Preferred Sands Opens New Technology Center In Houston, Texas To Focus On Increased Innovation

With greater demand for efficient and environmentally-friendly advancements in the oil and gas industry, Preferred's new Technology Center will continue to establish and leverage research and development partnerships across the field

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Preferred Sands

Jun 05, 2013, 10:13 ET

RADNOR, Pa., June 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Preferred Sands, one of North America's largest proppant, well logistics and resin technology companies, today opened the Preferred Technology Center in Houston, Texas. Born from Preferred's dedication to industry innovation, this expansion will allow Preferred to further incubate and collaborate in developing high performance technology solutions for more efficient and cost effective well sites.

Preferred's Technology Center will continue to develop Preferred's clean line of resin coatings, RCS Garnet and RCS Pearl, for both high and low temperature wells. The environmentally-sensitive Preferred RCS resin-coated sand product line, developed in conjunction with The Dow Chemical Company, is the market's leading alternative to phenolic-based resins since launching in 2012, and the only low-temperature resin-coated proppant with a built-in activation mechanism, creating a more efficient and safer low-temperature down-well environment.

The new facility aligns with Preferred's keenness for partnering with best-in-class industry leaders to address and solve for industry difficulties and inefficiencies. Preferred is committed to continuing to innovate the market with sustainable distribution and technology solutions. The Preferred Technology Center creates a new hub for industry-responsive innovation in one of the most active geographic regions for hydraulic fracturing.

"Innovation – whether through product or process – is critical in our rapidly changing marketplace," said Michael O'Neill, founder and CEO of Preferred. "As a company, we believe that the sustained approach to R&D, now established with the opening of our facility, will allow us to partner with best-in-class individuals to provide first-class technology, equipment and resources to our customers in our continued efforts to anticipate the needs of next-generation well sites."

Bob McDaniel, vice president of technology for Preferred and a 35-year veteran of the oil and gas industry, will oversee a team of researchers at the new Houston-based facility. McDaniel is responsible for inventing a wide variety of new hydraulic fracturing products and treatments, which have led to 11 U.S. patents awarded and six new U.S. patents pending.

For more information about Preferred Sands' Technology Center and evolving RCS product lines, please visit www.preferredsands.com.

About Preferred Sands
Preferred Sands, LLC., headquartered in Radnor, PA, is one of North America's largest manufacturers and providers of frac sand for oil and natural gas companies in the hydraulic fracturing industry. Launched in 2007 Preferred Sands is the market's only commercial manufacturer with an available green technology in resin-coated sand. With this innovative product development and reclamation projects, the company is not only committed to the protection of the environment but also the health and safety of the communities it serves. With strategic plant locations in Arizona, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Canada, the company has core competencies in logistic transportation. Preferred Sands, LLC. has been named one of Pennsylvania's "Best Places to Work." CEO, Michael O'Neill, has been named Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year® in Energy, Cleantech and Natural Resources (2012) and SmartCEO Magazine's CEO of the Year (2012).