Devon Launches Its Own Mobile Sand Mine to Cut Fracking Costs

Devon Energy Corp., one of the biggest oil explorers in the Permian Basin, is getting into the sand business to combat rising costs.

The Oklahoma City-based company told investors of a new, so-called mobile frack-sand mine it launched on 15,000 acres of land it owns in the West Texas county of Loving. The mine is expected to save the shale giant more than $200,000 per well amid rising sand prices and can account for as much as a quarter of its sand needs in the Delaware half of the Permian Basin, Chief Operating Officer Clay Gaspar said Tuesday on a conference call.