operational update, John Turner, president and chief executive officer, commented, “We are just months away from beginning to realize our goal of taking thousands of trucks off public roads, making the Permian Basin a safer, more reliable, and environmentally cleaner place to live and work.”
Because of issues with the Kermit facility that prompted a rebuild that was completed in July, Atlas expects higher plant operating expenses to cause third-quarter 2024 operating results to fall below prior guidance. The company now expects the third quarter 2024 revenue to be between $300 and $310 million.
Proppant sales volumes are expected to be approximately 6 million tons.
The company also expects to book an asset writedown of approximately $9 million related to damage to a new dredge at the Kermit mine that resulted in a total loss. The second dredge is operating and feeding the plant at reduced levels.
Those issues having been addressed, Turlington told the Reporter-Telegram, and Atlas expects to exit the year with normal expenses.
CREDIT: Story By By , Oil Editor| Midland Telegram Reporter |
Dune Express Conveyor Features
- 42 miles of electrified sand delivery
- Two permanent loadouts at state line (TX) and end of line (NM)
- Flexible mobile loadouts to further shorten proppant transit to wellsites
- More than 75,000 tons of storage within the system
