A. Lee Graham
Reporter
D&T Trucking of Weatherford, Rowdy Farms of Southlake and Gila Hotshot of Odessa have merged, forming one of the nation’s largest proppant logistics companies.
Proppants are substances used to keep hydraulic fractures open for oil and natural gas drilling operations.
The newly named 1845 Oil Field Services is based in Weatherford and offers customers a suite of oil field logistics and one-call freight management capabilities.
“D&T is excited to join forces with Rowdy Farms and Gila Hotshot to offer a one-call proppant freight management solution,” said Tim Buffington, CEO of D&T Trucking, who assumes the same position for the new company.
The merger gives 1845’s customers access to a fleet of nearly 500 dedicated power units and a footprint spanning several shale plays, including the Barnett, Eagleford, Haynesville, Woodford Shale and Permian Basin.
Craig Gandy, Rowdy Farms founder, is executive vice president of sales for the new company.
“1845 creates an opportunity to rapidly grow our strong independent contractor network and offer our owner operators additional services and benefits including access to a broader customer base, larger area of operation, 24-7 live dispatch, expanded regional growth opportunities, discounted fuel and attractive group insurance rates,” Gandy said. “Above all, 1845 offers our stakeholders greater financial stability.”
Helping allow the new company’s formation was financial backing of AVC Partners, a middle-market private equity group focused on growing logistics and transportation businesses.
“We see a tremendous opportunity for an innovative capacity manager like 1845 in proppant logistics,” AVC Partners said in its merger statement.
1845 Oil Field Services, based in Weatherford, provides one-call transportation, logistics and supply chain management solutions to North American oil field operators. It manages one of the largest equipment fleets dedicated to proppant transportation supported by a modern 24-7 live dispatch operation center and industry-leading logistics technology for tracking and reporting deliveries to multiple well locations.
D&T Trucking supplies transportation services to oil and gas shales nationwide. Rowdy Farms serves the proppant transportation industry, primarily operating in the Eagleford Shale in South Texas. Meanwhile, Gila Hotshot has been supplying proppant trucking services to the oil field industry since 2006. It primarily serves the Permian Basin of West Texas.