Frac and rig fueling log app that works with no signal

A frac spread is a lot of equipment in one place: pumps, blenders, generators, light towers, heaters, sand and water equipment, and the pickups that come and go. Much of it burns fuel all shift, and the fueler works a loop around the pad, topping each unit up before it runs low. By the end of the night the same unit number can appear on the log five or six times.

That is exactly the pattern Fuel Relay is fast at. The fueler starts the shift once (truck, day or night, fuel type) and then each delivery is four short fields. Because the app suggests units, locations and contractors from that fueler's own history, the fifth fill of pump 12 is a couple of taps: pick the unit, confirm the pad and contractor, enter the gallons, save. With gloves on, the mic on each field is often quicker still: say the unit number, say the gallons, check the form, save.

None of it needs a signal. Pads are frequently out of coverage, and an app that has to reach a server to save an entry is worse than paper there. Every entry saves to the phone first and joins a sync queue; the log goes to the office on its own when the phone next finds coverage, whether that is at the edge of location, on the drive to camp, or on camp Wi-Fi at the end of the hitch.

On a drilling rig

Rig fueling is a steadier rhythm on the same principles: generators, boilers, heaters and light plants on a daily or twice-daily round, often for the rig contractor and a service company or two on the same location. The log looks the same, and the office gets the same per-contractor totals.

Every fueler on a busy pad asks the same question halfway through the night: how much is left on the truck? On paper that means adding up a column with a pen. In Fuel Relay the fueler enters the truck's starting fuel load once, and the app subtracts each delivery as it is logged, so the figure on the screen is always current.

• A starting fuel load for the truck, and a running fuel-left figure that updates with every entry.
• A low-fuel warning on the phone, so the run back to the rack is planned, not a surprise.
• Up to 25 saved trucks per fueler, for crews that swap trucks mid-shift.
• An optional setting that starts the next log with the fuel left from the last one.

One thing it is not: a tank gauge. The number is the starting load minus the gallons logged. It does not see a reload at the rack or a meter that reads differently, so treat it as the paper math done for you, and check it against the truck.

Fuel crews are rarely monolingual, and the app should not force them to be. The whole mobile app is translated into 20 languages, including Spanish, Hindi and Bengali, with right-to-left layouts for the languages that need them. Each fueler picks their own, and voice entry listens in the language they chose.

The office does not have to read 20 languages to review the work. Every log arrives with the same fields and the same labels whatever language the fueler uses, so the contractor totals and exports come out consistent. What the fueler types (unit numbers, pad names, contractor names) arrives exactly as typed, which is why the auto-suggest matters: once a contractor is spelled one way, the fueler keeps picking that spelling.

Getting a new hand started does not depend on language either. There is no email address or password to set up: the admin texts a short code, and the fueler types it once on their phone. The codes leave out the letters and digits that are easy to confuse on a small screen (no I, O, 0 or 1), so a code read off a text message goes in right the first time. One code works on one phone, and when a phone is replaced the admin resets the device from the dashboard.

On a long night, a wrong number gets logged sooner or later: a unit number with a digit swapped, gallons against the wrong contractor. The review step exists so that it gets fixed before it is billed, not argued about after.

• The office flags the log. From the dashboard, the admin flags the shift log with a note of up to 500 characters saying what looks wrong. Flags apply to the whole log, so the note names the entry.
• The fueler sees it on the next sync. The flagged log comes back on the phone with the note on top, and a notification if the fueler has them turned on.
• The fueler fixes and resubmits. The log is editable again; the fueler corrects the entry and sends it back for review.
• Everything is on the record. The flag, the note, the edit and the review all land in an append-only audit log.

While a log is flagged, its gallons stay out of the billing totals, and the PDF report states how many gallons were left out. A disputed number cannot slip onto an invoice by accident.

A frac pad or rig site often means several contractors drawing fuel from the same truck, and each one expects an invoice that matches their own count. In the office dashboard, pick the date range, and Fuel Relay totals gallons per contractor across every fueler and every truck that worked it.

Contractor names are matched regardless of capitals, so a contractor logged as Vantex on one night and VANTEX on the next is still one line. A second view splits the same range by fuel type, useful when diesel and DEF bill at different rates.

Export the result as a PDF with your logo to attach to each invoice, or as CSV or Excel for your accounting system. All three carry identical totals. For the rest of the office side, see the oilfield fuel delivery software overview; for the price per fueler, see pricing.