The discovery of new reservoirs of shale gas creates a huge requirement for frac sand, as it breaks the pores in reservoirs to bring the gas to the surface. Proppant refers to a solid material that is used to keep hydraulic fractures open during the hydrofracking treatment of reservoirs. This material is available in different sizes and sphericity to optimize well productivity.
Moreover, the surging need for ceramic and resin-coated materials in oil and gas reservoirs, owing to their high strength and ability to withstand stress in deep-well sites, will also facilitate the adoption of proppants in the coming years. Ceramic and resin-coated materials are required during well-drilling activities as they can be used in multiple-stage fracturing or low-permeability wells. With the surging focus of oil and gas companies on deep-well sites, the consumption of these materials will exponentially surge in the forthcoming years.
In recent years, oil and gas producers have shifted from phenolic-based resin-coated material to non-phenolic materials due to the rising need to mitigate environmental degradation. As compared to phenolic variants, the production of non-phenolic variants requires lesser energy, owing to which Dow Chemical Company and Preferred Sands have launched an eco-friendly non-phenolic resin-coated variety. These environment-friendly types of proppants are used in oil filtration, liquified natural gas (LNG) fracking process, coal bed methane extraction, tight gas extraction, and shale gas extraction processes.
In addition to resin-coated and ceramic materials, oil and gas companies also use sand, such as brown and white sand, for the fracking process in oil and gas wells. The white sand is used because of its high silica content, whereas, the brown sand is preferred due to its cost-effectiveness. In recent years, Fairmount Santrol Holdings Inc., Preferred Sands, Bagder Mining Corporation, CARBO Ceramics Inc., Fores, Superior Silica Sands LLC, CARBO Ceramics Inc., U.S. Silica Holdings Inc., Saint-Gobain Proppants Inc., Unimin Corporation, and JSC "Borovichi Refractories Plant" have become the leading producers of such proppants.
Globally, the North American region dominated the proppant market in the last few years due to the introduction of longer laterals to increase natural gas production, moderate recovery in oil prices, and surge in material loading levels in the U.S. and Canada. Moreover, the surge in hydraulic fracturing activities will also lead to the large-scale consumption of proppants in the region. Further, the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is also expected to use a considerable volume of proppants in the foreseeable future, owing to the soaring popularity of sand materials and burgeoning production of unconventional natural gas.
Therefore, the rapid discovery of shale gas reservoirs and extensive requirement for ceramic and resin-coated materials in the oil and gas sector will augment the consumption of proppants globally.
